About Me

Academic Journey

My name is Damien, and I'm a Mississippi Gulf Coast native with a fascination with the universe. My journey into physics began unexpectedly during the 2020 lockdown when I enrolled in an online cybersecurity program. While navigating remote lectures I rediscovered a childhood fascination with numbers, and the elegance of complex numbers drew me back to mathematics. After earning an associate degree in cybersecurity, I transferred to the Florida Institute of Technology where I'm now pursuing a bachelor's degree in Physics

Research Interests

My primary focus lies in theoretical physics, with a particular interest in quantum mechanics and gravitational theory. My academic journey has been shaped not just by coursework but by research and hands-on experience. I've recreated quantum entanglement experiments using IBM quantum computers, working on both simulation and real hardware to demonstrate violations of the CHSH inequality. This work culminated in a poster presentation of the project as a poster at SPSCon 2025.

I also have been working on researching gamma-ray burst afterglows. This has included running and analyzing large numerical simulations, building and curating training data and quality-assurance tools, and writing code for data handling and visualization. This work led to a presentation at the ASROC Annual Meeting in Taiwan. It was my first international conference, and it pushed me to sharpen how I explain the work and our technical choices.

Beyond Academics

Outside the lab, I've developed educational programming and outreach events through my work at the INFINITY Science Center, NASA's visitor center near Stennis Space Center, and as an assistant at Florida Tech's Ortega Observatory. Both roles allowed me to bring science to the public through telescope nights, interactive demos, and museum tours.

Throughout my time in academia, I've remained committed to my community. As a former president of the Society of Physics Students, I've helped organize workshops, conference trips, and outreach events aimed at supporting both future physicists and a broader public understanding of science. My long-term goal is an academic career in theoretical physics. Until then, you'll most likely find me scribbling through math, lost in equations, getting distracted by a chess game, or just looking up at the stars.