I first joined sPHENIX in the summer of 2016 as a new graduate student at the University of Illinois, working on analysis of the calorimeter test beam data from earlier that year. I rejoined efforts in spring of 2022 and have been stationed at BNL working primarily on sPHENIX since I joined Georgia State University as a postdoc in May 2022.

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

My detector work has mostly focused on the calorimeters, first with the test beam analysis of the EMCal and more recently I have been involved with installation and commissioning efforts for the HCals. I also have participated in a lot of work within the jet group, working to understand jet performance in simulation, helping to organize the jet calibration efforts for early data, and working to reconstruct jets in our 2023 data.

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

I was born and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. I did my undergraduate degree in physics and math at Loyola University Chicago and then went on to get my Ph.D at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where my advisor was Anne Sickles.

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

My thesis title was “New and Future Measurements of Jet Quenching in Heavy-ion Collisions Using the ATLAS and sPHENIX Detectors”. As a graduate student I was awarded the Maurice Goldhaber Research Scholar Award in Nuclear Physics and a University Fellowship from UIUC. This year I was awarded a RHIC & AGS Merit award for my work on sPHENIX.

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

When I started grad school I was intrigued by the idea of studying the matter that made up the early universe in the lab so I joined the heavy-ion group. I really enjoyed the work and the ability to collaborate with scientists all around the world, and that initial interest has grown more and more as I continue in my career.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I’m a big reader, especially sci-fi and fantasy novels. One of my favorite activities is trivia!

Fun fact?

As an undergrad I wrote over a dozen wikipedia articles about women scientists as part of an effort to increase coverage of women in science on wikipedia.