1 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:10,960 Hello, and welcome to the Physics World Weekly 2 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:11,460 Podcast. 3 00:00:11,839 --> 00:00:13,139 I'm Hamish Johnston. 4 00:00:13,654 --> 00:00:15,815 This is the second in a mini series 5 00:00:15,815 --> 00:00:16,714 of episodes 6 00:00:17,175 --> 00:00:19,274 that looks at physics careers. 7 00:00:20,214 --> 00:00:23,035 Last week, I chatted with a retired physicist 8 00:00:23,414 --> 00:00:24,314 about opportunities 9 00:00:24,695 --> 00:00:27,335 for people in the third age of their 10 00:00:27,335 --> 00:00:27,835 career. 11 00:00:28,410 --> 00:00:31,309 In this episode, I meet an early career 12 00:00:31,369 --> 00:00:34,329 physicist, and we talk about how she's made 13 00:00:34,329 --> 00:00:36,030 the transition from academia 14 00:00:36,329 --> 00:00:37,149 to industry 15 00:00:37,530 --> 00:00:41,149 by calling on her passion for science communication. 16 00:00:42,274 --> 00:00:44,534 I'm pleased to be joined here in Bristol 17 00:00:44,755 --> 00:00:45,975 by Kirsty McGee, 18 00:00:46,354 --> 00:00:50,054 who is scientific and technical writer at CRUISE, 19 00:00:50,515 --> 00:00:53,575 a quantum software company based in Germany. 20 00:00:54,359 --> 00:00:57,159 Kirsty wrote for Physics World as a member 21 00:00:57,159 --> 00:00:58,380 of our PhD 22 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:02,539 student contributor network, and we began our conversation 23 00:01:03,079 --> 00:01:05,500 by looking back at that experience. 24 00:01:14,665 --> 00:01:16,605 Hi, Kirsty. Welcome to the podcast. 25 00:01:17,145 --> 00:01:19,225 Hi. Thank you for having me. It's great 26 00:01:19,225 --> 00:01:21,420 to be here. So, Kirsty, you were, 27 00:01:21,980 --> 00:01:24,459 an early member, I think, of our or 28 00:01:24,459 --> 00:01:27,739 or perhaps an intermediate member of our Physics 29 00:01:27,739 --> 00:01:30,719 World, PhD student contributor network. 30 00:01:31,020 --> 00:01:32,319 What got you interested? 31 00:01:32,620 --> 00:01:34,319 What why did you join the network? 32 00:01:35,435 --> 00:01:37,915 Well, I always loved writing. Even as a 33 00:01:37,915 --> 00:01:40,094 child, I was, always, like, 34 00:01:40,395 --> 00:01:43,055 writing stories and, yeah, really 35 00:01:43,594 --> 00:01:45,534 enjoyed that, but I also enjoyed 36 00:01:46,075 --> 00:01:48,575 science, physics, and and maths mainly. 37 00:01:49,435 --> 00:01:50,255 And I think, 38 00:01:51,090 --> 00:01:52,930 I guess, it's kind of similar everywhere. But 39 00:01:52,930 --> 00:01:54,790 in The UK, there's a very big, 40 00:01:55,810 --> 00:01:58,209 like, idea that if you do humanities and 41 00:01:58,209 --> 00:01:58,709 arts, 42 00:01:59,170 --> 00:02:01,890 it's not employable. So you're kind of pushed 43 00:02:01,890 --> 00:02:04,450 towards science. So I ended up studying physics. 44 00:02:04,450 --> 00:02:04,930 And then, 45 00:02:05,915 --> 00:02:08,254 during my PhD, basically, I realized that 46 00:02:08,875 --> 00:02:11,275 my favorite part was the writing, so the 47 00:02:11,275 --> 00:02:13,055 reports and the papers. And, 48 00:02:13,834 --> 00:02:16,235 most of my colleagues hated writing papers because 49 00:02:16,235 --> 00:02:18,074 they were just desperate to get back in 50 00:02:18,074 --> 00:02:19,935 the lab. And for me, if I 51 00:02:21,229 --> 00:02:22,829 if I could just be the paper writer 52 00:02:22,829 --> 00:02:24,909 for a research group and write everyone's papers, 53 00:02:24,909 --> 00:02:26,989 that would be like I realized that, yeah, 54 00:02:26,989 --> 00:02:28,909 that was, like, would have been a perfect 55 00:02:28,909 --> 00:02:30,129 situation for me. 56 00:02:31,229 --> 00:02:32,909 And then a friend told me about the 57 00:02:32,909 --> 00:02:33,969 contributor network, 58 00:02:35,004 --> 00:02:38,465 and I applied and was, yeah, luckily accepted. 59 00:02:40,284 --> 00:02:41,104 And yeah. 60 00:02:41,724 --> 00:02:43,245 So so what were you doing your your 61 00:02:43,245 --> 00:02:44,384 PhD on? 62 00:02:45,004 --> 00:02:47,504 Light matter coupling and semiconductor microcavities. 63 00:02:47,965 --> 00:02:49,425 So I was doing organic 64 00:02:49,939 --> 00:02:50,439 polaritons, 65 00:02:50,819 --> 00:02:52,019 trying to get, 66 00:02:52,419 --> 00:02:55,159 achieve boresine sign condensation in different materials, 67 00:02:55,939 --> 00:02:57,639 and study that. 68 00:02:58,099 --> 00:02:59,620 So I know I know I think later 69 00:02:59,620 --> 00:03:02,340 on, you did write about that for physics 70 00:03:02,340 --> 00:03:03,164 world in, 71 00:03:03,644 --> 00:03:05,405 as a freelance rather than a, 72 00:03:05,965 --> 00:03:08,604 a student contributor. But is it did when 73 00:03:08,604 --> 00:03:10,764 you started off writing for Physics World, were 74 00:03:10,764 --> 00:03:12,064 you writing about 75 00:03:12,444 --> 00:03:14,525 polaritons and things like that? Or did you 76 00:03:14,525 --> 00:03:17,159 decide to write about things that you weren't 77 00:03:17,379 --> 00:03:18,840 studying for your PhD? 78 00:03:19,219 --> 00:03:20,599 Yeah. I tried to 79 00:03:21,620 --> 00:03:23,939 maybe, yeah, not do things that were, you 80 00:03:23,939 --> 00:03:26,520 know, completely exactly what I was doing because 81 00:03:27,379 --> 00:03:29,219 I was already reading those papers. So it 82 00:03:29,219 --> 00:03:31,275 was a nice opportunity to see what else 83 00:03:31,354 --> 00:03:32,254 was going on. 84 00:03:33,194 --> 00:03:34,715 I think the first one I did was 85 00:03:34,715 --> 00:03:36,715 ghost polaritons. I think you sent that one 86 00:03:36,715 --> 00:03:37,594 to me as, like, a, 87 00:03:38,715 --> 00:03:40,394 yeah. You'd seen it and you thought, oh, 88 00:03:40,394 --> 00:03:42,715 well, Kirsty's. This is what Kirsty does. So, 89 00:03:43,194 --> 00:03:44,394 but, yeah, I think I did a few 90 00:03:44,394 --> 00:03:46,110 on two d materials and, 91 00:03:47,870 --> 00:03:49,169 LEDs and 92 00:03:50,030 --> 00:03:53,730 things yeah. Other kind of photonic material science. 93 00:03:54,430 --> 00:03:55,010 I see. 94 00:03:55,550 --> 00:03:57,650 And did that did did it help you 95 00:03:58,264 --> 00:04:01,625 as a PhD student? Did you or was 96 00:04:01,625 --> 00:04:03,965 it something completely separate from your existence 97 00:04:04,264 --> 00:04:06,185 in the lab? Did did you find it 98 00:04:06,185 --> 00:04:06,685 useful, 99 00:04:07,865 --> 00:04:09,085 you know, in terms of 100 00:04:09,544 --> 00:04:12,930 broadening your knowledge of your area of condensed 101 00:04:12,930 --> 00:04:13,750 matter physics? 102 00:04:14,530 --> 00:04:16,769 Yeah. I think I think so. It gave 103 00:04:16,769 --> 00:04:18,870 me a better understanding of, 104 00:04:20,209 --> 00:04:22,550 yeah, the kind of broader field, I think. 105 00:04:23,410 --> 00:04:25,089 Yeah. When you're doing a PhD, you're so 106 00:04:25,089 --> 00:04:27,029 focused on this one thing where you, 107 00:04:27,555 --> 00:04:29,475 yeah, you just have your own project and 108 00:04:29,475 --> 00:04:30,855 you may be only interested 109 00:04:31,395 --> 00:04:33,875 in things that are directly related. So this 110 00:04:33,875 --> 00:04:36,435 kind of maybe, yeah, gave me a broader 111 00:04:36,435 --> 00:04:36,935 understanding 112 00:04:37,235 --> 00:04:40,035 of the field and, yeah, what other people 113 00:04:40,035 --> 00:04:41,095 were doing and maybe 114 00:04:41,639 --> 00:04:44,279 gave some ideas or some insights into what 115 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:47,259 could be transferable between them. And, 116 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:49,500 yeah. So, 117 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:51,259 as part of it, you 118 00:04:51,639 --> 00:04:54,060 once you've written your news article, you 119 00:04:54,464 --> 00:04:56,225 contact the researchers to get a kind of 120 00:04:56,225 --> 00:04:58,645 technical approval to make sure that you've represented 121 00:04:59,504 --> 00:05:01,425 everything correctly because, yeah, if you're not an 122 00:05:01,425 --> 00:05:04,725 expert, then maybe you've misinterpreted something or misrepresented 123 00:05:04,944 --> 00:05:05,605 it somehow. 