people

Four students have received the prestigious DOE Office of Science Graduate Student Research fellowships to conduct their research at Fermilab. The goal of the program is to prepare graduate students for STEM careers critically important to the Office of Science mission by providing graduate thesis research opportunities at DOE laboratories.

Students come into science from a variety of backgrounds, facing a variety of circumstances. The Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program, a partnership between Fisk and Vanderbilt universities in Nashville, is meant to take that into account. It helps students overcome external hurdles to reach their potential in Ph.D.-level STEM research. Meet three scientists connected by the program.

Respondents to Symmetry’s survey about what it’s like to earn a Ph.D. in particle physics or astrophysics offer their views of the experience. Nearly 2,000 people worldwide complete the scientific rite of passage each year. Yet for many people, the process remains mysterious.
The more than 300 responses to Symmetry’s survey described a challenging, multifaceted experience that goes far beyond job training, and even beyond the scientific goal of studying the fundamental nature of the universe.

Swapan Chattopadhyay is one of 62 individuals elected this year as a Royal Society of Edinburgh fellow. Designated as a corresponding fellow, he has attained a high international standing in his discipline in the eyes of the RSE. Chattopadhyay researches the science and technology of particle and light beams and quantum sensors.

From Kyoto University, Feb. 27, 2019: In this five-minute video, University of Washington scientist and Fermilab collaborator Kim Siang Khaw explains Fermilab’s Muon g-2 experiment and how it may reveal unknown particles lurking in our universe.

The American Physical Society has recognized Fermilab and Northern Illinois University physicist Philippe Piot for his outstanding contributions as a referee for APS journals. APS’s highly selective Outstanding Referee program annually recognizes about 150 of the roughly 71,000 currently active referees.

A Chicago native, Drena Johnson was born and raised about an hour outside of Fermilab, on the west side of Chicago. Although her knowledge of Fermilab was limited prior to working here, she now uses her platform to bring information about the lab to her peers and her community.

Fermilab engineer Ryan Rivera receives the consortium’s Young Alumni Leadership Award. GEM’s mission is to enhance the value of the nation’s human capital by increasing the participation of underrepresented groups at the master’s and doctoral levels in engineering and science. A GEM alumnus, Rivera is recognized for his influence, commitment and passion in creating better opportunities for underrepresented groups in STEM-related fields.

If one wanted to follow the recipe for the universe, it would call for about 14 parts dark energy, 5 parts dark matter and 1 part visible matter. In a perpetually expanding cosmic landscape that reaches far beyond what even the most powerful telescopes can see, this might be hard to visualize. Physicists Katy Grimm and Katharine Leney found a solution for this: Use this recipe for the cosmos to bake a proportionally correct dark matter cake.

From University of Missouri – Kansas City’s University News, Feb. 6, 2019: Sánchez, a scientist at Iowa State University, is a part of Fermilab’s NOvA neutrino experiment and the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. She also co-leads the ANNIE experiment at Fermilab.