Colm Bracken

Colm studied physics with astrophysics at National University of Ireland, Maynooth, graduating in 2010 with 1st class honours. He received his PhD in 2015 from N.U.I. Maynooth for research in electromagnetic analysis and design of far-infrared receivers and detectors for the SAFARI instrument on the SPICA space telescope. Colm lectured at UCD (University College Dublin) from 2016 to 2017, coordinating undergraduate and graduate modules including Galaxies, Cosmology and the ISM; Space Mission Design; Gamma-ray Space Detectors; and Cubesat Subsystems; while continuing research in far-infrared instrumentation and simulation. From 2017 to 2020 he was a postdoctoral researcher at DIAS (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), working with Professor Tom Ray on large-format arrays of MKIDs (Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors) for optical/near-infrared astronomy. Colm went back to Maynooth University in 2020, where he is now a lecturer in Experimental Physics, and continuing research in superconducting detectors for astronomy, optics, and quasioptics.