A High-Latitude Career
Head, Ocean Engineering Department & Principal Engineer
Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington
After Nicolas Michel-Hart graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, he found himself interested in a high-latitude career path.
Nick set off to pursue a career in field research, specifically in environments like the Arctic and Antarctic. A job with the National Science Foundation took him to the South Pole, where he spent a year as a technician on innovative large radio telescopes that study cosmic microwave background radiation. Nick says he was fascinated to learn about the instruments as he worked alongside the engineers and scientists who helped develop them.
“There’s a lot of physics in how the radiation coming into a telescope is converted into an electrical signal and then a digital signal,” Nick says. “That blew my mind, and it drove me to want to go back to school to learn more.”
Here, Nick explains how returning to school mid-career to earn a UW Master of Science in Physics degree not only helped him level-up his knowledge, but also led him to a leadership role at one of the UW’s renowned research labs, where he combines his love for engineering with ocean science.
Tell us about your current role at the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington.
APL-UW first hired me to build and run large research camps on floating ice in the Arctic Ocean. When I wasn’t in the field, I was doing engineering design here in Seattle, like developing subsea robotics instruments.
Now, I’m the head of the ocean engineering department at APL-UW. I manage a group of about 45 people, many of whom are engineers developing technologies used in ocean research. I still do my own field research too. For example, I do a lot of work monitoring harmful algal blooms off the Washington coast. I have to write grant proposals to fund that research as well.
How did you originally get interested in ocean science and engineering?
I grew up in a maritime family — my parents sailed offshore, and I knew people who worked maritime jobs. That gave me a taste for doing ocean-going field work. And that’s where I found my people: it was the combination of being in the field and working on the technical side of science research. You only had what you brought with you, and you had to make it work. It really stimulated my mind.
Why did you select the Master of Science in Physics program at the UW?
The degree program allowed me to explore the intersections of science and engineering. It’s an excellent program for people who want to do technical work at a very high level — who want to have a deep understanding of the science underneath what they do — but not work in traditional academia. And the classes were in the evening, so I could keep my day job at APL.
What kind of research were you able to do in the degree program?
For my capstone project, I developed an instrument that used an interferometer to measure the speed of light through sea water to gauge its density. Density is a fundamental measurement in every kind of oceanographic experiment, and my goal was to make an instrument that could measure the density of sea water in a novel way, and maybe with much higher accuracy. That has potential applications for a lot of ocean-related climate research. We do a lot of that kind of research here at APL, investigating what role the ocean plays in the earth’s climate cycles.
Were there other courses that impacted your work at APL?
The electromagnetic theory courses, which are foundational to the program, allowed me to better understand the physics of instrumentation development — a place where electrical engineering and physics connect. I also took a course on lasers and optical instrumentation, which was directly applicable to my work in instrumentation development and the experimental process.
How did earning your master’s degree in physics enhance your career?
I think the master’s degree helped me in a lot of ways. It gave me knowledge and experience that directly helped me technically, as a researcher, to understand things better. It also allowed me to better speak the language of science with other researchers. I talk to Ph.D. scientists every day, and getting my master’s helped me to understand what's possible from a technical and engineering perspective.
I think it was important from a career development perspective, too. It was about a year after I finished my degree that I got this position as the head of the department here. Having a master’s degree helped me get that position.
— Interview by David Hirning, June 2024