Daniel Drumm BA BSc(Hons) PhD (Melb) MAIP
Research Fellow
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics
Physics, School of Science, RMIT University
Melbourne 3001, VIC Australia
daniel.drumm@rmit.edu.au (Professional)
dr.daniel.drumm@gmail.com (Non-RMIT professional)
I am a post-doctoral (fancy title for “I have a PhD”) researcher currently employed by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP). My specialty is in theoretical physics and chemistry; I use mathematics and supercomputers to model various interesting things… and sometimes manage to get back into a lab to look for them. Basically, I like solving problems, and picking up / figuring out / learning whatever tools I need to do so. So far, science has been a good place to look for them — but I don’t rule anything out!
I have a rather varied background: undergraduate degrees with majors in physics, chemistry, philosophy, and psychology, and a smattering of mathematics (it does make things easier, I swear!), followed by an Honours course and PhD in physics. In particular, I used density functional theory (DFT), effective mass theory (EMT), and probe-enhanced nano-Raman spectroscopy (PERS) to investigate the “Physics of low-dimensional nanostructures” (my thesis title; more on that elsewhere). I have since worked with Prof. Salvy Russo at RMIT, exploiting my modelling skills.
Other than the professional, I have also spent 16 years with Scouts Australia, 9 years undertaking voluntary surf patrols with Woolamai Beach Surf Life Saving Club (WBSLSC), 3 years in St. John Ambulance Australia (SJAA), several years playing various members of the recorder family (no, it doesn’t always squawk like it did back in primary school, at least not if you pay attention to your teacher, breathing, and articulation), many years playing piano (poorly, compared to recorder), been involved in rugby union (7 years), swimming (5 years), and springboard diving teams (2 years), umpiring junior (under 9s to under 17s) Australian Rules Football (AFL) games (5 years boundary, 2 field), and have put myself through various forms of the masochistic tortures known as amateur distance running, rogaining, Tough Mudder, and 24-hour distance-based charity hikes. I don’t cover ground very quickly – I’m not built for it – but I can be quite stubborn. I’ve recently taken to cycling, too.
I also enjoy random interludes in other sports as opportunities arise (particularly sailing and SCUBA diving), several genres of books (including, but certainly not limited to, classics of literature, sci-fi, and fantasy), the odd console or computer game, card and board games, and trivia nights…