Technical Support Project

NICHOLAS C. POPE

P.O. BOX ***

*** *** *** **

HILDEBRAN, NC 28637

CELL PHONE: 828-***-****

EMAIL: *.********@*****.***

EDUCATION:

Appalachian State University Boone, NC

Degree: Master of Science

Fall 2010 - Spring 2012

Major: Engineering Physics

GPA: 3.48/4.00

Degree: Bachelor of Science

Major: Applied Physics Fall 2007 – Spring 2010

GPA: 3.77/4.00; GPA in major: 3.78/4.00

Magna Cum Laude

Western Carolina University Cullowhee, NC

Major: Computer Science Fall 2006 – Spring 2007

GPA: 3.85/4.00

Honors College

HONORS:

• Chancellor’s List Fall 2008 - Spring 2009

• NC Space Grant recipient Summer 2008 and Fall 2010/Spring 2011

• Undergraduate Senior Honors Thesis (May 2010) – “Design of an Electron Injection System to Study Atmospheric Ions: Corrosive and Emissive Species”

EXPERIENCE:

Environmental Protection Agency – Ecosystems Research Division

• Member of multi-disciplinary research team providing technical support for ERD's multi-media modeling and technology development team. The main focus is troubleshooting, debugging, and developing code for the collaborative development project, Data for Environmental Modeling (D4EM). Essentially, D4EM is a project with the goal of extending the development and support of GIS-based software tools for the access, display, and processing of geo-spatial data. Most of the work is done using Visual Studio in C# and Visual Basic.

• Administrator for iemhub.org -- a community center for integrated environmental modeling where users can share knowledge and tools for environmental systems analysis. Work involves maintaining site and providing technical support for users.

Appalachian State University (Dr. Anthony Calamai) February 2008 – August 2012

• Collected data of molecular hydrogen reactions using a radio frequency ion trap in tandem with a time of flight mass spectrometer.

• Worked on IDL code used to analyze data, determining growth rate coefficients of singly-ionized, tri-atomic hydrogen

• Performed regular maintenance on system, which included changing oil in vacuum pumps, cleaned out UHV chambers via thermal heating, purging gas lines, and replacing damaged electrodes

• Replaced multi-channel plate detector

• Developed simulations of the experiment to determine optimal parameters for increasing trap confinement, particle energies, and ion beam focus. Simulations were done with SIMION 8.0, an ion-optics program used to model charged particle trajectories within user-designed electrode configurations

• Simulated and tested an electron gun with ion optics for enhanced focusing. System is planned to replace the original electron gun setup used in the ion trap. Simulations were executed using SIMION 8.0

National Institute of Standards and Technology (Advisor: Dr. Joseph Tan) Summer 2009

• Designed a portable electron gun apparatus for creating low charge state ions using the ion optics program Charged Particle Optics (CPO)

• Assisted research team in the planning of a new ion trap design for studying hydrogen-like ions in circular Rydberg states. This involved designing ion trap structures using AutoCAD; CPO was used for modeling the trap’s ion optics, which is for particle charge-state selection purposes.

SKILLS:

• Knowledgeable in several programming languages such as C#, Visual Basic, C, LabVIEW, Assembly, IDL, XML, Python, HTML, CSS, ladder logic, PAL, and VHDL

• Skilled with microcontrollers, NI DAQ boards, RS-232, GPIB, PLDs, PLCs, and FPGA

• Proficient in designing, building, and troubleshooting analog and digital circuitry.

• Efficient with interfacing and calibrating various sensors (e.g. thermistors, RTDs, humidity, piezoelectric, ultrasonic)

• Familiar with implementation and basic maintenance of ultra high vacuum systems.

• Comfortable with various optics devices and setups (e.g. fiber optics, lenses, mirrors, beam splitter, multiple interferometers)

PRESENTATIONS:

• State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium (SNCURCS). Design of Electron and Ion Transport Systems to Study Atmospheric Ions. Boone, NC. November 22, 2008.

• 12th Annual Celebration of Student Research and Creative Endeavors. Design of Electron and Ion Transport Systems to Study Atmospheric Ions. Boone, NC April 23, 2009.

• American Physical Society - Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics. Rate Coefficients of H3+ Using an RF Ion Trap. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. May 19 - 23, 2009.

• National Institute of Standards and Technology. Development of an Ion Capture and Transport System for Atomic Spectroscopy. Gaithersburg, MD. August 6, 2009.

• State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium (SNCURCS). Rate Coefficients of H3+ Using an RF Ion Trap. University of North Carolina, Wilmington, NC. November 21, 2009.

HOBBIES/INTERESTS:

• Rock climbing, microcontrollers, drums, reading, biking

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