Hi! I’m Curtis Taylor Peterson. I am a postdoctoral research fellow at Michigan State University. I graduated in 2019 with bachelor’s degrees in physics and mathematics from Arizona State University. In 2024, I earned my Ph.D. in physics from University of Colorado Boulder, where I focused on calculating non-perturbative renormalization group beta functions of massless SU(3) gauge-fermion systems.

My Research Interests

Broadly speaking, my research focuses on the application of tools from other scientific disciplines to problems in lattice field theory, such as machine learning and renormalization group methods. I’ve also worked on various other research topics, such as muon g-2, exotic hadron physics, theoretical biophysics, high-temperature/pressure molecular physics, computational fluid dynamics and computational astrophysics. I love writing code for both data analysis and high-performance computing; as such, much of my day-to-day work is centered on contributing to various software development efforts in lattice gauge theory. I currently maintain my own scientific library for data analysis based in Python, SwissFit. I also maintain high-performance code for running Hamiltonian Monte Carlo simulations of generic gauge-fermion system based on the Quantum EXpressions (QEX) framework.

A list of my research publications can be found either on Google Scholar or Inspire HEP. Any open-source code that I work on or have developed can be found on my GitHub.

My Personal Life

I grew up partially in Idaho and partially in Arizona. In my adult years, I’ve felt more connected to my time in Arizona because it is more recent and I grew a lot as a person during the nine years that I lived there. Since then, I’ve lived in numerous places, such as California, Colorado, New Mexico, Indiana, and Michigan.

I thoroughly enjoy exploring various topics in physics and science. Most recently, I’ve enjoyed reading books on paleoanthropology and I’ve been working through the literature on “natural gauge theory”. Outside of physics, I enjoy spending time with my wife and kitty, skiing, playing guitar, programming, and trying out local brews, especially from Breckenridge Brewing. I am also an avid fan of metal; notably, Pantera, Lamb of God, Gojira, and DevilDriver.

On a more personal note, I am very open about my struggles with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). I only started to get treatment in the form of medication in my second year of graduate school, and it has been life changing to say the least. At the moment, it is surprisingly difficult for folks with ADHD to get the treatment they need; that is despite folks with ADHD having a significantly higher risk of getting into fatal accidents, falling victim to substance abuse, engaging in suicidal ideation, getting in trouble with the law, and a slew of other behaviors that could be destructive, or even fatal, for such individuals and the people around them. I would like to see a world in which treatment is readily available for those who need it because getting treatment for ADHD isn’t just about being able to finally remember where you put the car keys each morning; it could save your, or someone else’s, life.

If anyone reading this page knows Jeff Probst, tell him that you have a fantastic suggestion for a future Survivor contestant…