I've been working in sPHENIX since May of 2020 with the Heavy Ion group at University of Colorado Boulder.

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

I've been lucky enough to work on many different parts of the sPHENIX experiment. However, most of my recent focus has been on the sPHENIX trigger. This includes the development, installation, and commissioning of the MBD and calorimeter trigger electronics as well as simulations of their performance in p+p and Au+Au. I also worked on the centrality calibrations for the Run-23 data set. I also spend my time assisting in development of the data acquisition and readout electronics slow-control software.

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

I was born in Massachusetts and lived in the small town of Westborough most of childhood. I studied physics at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where I assisted in the construction of multi-wire proportional chambers for the charged pion polarizability experiment at JLab. In addition to physics, I minored in political science.

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

The tentative title for my Ph.D. thesis is to be determined! In the spring of 2022 I received the DOE SCGSR which placed me at BNL for a year and some change. Over that year I was able to see sPHENIX build up from an empty steel cradle in the assembly hall to an amazing machine. At the end of this period, I was awarded the RHIC/AGS Merit Award for my work on the sPHENIX trigger.

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

After committing to attend the University of Colorado Boulder in my last semester at UMass, COVID-19 caused the shut down of all college campuses in the country. My summer job at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth was cancelled. I was looking for other options. Jamie was my first contact at CU Boulder, and I asked if there was any work I could do remotely from Massachusetts for the summer before I started classes. I began working on sPHENIX immediately with studies on zero-suppression and photon cluster identification in the Emcal. When I got to CU Boulder I explored different fields in plasma and AMO physics, but I had already established a great interest in Heavy Ion physics. I found the goal of sPHENIX mightily impressive and the questions it would answer intriguing.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

In my free time, I like to rock climb, and I enjoy playing piano and guitar, although my practice always falls to the wayside during sPHENIX runs. I also spend a great deal of time with my two brothers who live in Colorado as well. In long spans of spare time, I enjoy camping and backpacking in the mountains whether that is back in Colorado in the Rockies, or, while I am on the east coast, in the Adirondacks and the Whites.

Fun fact?

I have made the drive between Colorado and New York many times. My fastest time was 33 hours.