Andrew is Professor of Materials Physics and currently Director of the Institute of Mathematics and Physics. Prior to arriving at Aberystwyth, he worked with Prof. J.O. Williams in Wrexham on the characterisation of wide-gap materials and before this with Prof. K. Horn at the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin, developing synchrotron radiation methods for the study of surfaces and interfaces. He graduated with a first class degree in physics from the University of Wales Cardiff and obtained his PhD in semiconductor physics under the supervision of Prof. R.H. Williams FRS.