UP CLOSE: Dan Allen, Physics Ph.D. student

Hometown: Brigham City, Utah
Education: B.S. Physics, Brigham Young University, 2002
Current Reseach Topic: Optical readout of impurity quantum bits via resonance fluorescence
Hobbies and Interests: Growing up in Utah my hobbies included springboard diving, hiking, skiing and soccer. Since I came to Santa Barbara I picked up several new hobbies including: fishing (with a spear), writing novels, and being a Boy Scout Leader. I also enjoy speaking Korean and playing with my kids.

About me: I Joined the Sherwin Group in the fall of 2002 after several years of undergraduate research studying nanocrystals. I chose to work in this group because of the breadth of the research and the positive atmosphere. It is fun to be working with people in so many different areas, from quantum dots and photonic crystals to THz sensors and nonlinear dynamics. Having so many options means I can investigate several different research areas while making progress on my Ph.D. -- no need to jump between research groups as my interests evolve.

I enjoy being at UCSB with my wife Amanda and children Bryce (3 1/2) and Nicole (1 1/2). We live in the family student housing only a few blocks from the beaches and the lab. (The lab is about a hundred meters from the beach.) We take Bryce to the beach to dig in the sand, or just for sunset walks by the pier. Amanda, my multi-talented wife, is always busy working for her bosses Bryce and Nicole, with church activities, and planning student housing community events. On the side she does graphic design and teaches drum and piano lessons.