How long have you been working in sPHENIX and at what institution?
I have been working on sPHENIX since March 2023, the spring of my first year at Vanderbilt University. I just began my 4th year there.
What is the focus of your work on the sPHENIX experiment? What is the title of your Ph.D. or tentative title (if known)?
I am working on jet analyses for sPHENIX and my thesis, more specifically focusing on jet substructure as a tool for finding the QGP’s coherence length. My thesis’s tentative title is “Unraveling Quark-Gluon Plasma Transport Properties Using Jets in High-Energy Collisions”. I’ve done volunteer work throughout my time with sPHENIX, including characterizing the TPC electronic readout, writing a module for the Jet QA, and conducting calorimeter-based jet studies for PPG-09 (pre-QM). Currently, I serve as the task force head for the Jet QA.
Where did you grow up and what is your educational background before your current position?
I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. I attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona, where I earned my Bachelor of Science in Space Physics and a minor in Mathematics. I then began my PhD program at Vanderbilt University in 2022, where I joined Professor Rithya Kunnawalkam Elayavalli’s research group.
Awards or biggest talk highlight?
An award I am proud to have received is the Akunuri V. Ramayya award, given to the best graduate student teaching assistant. I have also received the McMinn Fellowship in 2022 and 2025, awarded by the Vanderbilt Department of Physics and Astronomy, to support graduate students in their research.
How did you decide to go into heavy ion or spin research?
During undergrad, I studied general relativity and published a paper on short-range forces due to Lorentz-symmetry violations. In the summer of 2021, I participated in a COVID-era Research Experience for Undergraduates via Zoom at Indiana University Bloomington. In an odd twist of fate, I was accidentally paired with Dr. Walter Pettus to analyze the electronic readouts of the MAJORANA detector, similar to what I had done for the TPC. I presented my findings during the fall DNP meeting (where we all had 8-bit characters in a virtual conference hall). There, Dr. Vicki Greene from Vanderbilt invited me to apply to join their high-energy nuclear physics group. Rithya had to nudge me towards experimental work, but I’ve really come to love it (chaos and all)!
What do you like to do in your spare time?
In my spare time, I like to make quilts for people I know, write, sing, and record songs, play piano, and paint when I have time. I also enjoy going to the thrift store.
Fun fact?
I played softball competitively for 13 years and was sponsored by Powerade for a few of those years.