How long have you been working in sPHENIX and at what institution?
I have worked in sPHENIX for just over a year now, and am currently a postdoc at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
What is the focus of your work on the sPHENIX experiment?
Within sPHENIX I am focused largely on the calibration of silicon detectors, track reconstruction, and open heavy flavor analysis. I am particularly interested in pp charm spectroscopy, having seen the limitations of the current data set on precision physics during my time as a graduate student with the ATLAS experiment.
Where were you raised and what is your educational background before your current position?
I was born and raised in New Mexico and attended the University of New Mexico for my BS (go Lobos) and UC Berkeley for my PhD.
Awards or biggest talk highlight?
I was an NSF fellow as a graduate student.
How did you decide to go into heavy ion or spin research?
When I completed my thesis, I left thinking about the limitations of ATLAS for measuring low pT open charm production, and broader questions related to standard model heavy flavor physics. sPHENIX in particular seemed an excellent place to explore these questions, as well as providing a bridge to a field I have always found exciting even as a particle physicist (my undergraduate research was on PHENIX). I decided my first postdoc was the ideal time for a change, and I feel equipped to bring relevant heavy flavor analysis and tracking experience to a new field.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I keep active in my free time, especially with biking and swimming, including in the San Francisco Bay. I also enjoy music, particularly live music and American folk music, and I am an adequate banjo picker and a subpar guitarist.
Fun fact?
I was in the top .1% of John Prine listeners on Spotify in 2024