I’m Jacob, PhD student, ex-chef, programmer, gamer. I split my limited time mostly over these areas – and they aren’t totally unrelated. This page has a little bit about my self.

Please do get in contact with me, I’d love to hear any thoughts on anything that I do or talk about on this site. You can email me at jacob@jacobshughes.com, or tweet @JacobSolHughes. My resume/CV is here (.pdf) and all on LinkedIn too.

Science

The positron trap – part of my experiment

I am currently a PhD Candidate at the Australian National University, and my research is in Experimental Physics. Specifically, I am designing and implementing a detector and analysis program, for Doppler Broadening Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy. This means a lot of coding, as well as preparation of interesting material samples to study.

I am also looking at the ion and plasma damage of polyimides used in spaceship manufacturing. There are very harsh conditions in space, and understanding how materials react to them can help us build better and more durable spacecraft.

At undergraduate level, my degree is in Physics and Applied Mathematics (double major), with a large side of computer science. I did all of this at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Food and Cooking

I didn’t make this, but I did eat this @AkibaCBR

I used to be a chef, and that’s what helped me get through University. I love food, I love cooking. I think its a family thing – there are at least two professional chefs and many more foodies-for-fun.

I love eating out at all levels – from food truck to fine dining – and a part of me always wants to return to the hospitality scene.

At the moment I am really into Middle Eastern food and spices, as well as trying my hand at modernizing old classics recipes.

Gaming

I like to game, and develop games. PC games and console games have been my go to hobby for a long time, starting with Age of Empires II: The Rise of Rome.

I enjoy the combination of computer science and creativity that developing for games brings: the work needs to be more than functional, it needs to be an entertaining experience.

I am learning what makes a good game, from all sources available. Board games, tabletop, virtual reality, mobile, console, and of course computer are all platforms for some very unique game types, and all have a wealth of fun games.