Curriculum Vitae


Employment and Appointments
2015 - Present  Consultant and Owner, Simon Scientific, Berkeley CA
2010 - 2014       Full Project Scientist: Department of Chemistry, University of California, Davis, CA
2002 - 2010       Scientist: Physical Biosciences / Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley CA
1999 - 2006       Honorary Lecturer (Honorary Faculty): University of East Anglia, Norwich UK
1998 - 2003       Senior Scientist: Department of Biological Chemistry, John Innes Centre, Norwich UK
1994 - 1998       Scientist: Nitrogen Fixation Laboratory, John Innes Centre, Norwich UK
1993 - 1998       Consultant: Structural Molecular Biology, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Menlo Park CA
1991 - 1994       Assistant Researcher: Department of Applied Science, University of California, Davis CA
1990 - 1991       Scientist: National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton NY
1988 - 1991       Staff Chemist: School of Chemical Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK


Education
1983 - 1986       Ph.D. in Chemistry, School of Chemical Sciences University of East Anglia, Norwich UK 
                          Supervisor: Professor Andrew J. Thomson OBE FRS 
                          Thesis: "Magnetic Circular Dichroism of Iron-Sulphur Proteins"
1979 - 1983       B.Sc. (Hons) in Chemistry, University of London King's College, London UK


Skills
•    General: 
     Professional chemist accustomed to working in interdisciplinary chemistry/physics/biology/engineering environments. 
     Experienced in the use, design and construction of instrumentation and equipment as well as associated software. 
     Much of career spent working at synchrotron radiation lightsources. 
     Enjoy and skilled at solving problems and finding effective solutions with available resources 
     Achievement and problem driven focus: “what is the big picture or problem?”, “what science do we need to understand?”

•    Professional Chemist: 
     Broad knowledge of general chemistry
     Expert in chemistry of metals in biological systems. 
     Expert in chemical kinetics

•    Spectroscopist: 
     Experienced spectroscopist. Expert in Infrared, EPR and X-ray techniques (including EXAFS spectroscopy) and generally familiar with other techniques. 
     Experienced user of synchrotron radiation and synchrotron lightsource beamlines. Longstanding SSRL and ALS user and have worked at NSLS, APS, and SPring-8. 
     Good understanding of theoretical/computational approaches including DFT calculations.

•    Instrument and Application Development: 
     Experienced in the design and construction of instruments such as spectrometers and flow systems. 
     Have designed and constructed vacuum and specialized atmosphere chambers as well as specialized equipment for sample preparation. 
     Good working knowledge of electrochemical equipment use and construction.

•    Software and Algorithm development for Data Analysis: 
     Expert in developing solutions for analysis of complex data.  Development of instrument control software. 
     Can work with both modern and legacy languages and systems (such as FORTRAN, VMS) as well as mixed-language environments. 
     Knowledge of cross-platform frameworks such as QT.

•    Experienced Manager and Teacher: 
     Experienced manager of research projects and laboratory teams. 
     Taught undergraduate and graduate classes in general chemistry as well as specialized spectroscopy and biological chemistry courses. 
     Mentored many graduate students on a one-to-one basis.


Memberships
•    American Chemical Society (ACS)
•    Society of Biological Inorganic Chemistry (SBIC)
•    American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
•    Sigma Xi


Printable Versions (PDF)
•    Full Curriculum Vitae (coming soon)
•    NIH Biosketch


Latest Update: 17 January 2017
Page maintained by Simon J. George (simon@simonscientific.com)