I moved to Bangor in North Wales in autumn of 1993 and I completed my B.Sc (Hons) in Chemistry in 1996 and my M.Sc (by research) in Environmental Chemistry in 1998 at the University of Wales, Bangor. While I was writing my research thesis for submission, I worked for the University for about nine months as a research technician at the University Farm lab where I started to really delve into instrumentation. From here, I moved to the midlands of England where I worked for an automotive extrusion manufacturer as their Senior Laboratory Tester for over two years.
While I was here, I received a job offer to work for the Ministry of Defence on one of their Naval Bases in Scotland as a Radiochemist. This was due to the work I had done with radio labeled compounds during my M.Sc research so I moved to Scotland and was fortunate to be able to do some really interesting work, some of which was onboard submarines. Alas, I cannot tell you anymore due to the nature of my work but I really enjoyed working with the Royal Navy. All my counterpart chemists were female too so an interesting niche to say the least.
I then secured a more permanent post working for Quintiles Scotland (now under the Aptuit umbrella) as a Scientist in their DMPK (Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics) Section and it was here that I cut my teeth in LC-MS/MS research and development work. Two years into this job, I got an offer from the Irish State Laboratory in early 2004 to work as a research chemist which was very fortuitous as it coincided with some family concerns back home in Dublin.
A little shy of two years later, I decided to go back to academic life and pursue my PhD which I did part time alongside my job as an Instrumentation Support Technical Officer at Dublin Institute of Technology’s Focas Research Institute. Six and a half years after starting my PhD, I defended my thesis and my doctoral degree was in the bag.
During my first year back home in Ireland, I met the woman who eventually became my wife in 2010 and in late 2014, we moved to the US. After a few road blocks and false starts, we both got jobs here in Indiana. I worked for the Indiana State Department of Health for three years as a chemist, mostly doing radiochemical and chemical threat analysis work.
The draw to return to academic life saw me take my current post at IUPUI as an Instrumentation Engineer where I manage and maintain our Departmental shared instrumentation. Although my job title says Engineer, I am still very much a chemist!
My wife Liz (who is a veterinarian) and our two cats Lady Squishington and Davos live in Indianapolis. When time permits we enjoy travel, books, trying new beers and hiking.