Cherry May Mateo

Cherry was awarded her Bachelor of Science in Physics by the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City and was an active member of the semiconductor research group under the Condensed Matter Physics Laboratory. Having been assigned in optical characterization of GaAs based semiconductors; her bachelor thesis topic was on optical characterization of strained GaAs heterostructures. This study led to her first international publication in a peer reviewed journal.

Following graduation, Cherry proceeded with her master’s degree and continued carrying out research in the same laboratory. Her affiliation and active participation in this laboratory continued as she became a graduate student and a part time junior faculty of this same institute. She finished her master’s degree within two years and was able to co-author three further peer reviewed scientific papers.  

Knowledge of the wide range of fields that particle accelerator physics covers urged Cherry to explore this research further.  For her, there are many areas to explore in this field which provides young scientists with the opportunity to be creative and learn how to become good research scientists. Cherry became a DITANET trainee in October 2009.