124 00:05:06,632 --> 00:05:08,720 So So it was always nice to contact 125 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:11,199 them and get their feedback and kind of, 126 00:05:11,199 --> 00:05:11,699 yeah, 127 00:05:12,319 --> 00:05:12,819 understand 128 00:05:14,319 --> 00:05:15,540 a little bit more about 129 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:18,339 the people behind it and not just, like, 130 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:20,660 this is a paper from 131 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:21,620 some 132 00:05:22,754 --> 00:05:25,314 unknown researcher that's just like a name on 133 00:05:25,314 --> 00:05:26,295 a bit of paper. 134 00:05:27,634 --> 00:05:29,955 And and did did you also I mean, 135 00:05:29,955 --> 00:05:31,955 part of the the role of a student 136 00:05:31,955 --> 00:05:34,295 contributor is to read the work of other 137 00:05:34,759 --> 00:05:37,480 contributors. Did you did you do that? Did 138 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:40,139 Yeah. I I did. Yeah. So reviewing 139 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:42,759 the yeah. Because there's, like, the the three 140 00:05:42,759 --> 00:05:44,759 stage or, I guess, four stages of review 141 00:05:44,759 --> 00:05:48,074 review. You review what you've written yourself first, 142 00:05:48,455 --> 00:05:50,955 then send it to the, to the researchers 143 00:05:51,014 --> 00:05:51,835 and get a 144 00:05:53,254 --> 00:05:55,574 technical review. And then you want a review 145 00:05:55,574 --> 00:05:58,295 from someone who's not directly involved in that 146 00:05:58,295 --> 00:05:58,694 field, 147 00:05:59,175 --> 00:06:01,115 to make sure that it's gonna be accessible 148 00:06:01,175 --> 00:06:03,169 for people outside. 149 00:06:04,029 --> 00:06:05,709 Maybe, yeah, like, the readers of physics world 150 00:06:05,709 --> 00:06:09,169 are not necessarily doing PhDs in polariton. So, 151 00:06:10,269 --> 00:06:11,410 yeah. So I also, 152 00:06:12,110 --> 00:06:14,110 yeah, reviewed other people's, which was nice. I 153 00:06:14,110 --> 00:06:16,915 remember doing, like, a biophysics one or something, 154 00:06:16,915 --> 00:06:19,335 which is also something that I considered doing 155 00:06:19,715 --> 00:06:20,615 for my PhD. 156 00:06:21,875 --> 00:06:23,875 So, yeah, something that I'm interested in, but 157 00:06:23,875 --> 00:06:25,975 I haven't necessarily had the time to 158 00:06:26,355 --> 00:06:28,675 maybe, yeah, keep up with. So it was 159 00:06:28,675 --> 00:06:29,415 nice to, 160 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:31,699 yeah, get a little bit 161 00:06:32,079 --> 00:06:32,740 of variety, 162 00:06:34,479 --> 00:06:36,800 because sometimes, yeah, just like I said, you're 163 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:38,740 so focused on your own thing that, 164 00:06:40,079 --> 00:06:42,800 yeah, sometimes it's nice to actually hear what 165 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:44,019 else is going on. 166 00:06:44,524 --> 00:06:46,125 So so did you I mean, you you 167 00:06:46,125 --> 00:06:48,685 said that you enjoyed writing papers. Did you 168 00:06:48,685 --> 00:06:51,165 did you find that working with physics world, 169 00:06:51,165 --> 00:06:53,824 did that help you in that sense? And 170 00:06:54,125 --> 00:06:56,524 was it, I suppose, just more practice in 171 00:06:56,524 --> 00:06:58,785 terms of trying to explain scientific contact, 172 00:06:59,540 --> 00:07:02,199 concepts in a relatively simple way. 173 00:07:02,580 --> 00:07:04,839 Yeah. I think so. Especially, like, the, 174 00:07:06,420 --> 00:07:07,879 I think a lot of scientists 175 00:07:08,980 --> 00:07:11,860 just write, and they don't really think about 176 00:07:12,485 --> 00:07:13,605 you know? A lot of the time, the 177 00:07:13,605 --> 00:07:15,365 papers can get really long and kind of 178 00:07:15,365 --> 00:07:17,204 out of hand, and the physics world stuff 179 00:07:17,204 --> 00:07:18,264 was, like, 180 00:07:18,725 --> 00:07:20,324 you know, not a strict limit, but, you 181 00:07:20,324 --> 00:07:21,764 know, I had to make sure what I 182 00:07:21,764 --> 00:07:23,845 was saying was concise. Because I think a 183 00:07:23,845 --> 00:07:25,544 lot of the time, I would just 184 00:07:25,849 --> 00:07:28,009 read the paper and then just write, and 185 00:07:28,009 --> 00:07:29,529 then I would check it, and it would 186 00:07:29,529 --> 00:07:31,289 be twice as long as it had to 187 00:07:31,289 --> 00:07:31,789 be. 188 00:07:32,089 --> 00:07:34,430 And then so it definitely helped me in 189 00:07:34,810 --> 00:07:37,529 condensing and making things more concise. Because if 190 00:07:37,529 --> 00:07:39,785 it's too long, then people aren't 191 00:07:40,485 --> 00:07:43,544 necessarily gonna stay focused on it. They might 192 00:07:43,685 --> 00:07:45,685 lose interest if there's too much detail. So 193 00:07:45,685 --> 00:07:48,425 I think definitely and it ended up, yeah, 194 00:07:48,805 --> 00:07:50,805 transferring these skills to my thesis. I think 195 00:07:50,805 --> 00:07:52,985 I ended up having quite a short PhD 196 00:07:53,044 --> 00:07:54,024 thesis because 197 00:07:54,479 --> 00:07:54,979 I, 198 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:58,720 yeah, only put what was relevant, and I 199 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:00,639 developed these skills to be able to kind 200 00:08:00,639 --> 00:08:00,959 of, 201 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:05,539 identify what was necessary and what is just 202 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:07,599 added stuff. I think, yeah, a lot of 203 00:08:07,599 --> 00:08:09,139 the time physicists can just 204 00:08:09,524 --> 00:08:10,345 tend to 205 00:08:10,725 --> 00:08:11,225 just 206 00:08:11,764 --> 00:08:13,785 write everything that they know in it. 207 00:08:15,845 --> 00:08:18,104 But that that doesn't always make it better. 208 00:08:18,805 --> 00:08:20,644 That that was were were the the people 209 00:08:20,644 --> 00:08:23,319 who, who examined your PhD thesis. They must 210 00:08:23,319 --> 00:08:25,160 have been happy Yeah. I think so. To 211 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:27,339 get a nice concise document. 212 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:29,240 Yeah. They they did say they were like, 213 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:30,920 yeah. This is one of the the shorter 214 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:32,440 theses we've read, but, 215 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:35,659 yeah, it still had all the correct content. 216 00:08:35,845 --> 00:08:36,904 Oh, that's great. 217 00:08:37,605 --> 00:08:39,284 Yeah. Yeah. It's funny it's funny when you 218 00:08:39,284 --> 00:08:41,605 look at, you know, very old papers, you 219 00:08:41,605 --> 00:08:43,225 know, like a paper from the 220 00:08:43,524 --> 00:08:46,485 the nineteen twenties by Paul Dirac or something. 221 00:08:46,485 --> 00:08:48,264 They they, you know, they can only be 222 00:08:48,410 --> 00:08:50,490 you know, or they sometimes they're only one 223 00:08:50,490 --> 00:08:52,170 or two pages long. Yeah. And, you know, 224 00:08:52,170 --> 00:08:54,330 yeah, that's a key paper in the in 225 00:08:54,330 --> 00:08:56,730 the history of quantum mechanics. Yeah. So it 226 00:08:56,730 --> 00:08:58,910 can be done, I suppose. Definitely. 227 00:09:00,330 --> 00:09:01,470 And so after, 228 00:09:02,009 --> 00:09:04,095 you you finish your PhD, and so so 229 00:09:04,095 --> 00:09:05,714 you left the student contributor, 230 00:09:06,815 --> 00:09:08,894 program, and then you you went to Germany. 231 00:09:08,894 --> 00:09:10,495 So, actually, where where did you do your 232 00:09:10,495 --> 00:09:12,574 PhD? Was that here in The UK? Yeah. 233 00:09:12,574 --> 00:09:15,134 I did my PhD in Sheffield. Ah, okay. 234 00:09:15,134 --> 00:09:16,514 Right. That's why. Yeah. 235 00:09:16,850 --> 00:09:17,970 Okay. And then, 236 00:09:18,370 --> 00:09:20,230 you went to Germany 237 00:09:21,009 --> 00:09:23,090 Yes. And did a post doc. So what 238 00:09:23,090 --> 00:09:25,110 what was that were you also looking at 239 00:09:25,330 --> 00:09:25,830 polaritons, 240 00:09:26,370 --> 00:09:28,290 condensed matter physics, that sort of thing in 241 00:09:28,290 --> 00:09:30,785 your post doc? Yeah. So I moved to 242 00:09:30,785 --> 00:09:31,285 Leipzig, 243 00:09:31,985 --> 00:09:34,725 which is, like, an hour south of Berlin. 