Nicholas Vickers

Nicholas Vickers (Andersson Lab) studied Material Science and Engineering at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where his passion for applied optics started and grew.  His B.S+M.S. dissertation was on integrating polymeric optical waveguides onto microfluidic platforms for multi-site on chip chemical analysis and photo-catalyzation.  After concluding his studies he went on to work at a series of start up companies including an internship role in the Systems Integration Group at OptiSolar, as a Process Engineer, Line Yield Manager, and New Product Introduction specialist at Soraa, a revolutionary GaN based LED and Laser Diode company.  He then went on to become Second Line Service engineer, and North American Region Technical Accounts Manager at Applied Laser Separation International B.V. (ALSI).  Now his focus has shifted to designing next generation microscopy technology for biological tissue microscopy and neuroscience.  While at Boston University Nic helped design and build extended depth of field (EDOF) microscopes bringing unprecedented volumes of the brain sharply in focus for detailed study.  Through this project he learned the needs to bring technical innovations into the neuroscience lab and clinical practice as well as the need to have technologists bridge the gap between disciplines. His current project and dissertation, under the guidance of Prof. Sean Andersson, is to create a paradigm and framework for optimally designing single particle tracking (SPT) microscopes to study the transport of biomolecules and neuro transmitters with unprecedented precision and accuracy.  In this work we apply information theory, optimal experimental design, stochastic optimal control, and extremum seeking to understand the process of designing and building microscopes that adapt and collect the most information possible about the biological system under study. He is on track to graduate with his PhD in January of 2022.