Connor studies hard condensed matter. This is a branch of physics that might not take centre stage in the media, but is at the heart of nearly every technology you interact with daily.

Despite all of the useful things that have come from this area of physics, Connor studies “fundamental” questions. That is, he tries to solve problems that don’t necessarily have no applications, but are at least not application-driven. And that is not just “Ok”, that’s absolutely necessary for science to work . Connor tells us why he does what he does.

Here is a nice description of hard condensed matter.

https://physics.georgetown.edu/research/hard-condensed-matter/