244 00:09:36,144 --> 00:09:37,985 And, yeah, I was doing so in my 245 00:09:37,985 --> 00:09:41,105 PhD, I did organic polaritons. And then, this 246 00:09:41,105 --> 00:09:43,205 one, the postdoc, I was doing, 247 00:09:43,820 --> 00:09:46,160 inorganic polaritons, so copper iodide, 248 00:09:46,540 --> 00:09:49,440 and kind of related copper halide materials. 249 00:09:51,660 --> 00:09:54,160 But, yeah, basically yeah. I was I started 250 00:09:54,299 --> 00:09:56,379 writing I wrote a grant application there, and 251 00:09:56,379 --> 00:09:58,460 I enjoyed writing the grant application. But I 252 00:09:58,460 --> 00:10:01,174 think at some point during that, I realized 253 00:10:02,434 --> 00:10:04,355 that I didn't really want to be doing 254 00:10:04,355 --> 00:10:05,894 research anymore. And, 255 00:10:06,674 --> 00:10:08,674 yeah, I just didn't have the drive, I 256 00:10:08,674 --> 00:10:10,995 think, needed for research. I felt that everything 257 00:10:10,995 --> 00:10:13,920 was a bit too focused and too specific, 258 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:15,700 and I kind of I wanted to do 259 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:18,879 something where I would get a broader knowledge 260 00:10:18,879 --> 00:10:21,920 of science and also, yeah, the chance the 261 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:24,664 chance to do writing because that was always 262 00:10:25,044 --> 00:10:27,144 the the part that I enjoyed the most. 263 00:10:27,365 --> 00:10:29,225 And and so you you've stayed in Germany, 264 00:10:29,284 --> 00:10:31,205 and you work for a a a company 265 00:10:31,205 --> 00:10:33,384 called Cruise, Cruise with a q. 266 00:10:33,924 --> 00:10:35,544 Yeah. I do. Quantum Cruise Control. 267 00:10:36,084 --> 00:10:38,964 Oh, I see. Oh, okay. Gotcha. Quantum Cruise 268 00:10:38,964 --> 00:10:39,464 Control. 269 00:10:40,220 --> 00:10:41,820 Did did did you come up with that? 270 00:10:41,820 --> 00:10:44,220 No. No. That's that's a shame. That's before 271 00:10:44,220 --> 00:10:44,879 my time. 272 00:10:45,899 --> 00:10:46,139 So, 273 00:10:47,500 --> 00:10:49,500 is is that also based in Leipzig or 274 00:10:49,500 --> 00:10:51,279 is that in a different part of Germany? 275 00:10:51,660 --> 00:10:53,660 It's actually a remote company. So it's, 276 00:10:54,300 --> 00:10:54,800 based, 277 00:10:55,924 --> 00:10:58,245 in Germany, but we have people all over 278 00:10:58,245 --> 00:11:00,105 Europe. So and I think maybe 279 00:11:01,284 --> 00:11:03,365 just under half or about 50% of the 280 00:11:03,365 --> 00:11:05,845 people. There's only 22 people, I think, right 281 00:11:05,845 --> 00:11:07,845 now. But, just under half the people live 282 00:11:07,845 --> 00:11:10,240 in Germany, and we have people in France, 283 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:10,899 in Italy, 284 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:12,340 Spain, 285 00:11:13,279 --> 00:11:14,500 all over. And, 286 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:18,000 yeah, I think the the idea is that, 287 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:21,059 they want the best people. And 288 00:11:21,495 --> 00:11:24,054 if you are restricting people to living in 289 00:11:24,054 --> 00:11:24,955 a certain city 290 00:11:25,335 --> 00:11:27,355 or moving to a certain city, then 291 00:11:27,654 --> 00:11:28,634 that maybe, 292 00:11:29,254 --> 00:11:30,855 you lose a lot of candidates that way. 293 00:11:30,855 --> 00:11:32,475 And because it's a software company, 294 00:11:32,774 --> 00:11:34,315 we don't need labs or 295 00:11:35,340 --> 00:11:37,039 people can just work from a computer. 296 00:11:37,580 --> 00:11:40,860 And there's yeah. We have collaborations with labs 297 00:11:40,860 --> 00:11:41,259 and, 298 00:11:41,660 --> 00:11:42,559 access to, 299 00:11:43,820 --> 00:11:46,539 for example, quantum processing units. We our main 300 00:11:46,539 --> 00:11:47,039 focus, 301 00:11:48,059 --> 00:11:51,074 has been quantum computing. So we have access 302 00:11:51,074 --> 00:11:53,794 to QPUs in various labs around Germany and 303 00:11:53,794 --> 00:11:56,054 elsewhere. But, yeah, it's 304 00:11:56,595 --> 00:11:59,315 yeah. All over. I see. Okay. And so 305 00:11:59,315 --> 00:12:00,995 so you you sort of hinted at what 306 00:12:00,995 --> 00:12:02,214 the company does, quantum 307 00:12:02,850 --> 00:12:05,649 cruise control. What's, what what exactly is that 308 00:12:05,649 --> 00:12:06,549 about? How 309 00:12:07,169 --> 00:12:08,629 what what what are you controlling? 310 00:12:10,289 --> 00:12:12,850 So the idea is that the so, yeah, 311 00:12:12,850 --> 00:12:15,809 our main focus has been quantum computing. Until 312 00:12:15,809 --> 00:12:16,784 recently, we've, 313 00:12:18,065 --> 00:12:20,004 in the, yeah, last year or so, 314 00:12:20,384 --> 00:12:22,704 maybe longer, maybe almost two years, we've been 315 00:12:22,704 --> 00:12:23,204 doing, 316 00:12:23,904 --> 00:12:27,365 stuff for magnetic resonance. So MRI, NMR, EPR, 317 00:12:28,065 --> 00:12:30,569 and, some quantum sensing. But the kind of 318 00:12:30,689 --> 00:12:32,789 the majority of the work until now, 319 00:12:33,569 --> 00:12:35,110 has been quantum computing. 320 00:12:35,490 --> 00:12:38,049 And the idea is that we write machine 321 00:12:38,049 --> 00:12:40,850 learning software to aid researchers in the lab 322 00:12:40,850 --> 00:12:41,669 and to help, 323 00:12:43,024 --> 00:12:46,065 accelerate development. So one of our software does 324 00:12:46,065 --> 00:12:46,565 automated, 325 00:12:47,105 --> 00:12:49,924 experiments. So, for calibration and characterisation 326 00:12:50,705 --> 00:12:51,365 of qubits, 327 00:12:52,304 --> 00:12:55,409 so that instead of researchers having to constantly 328 00:12:55,409 --> 00:12:57,809 be redoing these calibration and bring up, 329 00:12:58,929 --> 00:12:59,429 experiments, 330 00:12:59,809 --> 00:13:02,529 then you can the software will run them 331 00:13:02,529 --> 00:13:04,450 overnight and do the analysis, and then you 332 00:13:04,450 --> 00:13:06,929 can the researchers have more time to actually 333 00:13:06,929 --> 00:13:07,429 do 334 00:13:08,445 --> 00:13:10,304 innovative science rather than, 335 00:13:10,845 --> 00:13:13,644 yeah, doing this kind of repetitive stuff that 336 00:13:13,644 --> 00:13:15,884 you, always have to do. We also have 337 00:13:15,884 --> 00:13:17,504 lots. We have a software 338 00:13:17,964 --> 00:13:21,670 for modeling, so creating digital twins. So when 339 00:13:21,670 --> 00:13:23,850 you have your experiment and your theory, 340 00:13:25,590 --> 00:13:26,250 you making 341 00:13:26,790 --> 00:13:29,830 usually the assumption that everything's perfect, and then 342 00:13:29,830 --> 00:13:32,230 the experiment and the model never match. So 343 00:13:32,230 --> 00:13:33,990 the idea is that we use machine learning 344 00:13:33,990 --> 00:13:34,490 to 345 00:13:35,535 --> 00:13:37,934 create a much better model of your or 346 00:13:37,934 --> 00:13:39,875 a digital twin of your device, 347 00:13:40,894 --> 00:13:43,134 takes into account things like noise and other 348 00:13:43,134 --> 00:13:45,315 errors so that you can understand, 349 00:13:45,774 --> 00:13:47,615 yeah, where these errors are coming from and 350 00:13:47,615 --> 00:13:49,634 how to, for example, increase your fidelities. 351 00:13:51,039 --> 00:13:53,700 I see. And the the the machine learning 352 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:56,240 testing system, is that is that something that 353 00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:58,559 it does it sort of make decisions as 354 00:13:58,559 --> 00:14:00,899 it goes? It sort of tests and then 355 00:14:00,959 --> 00:14:02,720 it thinks, oh, that voltage is a bit 356 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:04,720 too low, so I better do another test. 357 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:06,514 Is it is that the sort of thing 358 00:14:06,514 --> 00:14:09,075 where it's it's it's sort of making decisions 359 00:14:09,075 --> 00:14:10,054 as it's left 360 00:14:10,595 --> 00:14:11,095 overnight? 