Professor Scheibner, a physicist at UC Merced, invited me to his laboratory where I saw black cloth hanging from the ceiling and surrounding laser assemblies on a large optical table. An experiment was in progress and it was dark, but the bright green laser light illuminated the room.
You are a physicist now, but you have studied other things too.
Before I went to university there was a military draft, but instead of going to the military I went to the military replacement service. It was also known as civilian work and I did mine in the hospital. I worked in surgery: helping the patients to the operating rooms, preparing them as well as the instruments for the procedures, and during surgery, I was around to bring things in and sometimes take things away–like pathology samples for instance.
Despite this, I was much more interested in physics. It was intriguing to do that work and have seen that, but I tried to understand the word in a different way. So I focused on math and chemistry in my secondary education, before university, and did my thesis on crystal growth. I built a box out of wood and Styrofoam and aluminum foil, and grew crystals out of salt and saturated solutions from home. I knew, at that point, that I didn’t want to do chemistry. Physics was more interesting to me, physics and computer science.
Later, it so happened that the university in the vicinity where I grew up, the University of Würzburg, Germany, had a well established exchange program. And as part of the exchange program I came to the United States as a graduate student to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where I got my masters degree in physics and astronomy.
It must have been very different coming to New Mexico from Germany.
The first thing I noticed was that it was much warmer, and the architecture was different. Another big difference was class size. The department of physics in New Mexico was very much like a family. I really liked that. There was always someone to talk to. In Germany, the department of physics was much more convoluted, like a maze.
In your research you focus on quantum structures, so why optics?
That is a good question because in the beginning I actually hated it. And maybe it was because I wanted to understand what I couldn’t; that is one part of it. The other part of it was, when I was in New Mexico I got interested in astronomy, so I tried both things: optics and astronomy.
When I went back to Würzburg I wanted to pursue astronomy, however at that time is so happened that all the astronomers were either about to retire or change positions, there was no one there to mentor me. Then instead of astronomy I turned to another big area we had in Würzburg; condensed metaphysics. So instead of looking at stars I began looking at quantum dots.
What message do you have for UC Merced students?
When you start something you should follow your passion, but you should also think about what you want to do afterwards, the next step. And then think about what is needed for that next step. Put yourself in the position of someone who would hire you: what would that person see in you and how can you demonstrate that? Grades are very important but that is only one aspect of it, so think about how you could show leadership skills, and that you have your own ideas, that you are creative. Writing papers, for example, and publishing them shows that you can finish a project and follow through. Consider going to conferences, presenting your work, and networking.
Emma Tkachuk
Editor-in-Chief
etkachuk@ucmerced.edu