I’ve been working in sPHENIX for a bit over a year (I started in December 2022) at Vanderbilt University

What is the focus of your work on the sPHENIX experiment?

In terms of analysis, I’m interested in jets and fragmentation and I’ll be studying the energy-energy correlations in Au+Au collisions. I’m also heavily involved in the TPC distortion correction efforts and am working to finalize the average and fluctuation distortion correction.

Where were you born and what is your educational background before your current position?

I was born in Toronto, Canada, but grew up in Pittsburgh, PA. I went to Muhlenberg College for undergrad, where I worked with Brett Fadem on PHENIX on simulations of pi0 efficiency in the MPC. I then went to the University of California, Davis for my Ph.D. where I worked with Daniel Cebra on STAR with a focus on the STAR Fixed-Target Program and BES-II.

What is the title of your Ph.D. or tentative title? Awards or biggest talk highlight?

My dissertation was titled: Baryon Stopping and Charged Hadron Production in Au+Au Fixed-Target Collisions at √sNN = 3.0 GeV at STAR My biggest talk was at QM2022 and was on the detailed results of my dissertation

How did you decide to go into heavy ion or spin research?

I started doing heavy ion research in undergrad, mostly because that’s what was available to me, and I really enjoyed it. I tried some other things during REUs, but none were as interesting to me, so I came back to it for my Ph.D. and haven’t looked back.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Most of my free time is spent playing with my dog, Broccoli (she’s a 1.5 year old German Shepard mix and is a giant ball of energy). I also enjoy cooking and baking a lot, and I boulder when I have the time. I also play the French horn, though I’ve been too busy lately to do much of that.

Fun fact?

I have a twin brother (fraternal) who is in law school in DC1.