361 00:14:11,554 --> 00:14:14,855 Yeah. So it's doing gradient based optimization. 362 00:14:16,115 --> 00:14:18,034 I don't know too much about that. I'm 363 00:14:18,034 --> 00:14:18,389 not 364 00:14:19,269 --> 00:14:21,429 oh, I mean, by training, I'm a scientist, 365 00:14:21,429 --> 00:14:23,049 but for a cruise, I'm not a scientist. 366 00:14:25,029 --> 00:14:27,049 But yeah. So things like, 367 00:14:28,470 --> 00:14:29,529 yeah, the experiment 368 00:14:30,070 --> 00:14:32,970 design is done with machine learning. So, yeah, 369 00:14:33,154 --> 00:14:35,235 figuring out what order to run the experiments 370 00:14:35,235 --> 00:14:37,475 in and how to to do this kind 371 00:14:37,475 --> 00:14:38,294 of thing and, 372 00:14:38,995 --> 00:14:39,495 yeah, 373 00:14:40,115 --> 00:14:40,615 trying 374 00:14:41,394 --> 00:14:44,754 different parameters to try and optimize. So it 375 00:14:44,754 --> 00:14:47,710 doesn't just, for example, change the qubit frequency, 376 00:14:47,769 --> 00:14:49,149 like sweep through parameters 377 00:14:49,529 --> 00:14:50,750 individually. It will 378 00:14:51,129 --> 00:14:51,629 optimize 379 00:14:52,090 --> 00:14:52,590 simultaneously 380 00:14:53,049 --> 00:14:53,549 for 381 00:14:53,929 --> 00:14:54,750 80 parameters 382 00:14:55,290 --> 00:14:56,269 in a way that, 383 00:14:57,290 --> 00:14:59,309 yeah, a human can really do. 384 00:14:59,769 --> 00:15:02,264 Right. I see. And so it proves your 385 00:15:02,264 --> 00:15:05,304 role. You're a a science writer or scientific 386 00:15:05,304 --> 00:15:07,705 writer? That's Yeah. So so what exactly does 387 00:15:07,705 --> 00:15:08,205 that 388 00:15:08,664 --> 00:15:09,164 entail? 389 00:15:10,345 --> 00:15:11,085 So much. 390 00:15:12,664 --> 00:15:14,825 Yeah. So, yeah, technically, the, 391 00:15:16,029 --> 00:15:18,830 scientific writer, it's just me. Like I said, 392 00:15:18,830 --> 00:15:20,529 we're a small company. So, 393 00:15:22,029 --> 00:15:23,090 yeah, I do 394 00:15:23,470 --> 00:15:26,590 the documentation for the software, so how to 395 00:15:26,669 --> 00:15:28,610 kind of how to guides and 396 00:15:28,985 --> 00:15:32,284 background glossary, all the kind of, yeah, documentation 397 00:15:32,345 --> 00:15:34,824 that people customers using the software would need 398 00:15:34,824 --> 00:15:35,324 to, 399 00:15:36,105 --> 00:15:36,924 to use it. 400 00:15:37,384 --> 00:15:39,865 I also do all of the marketing, so 401 00:15:39,865 --> 00:15:41,725 press releases and news articles, 402 00:15:42,424 --> 00:15:43,804 blogs, the social media. 403 00:15:44,509 --> 00:15:47,330 Recently, I've started doing the website design, 404 00:15:48,830 --> 00:15:51,870 and, making flyers for the conferences that we 405 00:15:51,870 --> 00:15:52,910 go to and, 406 00:15:53,790 --> 00:15:57,009 yeah, videos and yeah. So it's quite 407 00:15:58,004 --> 00:16:00,004 it's quite weird. I mean, I I love 408 00:16:00,004 --> 00:16:01,544 it. It's really fun. But yeah. 409 00:16:02,644 --> 00:16:05,684 Yeah. Just designing a website is not something 410 00:16:05,684 --> 00:16:07,684 that I thought that I would be doing. 411 00:16:07,684 --> 00:16:09,684 But yeah. I I really like the variety 412 00:16:09,684 --> 00:16:10,184 of 413 00:16:10,725 --> 00:16:12,345 the creativity, I think. 414 00:16:14,279 --> 00:16:17,399 Then maybe in research. There there's obviously an 415 00:16:17,399 --> 00:16:20,039 element of creativity when you have to come 416 00:16:20,039 --> 00:16:21,500 up with plans and maybe 417 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:23,100 problem solve 418 00:16:23,559 --> 00:16:25,639 why things aren't working, what you could do 419 00:16:25,639 --> 00:16:26,940 instead. But yet, 420 00:16:27,705 --> 00:16:29,404 I'm really enjoying, yeah, 421 00:16:30,585 --> 00:16:32,585 getting to kind of mess not mess around 422 00:16:32,585 --> 00:16:33,725 with this stuff, but, 423 00:16:34,904 --> 00:16:36,605 yeah, it's something that 424 00:16:37,384 --> 00:16:39,065 I never had the chance to do before. 425 00:16:39,065 --> 00:16:41,965 And it's really interesting learning how to, 426 00:16:42,299 --> 00:16:44,620 yeah, things like what makes a website good 427 00:16:44,620 --> 00:16:45,120 and 428 00:16:45,500 --> 00:16:48,080 what's gonna catch people's attention on social media. 429 00:16:48,220 --> 00:16:48,720 And, 430 00:16:49,980 --> 00:16:52,539 yeah. And I also go I've been going 431 00:16:52,539 --> 00:16:54,399 to conferences recently. So, 432 00:16:55,545 --> 00:16:57,945 we usually have a table, a booth at 433 00:16:57,945 --> 00:17:00,345 a conference, and then it's my job to 434 00:17:00,345 --> 00:17:01,404 explain to people 435 00:17:01,785 --> 00:17:03,865 what our company is, what our what our 436 00:17:03,865 --> 00:17:05,404 software is, how it works, 437 00:17:06,345 --> 00:17:08,205 to maybe potential customers 438 00:17:08,599 --> 00:17:09,980 from industry or academia 439 00:17:10,519 --> 00:17:13,799 and, yeah, maybe PhD students or whoever is 440 00:17:13,799 --> 00:17:14,299 interested. 441 00:17:16,279 --> 00:17:18,359 And yeah. So I have I have a 442 00:17:18,359 --> 00:17:19,900 lot of different tasks, but, 443 00:17:20,695 --> 00:17:21,515 yeah, I 444 00:17:22,055 --> 00:17:24,055 think yeah. I feel like I'm always I've 445 00:17:24,055 --> 00:17:26,215 been at Cruise now for nearly a year 446 00:17:26,215 --> 00:17:27,994 and a half, and I still feel like 447 00:17:28,535 --> 00:17:31,575 I'm always learning new things, which is really 448 00:17:31,575 --> 00:17:33,654 nice. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, I I did 449 00:17:33,654 --> 00:17:36,569 see you at the, the Global Physics Summit 450 00:17:36,569 --> 00:17:37,390 in California. 451 00:17:38,890 --> 00:17:40,890 I mean, that's my my only big trip 452 00:17:40,890 --> 00:17:42,669 of the year, but it sounds like you're 453 00:17:42,730 --> 00:17:44,650 you're going to lots of conferences. Are you 454 00:17:44,809 --> 00:17:46,089 is it would it be like one a 455 00:17:46,089 --> 00:17:46,909 month or 456 00:17:47,289 --> 00:17:49,125 one every few weeks? Is it is it 457 00:17:49,125 --> 00:17:51,924 a pretty busy schedule? Not quite that busy. 458 00:17:51,924 --> 00:17:52,644 So I was at, 459 00:17:54,164 --> 00:17:56,345 spin qubit six in Australia 460 00:17:56,644 --> 00:17:57,144 in 461 00:17:57,605 --> 00:18:00,744 November and then at the APS. And 462 00:18:01,500 --> 00:18:02,000 next 463 00:18:02,859 --> 00:18:04,940 week or in a few weeks, I'm going 464 00:18:04,940 --> 00:18:07,820 to quantum matter in France. Right. And then 465 00:18:07,820 --> 00:18:10,240 that's all that's lined up for now. But, 466 00:18:11,500 --> 00:18:12,640 Wow. Well, California, 467 00:18:12,940 --> 00:18:15,735 Australia, France, that's not Yeah. It's not bad. 468 00:18:15,775 --> 00:18:18,095 Too bad. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it sounds 469 00:18:18,095 --> 00:18:19,154 to me like, 470 00:18:19,695 --> 00:18:22,674 you're you're sort of using and, I suppose, 471 00:18:22,894 --> 00:18:25,615 developing some of the skills that you you 472 00:18:25,615 --> 00:18:28,390 picked up as a contributor at Physics World 473 00:18:28,529 --> 00:18:30,130 in your in your current job. Is that 474 00:18:30,130 --> 00:18:31,890 right? I mean, did did it did it 475 00:18:31,890 --> 00:18:34,049 give you a decent grounding for what you're 476 00:18:34,049 --> 00:18:35,429 doing at the moment? 477 00:18:36,130 --> 00:18:38,369 Yeah. For sure. It was yeah. I think 478 00:18:38,369 --> 00:18:39,490 I developed a lot of, 479 00:18:40,684 --> 00:18:42,845 yeah, definitely developed a lot of skills at, 480 00:18:43,565 --> 00:18:44,065 being 481 00:18:44,444 --> 00:18:45,664 the student contributor. 