P010010-00-R - LIGO - California Institute of Technology

Acknowledgements
I’m a little amazed that I made it this far.
iv
As an undergraduate, Drs. Clyde Zaidins, Ned Davies, and Randy Tagg were
great inspirations. They taught well, challenged me, and went out of their way to
encourage me to go further. They made the effort to be not just professors, but
mentors. I also had the great fortune to work with the gravity group at JILA – Tuck
Stebbins, Peter Bender, Jim Faller, Dave Newell, and Sam Richman. This was my
first taste of research, and it couldn’t have been with a better, more supportive group
of people. Tuck especially deserves a word of thanks for his invaluable support and
guidance, as well as his impeccable fashion sense.
I feel very fortunate to have been able to do my graduate studies at Caltech.
Although it seemed at times as if I were out on a limb when the tree had been taken
away, I still am proud to have done my thesis there. Caltech is very supportive of
its graduates, and has afforded me the chance to work with some very brilliant and
inspiring people. I must confess my great admiration for Dr. Rochus Vogt. Although
he acted as my advisor for a very short time, I appreciated his support, and admired
his strength of character and attitude. I also thank Dr. Ken Libbrecht for taking me
on at a difficult time. A great deal of gratitude goes to my elders in the LIGO grad
office, Torrey Lyons and Aaron Gillespie, for their support and (whether they knew
it or not) mentorship. Seiji Kawamura, Andy Kuhnert, Bob Spero, Jenny Logan and
Alex Abramovici have also taught me a great deal, not only about interferometry
but about doing science. It was a great loss to me that I couldn’t have worked with
them longer. Phil Willems has been a tremendous source of help and guidance, and
he’s been great person to work with in these last years. His Herculean efforts in
proofing this thesis should not go unremarked. He read the whole thing twice. Nergis
Mavalvala has always been a font of wisdom and pillar of support. Do not believe
her modesty, sincere as it may be. She’s brilliant.