Cather Simpson

Miriam Cather Simpson is a New Zealand-American physics/chemistry academic and entrepreneur. She is currently a professor at the University of Auckland, a joint appointment between the physics and chemistry departments. She is the founder of the Photon Factory laser lab at the University of Auckland and the chief science officer for two spin-off companies, Engender Technologies and Orbis Diagnostics. She is an Associate Investigator for the Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies and an Emeritus Investigator for the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology. She was awarded the Royal Society Te Apārangi Pickering Medal in 2019. She has a strong focus on teaching, mentoring and public outreach and is an outspoken advocate for issues of gender equality and ethics in science.

Childhood and early life 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.

Simpson did her PhD in Medical Sciences at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine as a Howard Hughes Predoctoral Fellow. 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 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 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.

In 2007 Simpson emigrated to New Zealand where she became a professor of physics and chemical sciences at the University of Auckland.

The photon factory and research at the University of Auckland

In 2010 Simpson founded the Photon Factory, a multi-user laser research facility at the University of Auckland.

Simpson's work is internationally recognised for providing insight into how molecules and materials convert light into more useful types of energy, and applying this knowledge in areas such as sperm sorting for the dairy industry. She is an Associate Investigator for and has taken leadership roles in the Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies and she is an emeritus investigator for the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, She has founded two spin-off companies in the Agtech sector based on research done at the Photon Factory.

Engender Technologies Simpson's first spin-off company is Engender Technologies. She cofounded the company in 2011 by Simpson with seed investment firm Pacific Channel and support of the University of Auckland's commercialisation company UniServices. Engender has developed a new technique to efficiently sort bull sperm by sex, which aims to give farmers greater genetic control over their herds and reduce the number of bobby calves that need to be killed. The technique uses lasers to “nudge” sperm cells between channels “the size of a human hair” on microfluidic chips. In 2016 Engender won the Agtech category of the Silicon Valley Forum Tech World Cup competition, the first ever win by an Australasian company. In November 2018 the company was bought by multi-national genetics company CRV-Ambreed, the New Zealand offshoot of Dutch co-operative CRV. Simpson is now employed full time by CRV-Ambreed to continue development in New Zealand. which initially attracted seed investment to develop technology that analyses milk composition in the milking shed at "point of cow." This technology consists of a CD-sized disk and uses advanced laser technology to measure fat, protein, progesterone and other relevant compounds with the aim of informing farmers of the cow's health, reproductive and nutritional status.

Following the COVID-19 outbreak, Orbis Diagnostics have shifted focus to adapt their "lab-on-a-disk" technology to detect COVID-19 antibodies. Their aim is to develop a robust and disposable microfluidic disk that offers tests of medical laboratory precision in a time-sensitive manner at points-of-need in the community. The test would be based on a finger prick of blood. The technology will detect whether a person has immunity to the virus, not whether they are currently infected. This would enable the identification of individuals whose immune status should allow them to move safely in society without risk. The company have raised NZ$5.2million funding for the development.

Science outreach, teaching, and mentoring From early in her career Simpson has emphasised the people-side of science and focused strongly on teaching, mentoring, ethics and public communication. She was commended for her use of innovative teaching and mentoring approaches that encourage students to be independent and self-motivated. In October 2019 she signed a public letter against racism on campus at the University of Auckland.

Simpson is a public advocate for diversity in science. She was one of the first two female chemists hired in the Chemistry Department at Case Western Reserve University and became involved in a US programme called ACES (Academic Careers in Engineering & Science) which aimed to achieve full participation of women at all levels of faculty and academic leadership in the science and engineering workforce. Since 2015 Simpson and her team have actively engaged with schools and communities in Auckland and rural New Zealand.

As a keynote and plenary speaker Simpson has spoken on the topics of gender bias in science, innovation, education, science outreach and photonics for sustainable farming. and two 2019 public lectures hosted by the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics; one on the topic of “Farms, Food and Photonics” and the other for high-school students on the topic of "Inspiring Future Women in Science" for International Women's Day.

Simpson is the chair of the Commission on Laser Physics and Photonics (C17) of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics for the period 2025 to 2027 and in this capacity she is also member of the Executive Council.

Awards and honours

1983–1986 Echols Scholar at the University of Virginia (USA) 2013 Award for Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching, Ako Aotearoa, National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence (NZ) 2016 KiwiNet BNZ Supreme Award for overall excellence in all core areas of research commercialisation (Simpson was the first woman to win this award) 2018 Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi 2018 SPIE Startup Challenge 3rd Place for Simpson's company Orbis Diagnostics 2019 Royal Society Te Apārangi Pickering Medal for "her pioneering research and commercialisation of innovative photonic technologies, addressing challenges with a New Zealand focus and global impact"

Selected works