Cosmologist heads to the State Department

In 2007 University of Chicago graduate student Matthew Sharp took a break from his research in experimental cosmology to attend a conference of the Union of Concerned Scientists. He says the experience of meeting scientists who contribute to public policy was “like climbing out of a cave and into the sunlight.”

Now, after analyzing nuclear nonproliferation issues as a postdoc at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Sharp will continue the evolution of his career as this year’s American Institute of Physics State Department Fellow. He is working in the Office of Multilateral Nuclear and Security Affairs in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation. A few weeks into the fellowship, Sharp says one thing he has learned is that “meeting deadlines is more important than perfection.” He is already looking to extend his fellowship but says he isn’t ready to turn his back on physics forever.

Last year’s AIP State Fellow Suzanne Koon is now a postdoc in nuclear astrophysics at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. “I wanted to stay on [at State], but given the available opportunities, I chose to return to science [research],” says Koon. Among the highlights of her time at the State Department, she lists travels to Egypt for a conference of the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy and to Zambia for a workshop in celebration of the International Heliophysical Year.