Elmer did his Ph.D. at Princeton University, working under the supervision of Waseem Bakr. There, he worked in a lithium-6 quantum gas microscope experiment to engineer strongly correlated quantum states of matter. His work focused on studying the dynamical properties of such systems and on expanding the simulation capabilities of the experiment by coupling to Rydberg states. Here, he is working in exploring ways to couple single atoms in optical tweezers with optical cavities. His aim is to develop this experiment to realize an efficient platform for quantum information and quantum simulation, as well as explore its integration with Rydberg-array technologies.