Who is a speaker?

Experimental Physicist

• It is a mind set not a job description
  • I want to know how and why things work and not to be told “trust me”
  • I should be able to design, prototype, build, and debug apparatus which can probe it
  • Collect enough “good” data
  • Analyze and distill to something which fits into a human brain

How I end up here?

• 1992 - out of High School (USSR)
  • Careers considered
    • Navy officer
    • Computer Science
    • Physics
• 1998 - out of university, Diploma in Physics (MEPhI, Russia)
  • Lasers, Optics, Spectroscopy
• 2003 - our of university, PhD in Physics, (Texas A&M University, US)
  • Quantum optics in application for sensors
• 2006 - done with postdoc, (MIT, US)
  • Quantum optics in application for gravitational wave antennas
• 2006 - present, at W&M various positions
  • Teaching, Research, Service

What do I do everyday?

• Getting ready for a class
• Teach in and outside of a class
• Interact with students in my research group
• Service/administrative things

Why am I still doing it?

• I like to be surrounded by smart people
• I want to be constantly challenged
• Nothing can compare with a joy of solving a problem