James Nikkel

James received his Ph.D. in condensed matter physics from Kent State University, but has been working in particle physics ever since. He spent a number of years as a postdoc and scientist at Yale making every kind of noble liquid detector before traveling to England to lecture.

He’s now back at Yale working in both the Department of Physics as well as the School of the Environment developing instruments for projects ranging from neutrino mass experiments to measuring atmospheric CO2.

James is the founding director of the Advanced Prototyping Centre in Wright Lab, where they assist researchers and artists across campus in the design, development, and fabrication of whatever they may need. James is an enthusiastic figure skater, mountain biker, and scuba diver in order to cover all the seasons.