482 00:18:46,125 --> 00:18:46,944 And I think 483 00:18:47,804 --> 00:18:48,625 it's also 484 00:18:49,244 --> 00:18:51,804 probably one of the main reasons that I 485 00:18:51,804 --> 00:18:52,924 got the job. 486 00:18:53,244 --> 00:18:54,865 In the first place, I did. 487 00:18:56,109 --> 00:18:58,190 Yeah. After I started the physics world stuff, 488 00:18:58,190 --> 00:18:59,170 I also worked, 489 00:19:00,029 --> 00:19:00,529 materials, 490 00:19:00,910 --> 00:19:01,410 science, 491 00:19:02,429 --> 00:19:03,250 research company, 492 00:19:03,630 --> 00:19:04,690 as a science 493 00:19:05,069 --> 00:19:05,569 writer, 494 00:19:06,589 --> 00:19:08,269 which I think, yeah, they saw the physics 495 00:19:08,269 --> 00:19:09,809 world experience and 496 00:19:10,174 --> 00:19:12,174 then, yeah, were impressed by that. And then 497 00:19:12,174 --> 00:19:12,974 my new job, 498 00:19:13,375 --> 00:19:15,394 they were also, yeah, very interested 499 00:19:15,934 --> 00:19:18,355 in the in the interviews asking about 500 00:19:18,815 --> 00:19:20,815 what I'd done at physics worlds. And, 501 00:19:21,454 --> 00:19:23,230 I think, yeah, it's a if I hadn't 502 00:19:23,230 --> 00:19:24,210 had that experience, 503 00:19:25,869 --> 00:19:27,230 I don't know, yeah, what 504 00:19:28,589 --> 00:19:30,109 I don't think I would be where I 505 00:19:30,109 --> 00:19:32,829 am now. Oh, well, that's well, that's great 506 00:19:32,829 --> 00:19:34,429 because, you know, that was one of the 507 00:19:34,429 --> 00:19:36,990 aims of of setting up the contributor network 508 00:19:36,990 --> 00:19:38,994 is to, you know, sort of help, 509 00:19:39,615 --> 00:19:40,514 early career 510 00:19:40,974 --> 00:19:42,194 physicists gain, 511 00:19:42,575 --> 00:19:44,355 you know, skills that, you know, from 512 00:19:44,815 --> 00:19:47,694 beyond their lab skills and scientific skills. So 513 00:19:47,694 --> 00:19:49,934 it's it's really it's really good to hear 514 00:19:49,934 --> 00:19:51,890 that it's that it's worked out. So so 515 00:19:51,890 --> 00:19:52,609 when you're, 516 00:19:53,170 --> 00:19:53,829 you know, 517 00:19:54,130 --> 00:19:57,170 writing material, let's say, for for the company, 518 00:19:57,170 --> 00:19:59,250 who who are you writing for? Are the 519 00:19:59,250 --> 00:19:59,750 the 520 00:20:01,410 --> 00:20:04,230 I mean, is is is your is Cruise's 521 00:20:04,289 --> 00:20:05,750 software used by 522 00:20:06,365 --> 00:20:08,065 quantum computer experts, 523 00:20:08,445 --> 00:20:10,924 or is it a wider range of of 524 00:20:10,924 --> 00:20:12,305 people that you need to 525 00:20:12,684 --> 00:20:13,664 communicate with? 526 00:20:14,205 --> 00:20:15,744 Yeah. It's a bit of a mix. 527 00:20:17,005 --> 00:20:19,505 Yeah. So there's obviously, yeah, the quantum researchers, 528 00:20:19,644 --> 00:20:20,144 so 529 00:20:20,460 --> 00:20:22,559 PhD students, postdocs, professors, 530 00:20:24,940 --> 00:20:27,900 in other industries or people working at other 531 00:20:27,900 --> 00:20:30,539 companies. We work quite closely with a lot 532 00:20:30,539 --> 00:20:33,704 of the kind of main quantum hardware because, 533 00:20:33,784 --> 00:20:36,444 yeah, we're software, but we need hardware and, 534 00:20:36,825 --> 00:20:39,005 yeah, QPUs to test on. So, 535 00:20:40,345 --> 00:20:42,184 yeah. And then, obviously, we're, yeah, doing the 536 00:20:42,184 --> 00:20:44,904 MRI stuff and quantum sensing. So it's it's 537 00:20:44,904 --> 00:20:46,684 a big audience, and it depends 538 00:20:47,130 --> 00:20:50,109 exactly what I'm doing, who I'm writing for. 539 00:20:52,089 --> 00:20:54,410 So, yeah, yeah, it kinda depends what I'm 540 00:20:54,410 --> 00:20:54,910 writing, 541 00:20:55,849 --> 00:20:58,329 who who it's aimed at. But in general, 542 00:20:58,329 --> 00:20:59,869 I'm trying to make it understandable 543 00:21:00,250 --> 00:21:00,750 to, 544 00:21:01,845 --> 00:21:04,744 hopefully, most people that are would be interested 545 00:21:04,964 --> 00:21:07,525 or that it's aimed at. But, yeah, it's 546 00:21:07,525 --> 00:21:09,365 kind of yeah. It's difficult, and I never 547 00:21:09,365 --> 00:21:09,865 know, 548 00:21:11,044 --> 00:21:13,865 I guess, if it's how well it's landed 549 00:21:14,005 --> 00:21:14,505 with 550 00:21:14,884 --> 00:21:17,640 anyone. You can see the the metrics on 551 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:19,660 the website or LinkedIn or 552 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:21,980 things like this, but it's hard to know, 553 00:21:22,759 --> 00:21:24,920 yeah, if people have read it, if people 554 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:26,039 read it and thought it was good, if 555 00:21:26,039 --> 00:21:27,720 people read it and thought, I don't understand 556 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:28,860 this, if people 557 00:21:29,474 --> 00:21:31,555 maybe thought it was too basic or too 558 00:21:31,555 --> 00:21:32,535 detailed. Or, 559 00:21:33,234 --> 00:21:34,615 so I kind of yeah. 560 00:21:35,394 --> 00:21:37,494 I guess, usually, just see what other 561 00:21:37,875 --> 00:21:39,974 other people are doing and try and, 562 00:21:40,994 --> 00:21:41,974 learn from that. 563 00:21:42,690 --> 00:21:44,369 So so it sounds like you're doing a 564 00:21:44,369 --> 00:21:46,230 a sort of a wide range of things. 565 00:21:46,289 --> 00:21:47,809 Is there one thing that you're doing at 566 00:21:47,809 --> 00:21:50,210 the the moment that really excites you the 567 00:21:50,210 --> 00:21:50,710 most? 568 00:21:51,169 --> 00:21:52,369 A a project or, 569 00:21:52,849 --> 00:21:55,029 something new maybe that you're working on. 570 00:21:55,775 --> 00:21:56,835 Yeah. I think 571 00:21:57,294 --> 00:21:59,294 I think I would say the the website, 572 00:21:59,855 --> 00:22:02,174 trying to, yeah, decide because I think it, 573 00:22:02,174 --> 00:22:04,034 yeah, pulls together a lot of, 574 00:22:04,894 --> 00:22:07,394 different aspects and maybe different skills 575 00:22:07,799 --> 00:22:10,200 that I have or that I want to 576 00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:10,700 develop, 577 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:11,820 because you've 578 00:22:12,120 --> 00:22:14,680 got to decide the content and you've got 579 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:16,380 to decide so this is, like, 580 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:20,200 description. So it's including, yeah, obviously, writing, and 581 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:21,580 then you've got to decide, 582 00:22:22,414 --> 00:22:23,474 what you wanna show. 583 00:22:24,414 --> 00:22:26,575 So the kind of marketing aspect of it, 584 00:22:26,575 --> 00:22:28,494 do we show metrics? Do we show data? 585 00:22:28,494 --> 00:22:29,794 What data do we show? 586 00:22:30,414 --> 00:22:32,734 And then also the design, which is, yeah, 587 00:22:32,734 --> 00:22:35,214 something that's quite new to me. And I'm 588 00:22:35,214 --> 00:22:35,970 not like, 589 00:22:36,769 --> 00:22:38,849 you know, we have a designer who makes 590 00:22:38,849 --> 00:22:42,210 it pretty and has, you know, official training 591 00:22:42,210 --> 00:22:44,289 in design, but I kind of, I guess, 592 00:22:44,289 --> 00:22:46,130 come up with a basic scheme and how 593 00:22:46,130 --> 00:22:48,644 it looks. And that's quite fun to just 594 00:22:48,724 --> 00:22:51,065 play around with things and be like, oh, 595 00:22:51,684 --> 00:22:53,924 you know, they should go here and moving 596 00:22:53,924 --> 00:22:57,065 stuff around and, yeah, trying to, I guess, 597 00:22:58,325 --> 00:23:00,404 put everything together in a way that someone 598 00:23:00,404 --> 00:23:02,650 would look at and be like, wow. This 599 00:23:02,650 --> 00:23:03,710 is really interesting. 600 00:23:04,650 --> 00:23:06,490 And yeah. So I'm really enjoying kind of 601 00:23:06,490 --> 00:23:08,650 figuring figuring that out. And I guess I'm 602 00:23:08,650 --> 00:23:11,309 looking at other websites and seeing what other 603 00:23:11,450 --> 00:23:14,089 companies are doing and but you also don't 604 00:23:14,089 --> 00:23:15,069 want it to be 605 00:23:15,625 --> 00:23:16,904 too similar. You've got to come up with 606 00:23:16,904 --> 00:23:19,304 your own brand identity, which is something that 607 00:23:19,304 --> 00:23:21,784 I've been it's kind of been left up 608 00:23:21,784 --> 00:23:22,924 to me, which is 609 00:23:23,224 --> 00:23:25,944 was originally quite daunting because I don't have 610 00:23:25,944 --> 00:23:26,184 any, 611 00:23:27,670 --> 00:23:31,109 official training in marketing or these kind of 612 00:23:31,109 --> 00:23:33,670 things. So at first, I was like, oh, 613 00:23:33,670 --> 00:23:34,970 you want me to decide? 