Cather Simpson

The daughter of a United States military officer stationed in Frankfurt, Simpson was born in Germany. Her family moved to the US and back 16 more times before she finished high school. She attributes her adaptability as an adult to this experience. Simpson's mother had majored in art history at university and her father in English. There were no scientists in her family. As a smart student she was encouraged to study Latin and literature and pursue medicine or law.

University studies and postgraduate research

In 1983 Simpson gained a prestigious Echols scholarship at the University of Virginia, a unique undergraduate programme that encourages freedom of inquiry and critical thought. Her initial intention was to study medicine but the academic flexibility of the Echols programme allowed her to take a variety of subjects including history, civilisation and literature. As a first-year student she took an advanced biology course and was invited by her instructor Professor Richard Rodewald, to work in his cell biology lab over the summer. Professor Rodewald became her first science mentor and her experience in his lab convinced her to become a scientist. She investigated how new-born rats pull immuno-globulins out of their mother's milk and into their bloodstream, learning to design and test experiments and use equipment like electron microscopes. She graduated with a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies in 1986.

Simpson did her PhD in Medical Sciences at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine as a Howard Hughes Predoctoral Fellow. She began her PhD research in cell biology on allergy-related receptors. She was in a MD/ Ph.D. programme investigating how molecules like histamine and serotonin get released from immune cells when they encounter ragweed and how the cytoskeleton of cells change shape during allergic reactions. Part way through her PhD studies Simpson moved from the medical school to a spectroscopy lab in the chemistry department at the University of New Mexico, shifting research focus and group. She gives two reasons for this shift. Firstly she says she needed to learn more about the mathematical aspects of physical chemistry to understand the problems in cell biology. Secondly she says she initially organised a three-month hiatus in the physical chemistry department to avoid the fallout of a controversy. During this time she got involved in laser spectroscopy to investigate the interactions between light and molecules. She planned to return to the medical school and join a new group after the three months but was so captivated by this topic that she never returned.

The focus of the remainder of her PhD research was the ultrafast vibrational dynamics of heme proteins, the oxygen-carrying molecules in blood. She developed a method to study the way molecules respond to light during the first picosecond after they are hit by a laser. She likens the method to stop-motion photography. First, you hit a molecule with a short, sharp laser pulse of light. Then, you take a series of spectroscopic “snapshots” to see what the molecule is doing with the energy it absorbs from the laser. Using this method she discovered that the heme molecules in blood absorb light and convert it into vibrations, essentially molecular-scale heat. She received her Ph.D. in Medical Sciences with a focus on the ultrafast vibrational dynamics of heme proteins in 1994. Understanding how molecules convert light into different forms has been the focus of Simpson's research ever since.

Early career research

After a Department of Energy Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, Simpson took a tenure-track position in the Chemistry Department at Case Western Reserve University in 1997. There she set up a laser lab to study ultrafast energy conversion in molecules. Along with her colleague Professor Mary Barkley, Simpson was one of the first two women hired in the Chemistry Department. She was promoted to Associate Professor and started the Center for Chemical Dynamics. She ran a successful research programme that was supported by the NIH, NSF and the US Department of Defence. Her studies directly impacted phototherapeutics, molecular- and nano-scale electronic components, and unraveling the fundamental behaviour of photoactive systems. Simpson also directed the Case Chemistry Scholars Program, and was a 1999–2000 Glennan Fellow. Alongside her laser research, she fostered innovation in undergraduate teaching, women in science, and ethics in education and research.

In 2007 Simpson emigrated to New Zealand where she became a professor of physics and chemical sciences at the University of Auckland. According to Simpson, the dean of science made her an attractive job offer which made the move a win-win. After moving to New Zealand Simpson's focus shifted from fundamental blue-skies research to more applied commercial work. The initial motivation for this shift was the need to raise money for the expensive lasers needed for her research but she soon became convinced of the wider value of applied and commercial research for society. In 2015, Simpson co-founded the Science Scholars Program at the University of Auckland, along with Richard Easther and David Edward Williams.