1) How long have you been working in sPHENIX and at what institution?
I have been working in sPHENIX for almost three years now, since August 2022, as a graduate student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
2) What is the focus of your work on the sPHENIX experiment? What is your thesis title?
My primary focus on the sPHENIX experiment is the Electromagnetic Calorimeter (EMCal), specifically its operations and calibrations. Most recently, I've been involved in tuning the EMCal's bias voltages to enable broader energy range photon measurements. During the Run 2024, I contributed to key calorimeter QA checks for bad towers and conducted beam background studies. My tentative thesis title is "Measurement of Jet Azimuthal Anisotropy in sPHENIX Heavy Ion Collisions."
3) Where did you grow up and what is your educational background before your current position?
I was born in Nashik, India, and moved to New Jersey for high school. I then studied physics for my undergraduate degree at Rutgers University.
4) Awards or biggest talk highlight?
I received the 2024 Maurice Goldhaber Research Scholar Award in Nuclear Physics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
5) How did you decide to go into heavy ion or spin research?
My interest in the building blocks of matter began at a young age, sparked by the 2012 discovery of the Higgs Boson. This fascination led me to heavy ion research during my undergraduate studies at Rutgers, where I collaborated on the STAR experiment with Dr. Sevil Salur and performed Monte Carlo studies involving jets. I was particularly captivated by the idea of using jets as probes to study the quark-gluon plasma, which inspired me to pursue this field in graduate school.
6) What do you like to do in your spare time?
In my spare time, I enjoy staying active by playing chess, badminton, volleyball, and pickleball. I also love biking and hiking. When I'm relaxing with video games, my favorites are Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and Baldur's Gate 3.
7) Fun fact?
My record time for solving the Rubik's Cube is 50 seconds! I also enjoy tackling the 4x4 and 5x5 variants.