Bachelor’s in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Oregon
Doctorate in Particle Physics from the University of Chicago
AAAS Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Patrick is a physicist and fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy working to understand pathways for the decarbonization of the U.S. economy.
Articles
The Inevitable Future of Energy
“In the not too distant future, close to 100% of the energy used by humanity will be carried by electricity, generated from renewable sources (mostly solar and wind with significant contributions from hydro and geothermal power). Combustion will have the same old time-y steampunk vibe as trains and horses, relegated to niche uses for hobbyists. Burning valuable molecules will be understood as comically expensive, inefficient and dangerous.”
Hearing the Math of Vibrations
“Air is an elastic medium; if you disturb it by clapping or plucking the string of an instrument, pressure waves propagate out from the disturbance. When those pressure waves reach your ear, the pressure at your eardrum fluctuates as a function of time.”
Getting Lost in the Quantum Sauce
“You learn about superpositions, particles behaving like waves and vice versa, entanglement, quantum tunneling and teleportation. It’s not surprising that many physicists occasionally get lost in the sauce.”
Illustrations
Grads Gone Rogue 
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