Joel Weber is a PREP Senior Research Associate in the Quantum Sensors Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Department of Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He currently conducts research on the design, fabrication, and testing of transition edge sensors for high- resolution x-ray spectroscopy with a focus on developing novel, bilayer detectors. Joel received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder followed by a National Research Council postdoctoral fellowship at NIST during which time his work centered on light-emitting nanowire probes for scanning tunneling microscopy and nanoscale lithography.