One on one with Scott Cushing

After honing his mechanical insight through tinkering with cars and carbon fiber, Scott Cushing is changing how we investigate how light interacts with matter. At the California Institute of Technology, he and his lab craft novel instruments for quantum sensing using tabletop ultrafast X-rays, extreme ultraviolet light, and entangled photons. Cushing is also changing the conversation around mental health and disabilities in chemistry by building spaces where students can focus on support and well-being. Charlotte Fuqua talked to Cushing about lasers, resilience, and community building.This interview was edited for length and clarity.So, what does your lab focus on?We build new forms of scientific instrumentation based on laser technology to solve outstanding chemical problems. We tackle renewable energy problems from a very quantum front. For example, we have used transient extreme-ultraviolet spectroscopy to understand how electrons and phonons in materials strongly interact to route energy flow in photocatalysts and solar cells.I noticed we both work on ultrafast lasers. I use them in investigating and tuning quantum behaviors in organic molecules to find new qubits and ways to control molecular qubits. I got into physical chemistry because I'm the kind of person that always wants to know, “Why?” What did your path into physical chemistry look like?I spent my childhood and early adulthood working on cars and fixing things. My passion was learning how to reverse engineer engines and how to make carbon fiber. When I went to college, I was interested in maybe going into engineering, but I wasn’t quite sure