I joined sPHENIX during the summer of 2020 just before starting my first quarter at UCLA, where I’m starting my 5th year of grad school this fall.

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

I work mainly with the heavy flavor topical group, focusing on D0 measurements such as the particle-antiparticle separated measurement of v1 in order to probe the strength of the QGP's initial electromagnetic field. I also help out a bit with the TPC group and our offline tracking QA in order to ensure we’re taking the best data possible.

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

I was born in San Diego, California and grew up in both Temecula, California and Manalapan, New Jersey. I went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for my undergrad education (go Tar Heels!) where I double majored in physics and music performance on french horn. While there, I mainly did research on neutrino physics with John Wilkerson such as the Majorana Demonstrator and the Baksan Experiment on Sterile Transitions.

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

My tentative title for my dissertation is “Heavy Flavor Probes of QGP Initial Electromagnetic Field and Collectivity with sPHENIX”, but I’m currently working on figuring out how to transition this to a more pp-focused study since we won’t have sufficient AuAu data with full tracking until next year. I’d say my favorite talk I’ve given was the sPHENIX heavy flavor overview I got to give at the winter workshop on nuclear dynamics in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in Winter 2022. It was my first time getting to present sPHENIX work to a large group and although it definitely was not my best talk, it really helped deepen my understanding of the physics we hope to study.

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

I originally was planning on continuing to study neutrino physics in graduate school, but UCLA didn’t have any groups actively studying neutrinos unfortunately. Thankfully, my advisor Huan Huang helped pique my interest in the quark gluon plasma and the world of heavy ion physics enough that I was motivated to switch to that and learn a new specialization in physics.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I am a huge sports fan, so I mainly spend my free time going to Los Angeles Dodgers games and watching UNC’s basketball and football teams on TV (or going in person whenever they get out to Los Angeles like they did for the Sweet 16 last year). I also love classical music, and love to go see the LA Philharmonic perform, especially if they’re playing any Mahler symphonies. Haven’t picked up my horn too much since undergrad sadly, but I find some time to play at a Christmas concert every year.

Fun fact?

I was head drum major of my high school marching band and got to conduct them in a competition we attended at MetLife Stadium (where the Giants and the Jets play football on Sundays)! Also, I have 2 cats: Fred and Pete.