614 00:23:35,430 --> 00:23:37,670 But, yeah, it's been fun kind of figuring 615 00:23:37,670 --> 00:23:38,650 it out. And, 616 00:23:40,150 --> 00:23:40,650 yeah. 617 00:23:41,234 --> 00:23:43,234 So you you mentioned that you, you know, 618 00:23:43,234 --> 00:23:45,575 you you you started off without any, 619 00:23:46,595 --> 00:23:49,634 I suppose, formal training in marketing. Is that 620 00:23:49,634 --> 00:23:50,934 is that something that you've 621 00:23:51,234 --> 00:23:53,875 you've you've become interested in in your year 622 00:23:53,875 --> 00:23:55,059 and a half? I mean, have you have 623 00:23:55,059 --> 00:23:57,140 you done courses on marketing, or have you 624 00:23:57,140 --> 00:23:59,380 read books? Or are you just picking it 625 00:23:59,380 --> 00:24:00,900 up as you go along, or is it 626 00:24:00,900 --> 00:24:02,519 a bit of all three? 627 00:24:03,619 --> 00:24:05,460 Mainly picking it up as I go along. 628 00:24:05,460 --> 00:24:06,840 I've been doing, yeah, obviously, 629 00:24:07,539 --> 00:24:09,695 reading online, like, for now I had to 630 00:24:09,695 --> 00:24:12,015 write, how to write press releases, how to 631 00:24:12,015 --> 00:24:15,295 write social media posts, etcetera. But, yeah, I 632 00:24:15,295 --> 00:24:18,275 was I've actually been looking recently at, official 633 00:24:18,734 --> 00:24:19,234 formal 634 00:24:19,775 --> 00:24:20,275 courses. 635 00:24:21,055 --> 00:24:23,855 I met someone at a conference from another 636 00:24:23,855 --> 00:24:26,929 company, and he was kind of he's, yeah, 637 00:24:26,929 --> 00:24:27,589 a marketing, 638 00:24:29,409 --> 00:24:29,909 person. 639 00:24:30,929 --> 00:24:32,609 And he's kind of the opposite to me. 640 00:24:32,609 --> 00:24:34,769 He has official training. He was saying that 641 00:24:34,769 --> 00:24:36,849 he had official training in marketing, but not 642 00:24:36,849 --> 00:24:39,565 in quantum physics. And he's kind of had 643 00:24:39,565 --> 00:24:41,404 to learn the quantum physics side of things 644 00:24:41,404 --> 00:24:42,384 just on the job. 645 00:24:43,404 --> 00:24:45,264 But he kind of recommended 646 00:24:45,565 --> 00:24:47,724 that yeah. He'd said that, yeah, there's just 647 00:24:47,724 --> 00:24:49,664 so much to know that you can't really, 648 00:24:50,524 --> 00:24:53,024 yeah, pick it up, I guess, yourself. So 649 00:24:53,039 --> 00:24:55,600 yeah, I've been looking into some courses trying 650 00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:57,840 to figure out what what level or whether 651 00:24:58,799 --> 00:25:01,039 yeah. How how deep and intense with that 652 00:25:01,039 --> 00:25:02,480 I wanna go if I just want it 653 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:04,100 to be something on the side or, 654 00:25:05,755 --> 00:25:06,654 yeah, how 655 00:25:07,595 --> 00:25:09,694 yeah. If I can find one that's specifically 656 00:25:09,755 --> 00:25:12,154 for science related things or just general marketing 657 00:25:12,154 --> 00:25:13,595 or I mean, there's so much out there 658 00:25:13,595 --> 00:25:15,535 that it's hard to kind of 659 00:25:16,154 --> 00:25:16,654 yeah. 660 00:25:17,509 --> 00:25:19,190 Yeah. It's funny. We we we, you know, 661 00:25:19,190 --> 00:25:21,049 we were talking the other day about, 662 00:25:22,309 --> 00:25:24,549 you know, the fact that, I mean, this 663 00:25:24,549 --> 00:25:26,309 doesn't apply to you. It I suppose it 664 00:25:26,309 --> 00:25:27,830 applies to the person you met at the 665 00:25:27,830 --> 00:25:30,570 conference that, you know, as the quantum computing 666 00:25:30,630 --> 00:25:32,650 industry grows, there's more and more 667 00:25:33,005 --> 00:25:36,705 non physics people coming in. And, you know, 668 00:25:36,765 --> 00:25:37,664 we were thinking 669 00:25:38,045 --> 00:25:38,924 there's got to be a, 670 00:25:39,805 --> 00:25:40,465 you know, 671 00:25:41,085 --> 00:25:44,765 an opportunity there, a business opportunity for coming 672 00:25:44,765 --> 00:25:46,144 up with a way of teaching 673 00:25:46,900 --> 00:25:49,480 somebody like that. You know, just enough 674 00:25:49,779 --> 00:25:52,900 quantum physics that they're not overwhelmed by it, 675 00:25:52,900 --> 00:25:55,140 but they can, you know, chat with somebody 676 00:25:55,140 --> 00:25:56,420 at a conference or, 677 00:25:57,220 --> 00:25:59,940 you know, at least feel confident about talking 678 00:25:59,940 --> 00:26:00,759 about quantum. 679 00:26:01,264 --> 00:26:01,764 So, 680 00:26:02,144 --> 00:26:04,224 yeah. It's, it it you know, it is 681 00:26:04,224 --> 00:26:06,544 interesting, you know, how the industry is is 682 00:26:06,544 --> 00:26:08,784 sort of moving along, and it's it's not 683 00:26:08,784 --> 00:26:09,284 just 684 00:26:09,825 --> 00:26:10,964 physicists anymore, 685 00:26:11,505 --> 00:26:12,085 I suppose. 686 00:26:12,625 --> 00:26:13,744 Yeah. Definitely. It's, 687 00:26:14,464 --> 00:26:16,859 yeah. I mean, the kind of yeah, being 688 00:26:16,859 --> 00:26:18,579 at these conferences, I've been able to meet 689 00:26:18,579 --> 00:26:20,420 so many people, and it's really interesting to 690 00:26:20,420 --> 00:26:22,740 see to hear where everyone's come from and 691 00:26:22,740 --> 00:26:24,819 what they're doing now and how they they 692 00:26:24,819 --> 00:26:25,319 managed, 693 00:26:25,940 --> 00:26:27,539 yeah, how they how they got there. 694 00:26:28,500 --> 00:26:28,964 And, 695 00:26:29,365 --> 00:26:31,784 yeah, nice to actually see such variety 696 00:26:32,724 --> 00:26:34,724 in people's paths and see that 697 00:26:35,125 --> 00:26:35,625 yeah. 698 00:26:36,404 --> 00:26:38,644 Yeah. Just that you don't have to always 699 00:26:38,644 --> 00:26:40,744 do this traditional route where you 700 00:26:41,140 --> 00:26:43,779 study physics and like, there are other ways 701 00:26:43,779 --> 00:26:45,619 to kind of you can move around. It's 702 00:26:45,619 --> 00:26:48,119 not, oh, I studied this, and now I'm 703 00:26:48,179 --> 00:26:49,700 in this for the rest of my life. 704 00:26:49,700 --> 00:26:51,940 You can kind of move sideways a little 705 00:26:51,940 --> 00:26:53,319 bit sometimes as well. 706 00:26:54,345 --> 00:26:56,025 Well, that's great. That let's, 707 00:26:56,585 --> 00:26:57,785 let's move on. 708 00:26:58,345 --> 00:26:59,724 In physics world, 709 00:27:00,184 --> 00:27:01,244 in in print, 710 00:27:01,785 --> 00:27:03,964 we have a section or a a feature 711 00:27:04,265 --> 00:27:05,884 called ask me anything. 712 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:09,119 And, it's sort of a misnomer because, 713 00:27:10,079 --> 00:27:12,720 we don't actually ask people anything. We ask 714 00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:14,500 them three specific questions, 715 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:16,099 and we ask everybody, 716 00:27:16,799 --> 00:27:17,779 specific questions. 717 00:27:18,319 --> 00:27:20,480 And, and so Kirsty, you've agreed to, 718 00:27:21,244 --> 00:27:22,144 to take part. 719 00:27:23,005 --> 00:27:25,085 So here are are the three questions. So 720 00:27:25,085 --> 00:27:26,545 the first question is, 721 00:27:26,845 --> 00:27:29,244 what skills do you use every day in 722 00:27:29,244 --> 00:27:29,984 your job? 723 00:27:31,565 --> 00:27:33,025 Well, obviously, writing. 724 00:27:34,559 --> 00:27:36,720 I wouldn't, yeah, be a very good science 725 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:38,799 writer if I I wasn't writing. So, 726 00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:41,679 and, I use a lot of, 727 00:27:42,559 --> 00:27:43,460 yeah, communication 728 00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:45,619 skills. I have to 729 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:48,399 communicate with lots of different types of people. 730 00:27:48,399 --> 00:27:48,899 So, 731 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:50,179 for example, 732 00:27:50,535 --> 00:27:53,414 last week, we did a product launch for 733 00:27:53,414 --> 00:27:54,154 our new, 734 00:27:54,455 --> 00:27:55,434 magnetic resonance, 735 00:27:55,894 --> 00:27:56,394 product. 