Derek F Kimball

Prof. Derek F. Kimball is a faculty member at California State University – East Bay in the Department of Physics. He specializes in experimental atomic physics and nonlinear optics, focusing on precision tests of fundamental laws and searches for exotic spin-dependent interactions linked to dark matter or dark energy. Kimball established the first externally funded physics research program at CSU East Bay and has mentored over 60 undergraduates, with many advancing to graduate programs and three securing NSF Graduate Research Fellowships.

• Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley (2005), under Dmitry Budker
• Co-authored books: Atomic Physics (Oxford, 2008) and Optical Magnetometry (Cambridge, 2013)

His research spans quantum sensing for dark matter and gravitational waves, utilizing atomic magnetometry and comagnetometers. He contributes to global projects like GNOME (Global Network of Optical Magnetometers) and SNIPE (Search for Non-Interacting Particles Experiment). Recent publications explore ultralight dark matter, spin-gravity couplings, and axionlike particle detection.

Kimball’s awards include the 2011-12 George and Miriam Phillips Outstanding Professor, the 2019 Spitzer Distinguished Science Faculty Award, and 2018 election as an American Physical Society Fellow. He served as Department Chair (2011-14, 2016) and currently chairs the APS Topical Group on Precision Measurements (2020-21).