Dr Brendan McMonigal

Brendan graduated with two undergraduate degrees from the University of Sydney. He studied a Bachelor of Science (Advanced) majoring in Mathematics and Physics, and a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Philosophy and Linguistics. He completed both degrees in 2011.

In 2012 Brendan went on to complete first class honours in Physics studying the Alcubierre warp drive (on the matter of matter), which received world wide media attention. Immediately following this he begun his PhD in Galactic Archaeology.

Brendan accepted a scholarship to complete part of his PhD at Cambridge in 2014. The following year, he was offered an internship at Google while we was still studying. In 2016, on the day he finished his PhD he was offered full-time work with Google.

In his own words

“My PhD was in Galactic Archaeology (School of Physics), studying the formation and evolution of galaxies. I now work for Google where I study the expansion and evolution of their network.

“Although I am no longer doing physics research, the skills I gained through my astrophysics PhD are highly transferable and I now use them at Google to improve their network, ensuring a more digitally connected society.

“I picked Sydney because it had the most interesting Physics department.

“My PhD research is now being carried on by other people in my field and will further expand our knowledge of the origins and future of the universe.”