736 00:27:56,934 --> 00:27:58,934 And I had to write a press release 737 00:27:58,934 --> 00:28:01,335 and make a new website page and make 738 00:28:01,335 --> 00:28:03,975 a social media post. And then this, involves 739 00:28:03,975 --> 00:28:04,500 a lot of 740 00:28:05,059 --> 00:28:07,779 coordinating with different people. So then, like I 741 00:28:07,779 --> 00:28:10,339 said earlier, like, the scientists are finding out 742 00:28:10,339 --> 00:28:12,180 what's the, you know, what's the most important 743 00:28:12,180 --> 00:28:13,940 features of the software that we want to 744 00:28:13,940 --> 00:28:16,420 advertise, what data do we have to what 745 00:28:16,420 --> 00:28:18,019 claims do we wanna make, what data do 746 00:28:18,019 --> 00:28:19,480 we have to back up these claims, 747 00:28:19,914 --> 00:28:20,815 what's the narrative? 748 00:28:21,355 --> 00:28:22,714 And then I have to 749 00:28:23,515 --> 00:28:24,015 yeah. 750 00:28:24,555 --> 00:28:25,454 With the website, 751 00:28:26,075 --> 00:28:26,894 I'm asking 752 00:28:27,195 --> 00:28:28,875 yeah. To coordinate with the designer and the 753 00:28:28,875 --> 00:28:32,154 website developer to, yeah, basically say, okay. We 754 00:28:32,154 --> 00:28:33,835 need this and this and this and get 755 00:28:33,835 --> 00:28:34,259 that 756 00:28:34,820 --> 00:28:37,700 going. And and also, yeah, with the the 757 00:28:37,700 --> 00:28:40,200 higher ups and the kind of general, like, 758 00:28:40,740 --> 00:28:42,259 yeah, what do we what do we want 759 00:28:42,259 --> 00:28:43,880 this to show? How do we 760 00:28:44,180 --> 00:28:46,500 who is this aim for? So a lot 761 00:28:46,500 --> 00:28:48,835 of the things yeah. It's after 762 00:28:49,615 --> 00:28:51,134 yeah. Because I'm not an expert in these 763 00:28:51,134 --> 00:28:53,615 things. I don't know everything about, like, the 764 00:28:53,615 --> 00:28:55,695 business side or the other science side of 765 00:28:55,695 --> 00:28:57,055 everything. So trying to, 766 00:28:58,575 --> 00:29:01,075 yeah, coordinate with people to figure out 767 00:29:01,455 --> 00:29:03,590 what's the best way that we can do 768 00:29:03,590 --> 00:29:04,730 these kind of things. 769 00:29:06,549 --> 00:29:07,049 So 770 00:29:07,750 --> 00:29:12,330 yeah. Also, yeah, learning things quickly has become, 771 00:29:12,549 --> 00:29:14,090 like, I guess, a new skill. 772 00:29:14,695 --> 00:29:16,775 Because, yeah, I don't have training in or, 773 00:29:16,775 --> 00:29:18,234 yeah, I I didn't study 774 00:29:18,855 --> 00:29:20,955 quantum competing and or 775 00:29:21,335 --> 00:29:23,674 MRI or magnetic resonance things. 776 00:29:24,775 --> 00:29:25,275 So 777 00:29:25,654 --> 00:29:27,515 but I obviously don't have or marketing, 778 00:29:28,130 --> 00:29:30,130 but I don't have time to learn all 779 00:29:30,130 --> 00:29:31,730 of these things. And like you were saying, 780 00:29:31,730 --> 00:29:32,470 in super 781 00:29:33,009 --> 00:29:34,850 good detail, it would also be good, yeah, 782 00:29:34,850 --> 00:29:36,690 for me to have, like you say, some 783 00:29:36,690 --> 00:29:37,430 sort of, 784 00:29:38,610 --> 00:29:41,250 kind of accelerated course for the these are 785 00:29:41,250 --> 00:29:43,515 the the bare facts that you need to 786 00:29:43,515 --> 00:29:45,855 know in order to kind of survive. 787 00:29:47,035 --> 00:29:48,634 So, yeah, I have to kind of pick 788 00:29:48,634 --> 00:29:51,855 things up quite quickly sometimes, but, my colleagues 789 00:29:51,994 --> 00:29:54,555 are always happy to to help with this. 790 00:29:54,555 --> 00:29:56,234 Just jump on a Zoom call and, 791 00:29:57,035 --> 00:29:58,500 kind of explain, yeah, 792 00:29:59,299 --> 00:30:01,539 yeah, the basic principles of that. 793 00:30:02,740 --> 00:30:05,400 And then, yeah, one skill that I'm still, 794 00:30:05,539 --> 00:30:06,119 you know, 795 00:30:07,220 --> 00:30:07,720 developing, 796 00:30:08,339 --> 00:30:11,559 is, yeah, translating these complex ideas from 797 00:30:12,215 --> 00:30:15,434 physicists and software to, yeah, a broader audience. 798 00:30:16,455 --> 00:30:18,455 And, yeah, that is, like we said, something 799 00:30:18,455 --> 00:30:19,355 that the, 800 00:30:20,055 --> 00:30:22,634 student contributor network helped with was 801 00:30:23,095 --> 00:30:25,890 taking, yeah, something that's very technical 802 00:30:26,750 --> 00:30:30,190 and very niche that most people have never 803 00:30:30,190 --> 00:30:31,650 even heard of and making 804 00:30:32,029 --> 00:30:35,650 it not just understandable, but also interesting is, 805 00:30:36,349 --> 00:30:39,924 yeah, something that is still difficult. But, 806 00:30:40,704 --> 00:30:42,945 yeah, I think I'm I'm getting better at 807 00:30:42,945 --> 00:30:43,445 it. 808 00:30:43,984 --> 00:30:45,984 Well, that's great. And and so the next 809 00:30:45,984 --> 00:30:48,945 question is, what do you like best and 810 00:30:48,945 --> 00:30:51,445 least about your job? Okay. 811 00:30:53,119 --> 00:30:53,619 Best, 812 00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:56,160 I love the variety. I like yeah. That 813 00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:56,900 I'm doing 814 00:30:57,600 --> 00:30:59,440 so many different things all the time, and 815 00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:00,180 I can 816 00:31:01,039 --> 00:31:02,960 not pick and choose what I do. But 817 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:04,559 if there's a day that I'm feeling like 818 00:31:04,559 --> 00:31:06,160 I want something a little bit lighter, I 819 00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:08,644 can do the social media or the website, 820 00:31:08,644 --> 00:31:11,045 something a bit more creative that doesn't require 821 00:31:11,045 --> 00:31:12,265 really intense 822 00:31:12,805 --> 00:31:14,025 thinking about physics. 823 00:31:14,724 --> 00:31:16,884 Or, yeah, if I wanna get more from 824 00:31:16,884 --> 00:31:17,865 feeling like, 825 00:31:18,325 --> 00:31:21,329 yeah, I could really concentrate or 826 00:31:21,809 --> 00:31:24,130 really wanna focus in detail on something. I 827 00:31:24,130 --> 00:31:26,329 can write, like, the documentation or something, yeah, 828 00:31:26,329 --> 00:31:27,589 a little bit more technical. 829 00:31:28,210 --> 00:31:29,509 So, yeah, I really enjoy 830 00:31:29,970 --> 00:31:31,349 that aspect of it. 831 00:31:32,929 --> 00:31:33,615 And least 832 00:31:34,174 --> 00:31:36,654 is there there's got to be something you 833 00:31:36,815 --> 00:31:37,315 Yeah. 834 00:31:38,894 --> 00:31:40,654 Yeah. No. I do I do really love, 835 00:31:40,894 --> 00:31:42,255 working at Cruise. And, 836 00:31:43,694 --> 00:31:46,654 yeah, I love the flexibility of the remote 837 00:31:46,654 --> 00:31:48,299 working, but I do miss 838 00:31:48,700 --> 00:31:51,039 going into the office and seeing people and 839 00:31:51,259 --> 00:31:52,799 chatting to your colleagues and 840 00:31:53,100 --> 00:31:55,740 kind of knowing them more than just, like, 841 00:31:55,740 --> 00:31:58,059 as their as their research roles. And we 842 00:31:58,059 --> 00:31:59,119 do meet in person. 843 00:31:59,740 --> 00:32:02,244 We cruise every two months. We meet for 844 00:32:02,244 --> 00:32:04,404 two days in person, which is really nice 845 00:32:04,404 --> 00:32:05,305 because you 846 00:32:06,005 --> 00:32:08,005 you can't really get to know someone very 847 00:32:08,005 --> 00:32:09,865 well over, like, a Zoom screen. 848 00:32:11,125 --> 00:32:12,644 So it's nice to be able to actually 849 00:32:12,644 --> 00:32:14,744 have that time with them in person. But, 850 00:32:14,789 --> 00:32:16,630 yeah, I'm I'm quite a social person, so 851 00:32:16,630 --> 00:32:19,210 I do miss the kind of everyday interaction 852 00:32:19,350 --> 00:32:21,350 that you would get in an office. Yeah. 853 00:32:21,350 --> 00:32:23,269 Yeah. Well, I'm I'm the same way. I 854 00:32:23,269 --> 00:32:25,029 mean, after COVID, I it took it took 855 00:32:25,029 --> 00:32:26,250 me a bit of persuasion 856 00:32:26,869 --> 00:32:28,549 to come back to the office. But now 857 00:32:28,549 --> 00:32:30,625 I'm in every day and loving it. So, 858 00:32:31,265 --> 00:32:32,244 yeah, I definitely, 859 00:32:34,144 --> 00:32:34,804 I definitely 860 00:32:35,184 --> 00:32:36,804 agree with you on that one. 861 00:32:37,345 --> 00:32:39,825 And so the third question, Kirsty, is what 862 00:32:39,825 --> 00:32:42,144 do you know now that you wish you'd 863 00:32:42,144 --> 00:32:42,644 known 864 00:32:42,970 --> 00:32:45,549 when you were starting out in your career? 