I was born at 323 ppm CO2 and grew up in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
My research is in the general field of theoretical high-energy (subatomic) physics. Gravity is my favourite force, and over the years I have focused on recruiting black holes as a theoretical laboratory for investigating questions about quantum effects in systems with gravitational degrees of freedom. The theoretical toolkits I have made most use of in recent years include aspects of string theory as a theory of quantum gravity and AdS/CFT holography.
Ever since I was a graduate student, I have really enjoyed classroom teaching and mentoring students formally and informally. Over the years, I have taught a wide variety of classes, from elementary first year undergraduate courses to advanced graduate courses. I am committed to open access and to accommodating students with disabilities, so my courses all feature online lecture notes, and have done since I started teaching at UofT.
For the academic year 2023-24, I will be teaching Relativity Theory I (PHY483/1483) and Quantum Field Theory II (PHY2404). Webpages for these will be fully on Quercus, UofT's courseware website.
Bringing an appreciation of academic research to a wider audience is another academic activity I value a great deal. In the past three decades, I have given engaging talks about theoretical physics to audiences from third graders to ninety-plus year olds. I provide online archives of selected outreach talks for the lay public. See e.g. the slides and YouTube video for my most recent public lecture. I also keep a list of news media interviews.
My motivation to reach out is not just to boost my research, my field, and physics more generally, but also to exercise an academic obligation enshrined in the Education Act (1989) of my home country New Zealand: to be critic and conscience of society
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Since arriving at the University of Toronto, I have been involved in fostering inclusion of women in physics, at the departmental, university, national, and international level. From 2011-2014, I served on the APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP). From 2017-18, I chaired the CAP Committee to Encourage Women In Physics (CEWIP), recently renamed to the Division for Gender Equity in Physics (DGEP), and I have served on the CAP EDI Committee. Currently I serve on the NSERC Committee on EDI. Since acquiring disabilities in 2003 pre-tenure, I have been involved in fostering inclusion of disabled university students and researchers (see e.g. a 2012 Editorial I wrote for the APS CSWP/COM Gazette). Since coming out as transgender in 2013, I have been involved in fostering inclusion of gender and sexual minorities on campus. I list myself on lgbtphysicists.org Out List and have spoken on a number of 2SLGBTIQ+ panels on campus and at physics conferences.