865 00:32:46,809 --> 00:32:47,870 That's a hard one. 866 00:32:49,370 --> 00:32:50,590 I guess it would be 867 00:32:50,970 --> 00:32:52,570 it would be easy to say that I 868 00:32:52,570 --> 00:32:53,390 wish I 869 00:32:53,690 --> 00:32:55,710 knew earlier that I could 870 00:32:56,265 --> 00:32:58,984 combine science and writing and, like, I could 871 00:32:58,984 --> 00:33:00,825 make a career out of that. But I 872 00:33:00,825 --> 00:33:01,325 think 873 00:33:02,984 --> 00:33:05,144 if I'd known that, I maybe wouldn't have 874 00:33:05,144 --> 00:33:07,224 done my PhD. I might have tried to 875 00:33:07,224 --> 00:33:08,365 go straight into, 876 00:33:08,984 --> 00:33:11,799 writing straight after my studies, and then I 877 00:33:11,799 --> 00:33:13,640 wouldn't be where I am now. So it's 878 00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:15,500 kind of hard to say that I wish 879 00:33:16,119 --> 00:33:18,299 that I had known that in a way. 880 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:22,059 But I guess, yeah, I would say that 881 00:33:22,759 --> 00:33:24,059 you don't always 882 00:33:24,634 --> 00:33:25,355 have to 883 00:33:25,755 --> 00:33:27,774 it's okay to not have a clear plan, 884 00:33:28,075 --> 00:33:28,634 I think. 885 00:33:29,674 --> 00:33:31,835 I kind of I think, yeah, there's always 886 00:33:31,835 --> 00:33:34,394 this big stress on knowing what you want 887 00:33:34,394 --> 00:33:35,054 to do. 888 00:33:35,434 --> 00:33:37,994 Like, people always asking children, oh, when you 889 00:33:37,994 --> 00:33:39,400 grow up, what do you wanna be? And 890 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:41,079 I think from you know, it's a pilot, 891 00:33:41,079 --> 00:33:43,660 a nurse, or something, a train driver. 892 00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:46,200 And for me, it was I wanted to 893 00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:46,940 be a vet. 894 00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:49,720 And from the age of four, I wanted 895 00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:50,839 to be a vet, and I was so 896 00:33:50,839 --> 00:33:52,839 clear on this. And then I went to 897 00:33:52,839 --> 00:33:53,980 do some work experience 898 00:33:55,325 --> 00:33:56,785 in a veterinary practice, 899 00:33:57,164 --> 00:33:58,945 and I realized that I'm really squeamish. 900 00:33:59,644 --> 00:34:02,045 And they were cutting into the animals and 901 00:34:02,045 --> 00:34:04,924 doing stitches and needles, and I was like, 902 00:34:04,924 --> 00:34:06,605 oh, I I don't think I can do 903 00:34:06,605 --> 00:34:08,065 this. I feel really ill. 904 00:34:08,849 --> 00:34:11,190 And then suddenly, yeah, I was 15, 16, 905 00:34:12,130 --> 00:34:14,389 starting to think about what, like, 906 00:34:14,769 --> 00:34:17,250 what, classes to take at school, what to 907 00:34:17,250 --> 00:34:18,150 study at university. 908 00:34:18,449 --> 00:34:19,730 And I thought, I don't know what I 909 00:34:19,730 --> 00:34:21,889 wanna do. And I ended up doing physics 910 00:34:21,889 --> 00:34:23,170 because I liked it, and I was good 911 00:34:23,170 --> 00:34:23,744 at it. 912 00:34:25,425 --> 00:34:26,785 But, yeah, I think there's a lot of 913 00:34:26,785 --> 00:34:28,625 stress on, like, knowing what you wanna do 914 00:34:28,625 --> 00:34:31,125 from quite early on. And sometimes 915 00:34:31,425 --> 00:34:32,244 if you just 916 00:34:32,704 --> 00:34:33,204 choose 917 00:34:33,744 --> 00:34:35,744 by following the things that you like to 918 00:34:35,744 --> 00:34:38,000 do, the things you love to do, You, 919 00:34:38,380 --> 00:34:40,139 yeah, you end up getting somewhere that you 920 00:34:40,139 --> 00:34:42,619 maybe didn't even know was something that you 921 00:34:42,619 --> 00:34:44,639 could do, but, is actually 922 00:34:45,019 --> 00:34:46,400 yeah. You're a perfect 923 00:34:47,260 --> 00:34:48,559 perfect dream job. 924 00:34:48,860 --> 00:34:50,880 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's great. 925 00:34:51,994 --> 00:34:52,815 And, yeah, 926 00:34:53,114 --> 00:34:53,614 finally, 927 00:34:54,074 --> 00:34:56,635 it's the International Year of Quantum Science and 928 00:34:56,635 --> 00:34:57,135 Technology. 929 00:34:57,994 --> 00:34:58,394 And, 930 00:34:58,875 --> 00:35:00,655 you work for a quantum company. 931 00:35:01,114 --> 00:35:03,195 And so whenever we have someone on the 932 00:35:03,195 --> 00:35:04,735 podcast who is 933 00:35:05,170 --> 00:35:06,070 quantum adjacent, 934 00:35:06,449 --> 00:35:08,469 let's say Definitely adjacent. 935 00:35:09,890 --> 00:35:11,670 We we always ask them, 936 00:35:12,530 --> 00:35:14,769 well, we we try to remember to ask 937 00:35:14,769 --> 00:35:15,670 them this question. 938 00:35:16,050 --> 00:35:17,250 And the question is, 939 00:35:17,890 --> 00:35:19,989 what does quantum mean to you? 940 00:35:21,414 --> 00:35:21,914 Okay. 941 00:35:22,534 --> 00:35:23,514 It's a big question. 942 00:35:25,815 --> 00:35:26,635 For me, 943 00:35:27,974 --> 00:35:28,635 I think 944 00:35:29,014 --> 00:35:29,914 for me, it's 945 00:35:30,375 --> 00:35:32,400 the quantum community. I think that's 946 00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:35,039 something that's really nice that maybe I mean, 947 00:35:35,039 --> 00:35:37,679 my my PhD was kind of during COVID, 948 00:35:37,679 --> 00:35:39,359 so I didn't really get the chance to 949 00:35:39,359 --> 00:35:40,819 go to conferences. But, 950 00:35:42,079 --> 00:35:44,159 yeah, just from the few conferences that I've 951 00:35:44,159 --> 00:35:46,260 been to, I've seen that the 952 00:35:47,105 --> 00:35:48,964 just how vibrant and, like, 953 00:35:49,264 --> 00:35:52,464 excited and engaging the quantum community is. And 954 00:35:52,464 --> 00:35:54,405 I think it's really cool to see 955 00:35:55,105 --> 00:35:56,085 people collaborating 956 00:35:57,505 --> 00:35:58,164 so enthusiastically 957 00:35:58,704 --> 00:36:00,224 on these things, and it's not 958 00:36:01,105 --> 00:36:02,819 I don't know. It doesn't I think in 959 00:36:02,819 --> 00:36:05,319 some fields, it can be very competitive 960 00:36:05,619 --> 00:36:06,759 and very, like, 961 00:36:07,699 --> 00:36:08,920 you know, people 962 00:36:09,380 --> 00:36:11,299 people want to be the ones to to 963 00:36:11,299 --> 00:36:13,940 make the the discovery, and maybe people are 964 00:36:13,940 --> 00:36:16,244 quite secretive or I don't wanna help out 965 00:36:16,244 --> 00:36:18,085 so much. But I think I found that 966 00:36:18,085 --> 00:36:20,964 the maybe it's also different what what coming 967 00:36:20,964 --> 00:36:22,164 from a company and not, 968 00:36:22,885 --> 00:36:25,045 in academia, but I found that everyone has 969 00:36:25,045 --> 00:36:27,704 just been very open and friendly and excited, 970 00:36:27,844 --> 00:36:28,344 and, 971 00:36:28,969 --> 00:36:30,750 I think that's that's really nice. 972 00:36:31,609 --> 00:36:33,369 Well, that's great, Christy. I mean, it sounds 973 00:36:33,369 --> 00:36:35,849 like you've, you've you've moved from being a 974 00:36:35,849 --> 00:36:38,589 vet into a very, very, very nice 975 00:36:38,969 --> 00:36:39,469 sector, 976 00:36:40,409 --> 00:36:43,815 the quantum technology sector. So that's that's great 977 00:36:43,815 --> 00:36:45,255 to hear, and thanks so much for coming 978 00:36:45,255 --> 00:36:47,255 on the podcast. Yeah. Thank you for having 979 00:36:47,255 --> 00:36:48,715 me. It's been really fun. 980 00:36:56,730 --> 00:36:58,489 I'm afraid that's all the time we have 981 00:36:58,489 --> 00:37:01,449 for this week's podcast. Thanks to Kirsty McGee 982 00:37:01,449 --> 00:37:04,250 for joining me today, and a special thanks 983 00:37:04,250 --> 00:37:06,349 to our producer Fred Ailes. 984 00:37:07,050 --> 00:37:09,610 And there's much more about careers on the 985 00:37:09,610 --> 00:37:11,070 Physics World website. 986 00:37:11,635 --> 00:37:13,954 A good place to start is a new 987 00:37:13,954 --> 00:37:15,414 feature article called, 988 00:37:15,795 --> 00:37:17,954 Not sure what to do with your physics 989 00:37:17,954 --> 00:37:18,454 degree? 990 00:37:18,835 --> 00:37:20,295 Our expert panel 991 00:37:20,675 --> 00:37:22,454 give their careers advice. 992 00:37:23,315 --> 00:37:25,949 We'll be back again next week. See you 993 00:37:25,949 --> 00:37:26,449 then.