News and Highlights Archive
Wiedenhoever named Distinguished Research Professor
Florida State University has bestowed the title of Distinguished Research Professor on four outstanding faculty members for their exemplary research productivity and contributions to their fields. "Outstanding national and international scholarly output and creativity is a cornerstone of a thriving research enterprise," said Vice President for Research Stacey S. Patterson. "I am thrilled to be able to recognize four individuals as Distinguished Research Professors this year who model exceptional performance and extraordinary contributions to their fields." The Distinguished Research Professor award recognizes outstanding research and/or creative activity of eligible Florida State University faculty currently at the rank of full professor. Among the four 2024 recipients of the Distinguished Research Professor Award is Fox Laboratory Director Professor Ingo Wiedenhoever. Congratulations! Read more here.
Cottle on Florida's STEM education
Paul Cottle was interviewed by 20-time Emmy winner Craig Patrick of Tampa Bay's Fox 13 for his show "Money, Power and Politics" about Florida's shortcomings in preparing high school students for college STEM majors, including physics, engineering and computing. The segment was broadcast in March 2024 and can be found on YouTube. Cottle was also invited by the Palm Beach County School District (the nation's tenth largest school district with about 200,000 students) to speak to high school students about how to best prepare for college majors in STEM fields, including physics, engineering and computing. Professor Cottle spoke to a live audience at John I. Leonard High School and reached many more through the district's live stream of the talk to high schools throughout Palm Beach County on March 14, 2024, which is available on YouTube.
Fox Lab feature on Fox13 Tampa Bay
Professors Almaraz-Calderon, Cottle, and Wiedenhoever recently talked with "breakthroughs in science" host Craig Patrick for his segment on Fox13 Tampa Bay. The feature, which also mentions the planned collaboration with Mayo Clinic to develop improved methods of treating cancer, can be found here.
Fox Lab student selected for student highlight
The FSU College of Arts and Sciences has selected Ana Pereira, a third year undergraduate in the Department of Physics, for a student highlight. Ana works with Professor Tripathi on an undergraduate research project on induced fission. Ana has presented their findings at FSU's 2024 Undergraduate Research Symposium and during the 2024 President’s Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence. Read more about Ana's spotlight interview and their participation in the 2024 President’s Showcase.
New Long Range Plan for Nuclear Science
The United States Nuclear Science Advisory Committee (NSAC) released "A New Era of Discovery: The 2023 Long Range Plan for Nuclear Science". This new long range plan provides a roadmap for advancing the nation's nuclear science research programs over the next decade. The U.S. Nuclear Science community releases such a plan every 5-8 years highlighting the scientific opportunities of nuclear physics today to maintain world leadership. The document also explores the impact of nuclear science on other fields and applications of the research that benefit society. Science opportunities at the ARUNA laboratories, to which the Fox Lab belongs, were prominently featured.
Dr. Fossez receives NSF CAREER Award
Dr. Kevin Fossez has earned one of the most prestigious awards available to early career faculty members for his work in theoretical nuclear physics. He is a recipient of a 2023 Faculty Early Career Development Award, or CAREER Award, from the National Science Foundation for his work investigating how to better predict properties of new combinations of protons and neutrons at the limits of nuclear stability. “I am thrilled this award will provide funding for five years to pursue my work within a long-term perspective by building a research group and going deeper into certain problems, like challenging the common understanding of atomic nuclei by producing isotopes with a fleeting existence,” Fossez said. “It is also recognition that my work is valued by the scientific community, which is always appreciated.” Read more in this feature article.
Marc Salinas receives dean's award for doctoral excellence
FSU graduate student Marc Salinas, who works with Professor Piekarewicz, received the 2023 DEAN’S AWARD for DOCTORAL EXCELLENCE (DADE). The competitive award recognizes meritorious performance from doctoral students in the later phases of their program. Marc's research focuses on constraining the nuclear matter equation of state through the use of relativistic mean field theory and by incorporating information from nuclear experiments and neutron stars into a Bayesian framework.
CENTAUR triton-beam workshop at Fox Lab
The CENTAUR workshop serves to discuss the scientific opportunities for experiments with accelerated triton beams, which will become available at the Fox Lab in the near future. The workshop will explore the use of pair-transfer reactions as a tool to extract pairing properties, as surrogate reactions, as a general tool to reach neutron-rich nuclei and other applications. During the workshop, participants will be encouraged to form collaborations around experiments and instruments to help maximize the scientific output of this new and unique capability. Please register here for the workshop.
Particle-gamma coincidences at SE-SPS
The Fox lab has completed the installation of CeBrA demonstrator for particle-γ coincidence experiments at the Super-Enge Split-Pole Spectrograph (SE-SPS) and connected upgrades to the beamline. The first particle-gamma experiments with the new CeBr3 gamma-ray detectors concluded successfully including experiments during the 2023 REU at the Fox Lab. The results of the commissioning experiments have been published in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. FSU graduate student Alex Conley, working with Dr. Spieker, led the developments.
Faculty Spotlight
FSU selected our very own Dr. Vandana Tripathi for a Faculty Spotlight. Dr. Tripathi earned her doctoral degree in experimental nuclear physics from Jawahar Lal Nehru University in India, and she has been with FSU’s Department of Physics since 2003, starting as a post-doctoral fellow. Her research focuses on understanding the structure of subatomic nuclei, especially those that are unstable and do not occur in nature but are crucial to understanding the early stages of the universe.
FRIB Visiting Scholar 2022
The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University has opened its doors holding the promise to reach the new frontiers of the nuclear chart. To perform the first user experiment with the FRIB Decay Station initiator (FDSi), Vandana Tripathi was selected as the award recipient for the 2022 FRIB Visiting Scholar Program for Experimental Science. Read more about the excitement around the first FRIB experiment and Vandana's award.
FSU research featured in DOE Science Highlights
The Department of Energy, Office of Science has recently featured research from our group in their Science Highlights. In December 2022, the work of Professor Jorge Piekarewicz was featured in an article titled "Building Bridges and Ladders in Astrophysics: Theory and Experiment Inform the Equation of State". Earlier in 2022, the Office of Science had chosen the work of our graduate student Eilens Lopez-Saavedra for a highlight: "Near-Threshold Resonance Helps Explain a Controversial Measurement of Exotic Decay in Beryllium-11". The results were obtained in collaboration between the groups of Professors Sergio Almaraz-Calderon, Alexander Volya and Ingo Wiedenhoever.
CLARION2 installed at FSU
The new CLARION2-TRINITY array was commissioned in December 2021 with a Coulomb-excitation and fusion-evaporation experiment at the John D. Fox Laboratory at Florida State University (FSU). The detector array consists of Compton-suppressed clovers, LaBr/CeBr, a new hybrid charged-particle detector consisting of annular Si and GAGG-SiPM detectors, and a zero-degree detector, which were all installed throughout 2021. Based on community talks and participation in a LECM workshop, the array is anticipated to focus on single- and multi-step Coulomb excitation, stopping powers, Recoil-in-Vacuum calibrations for g factors at FRIB, nucleon transfer reactions, fusion evaporation, and fast-timing measurements.
Fox Lab alumnus featured in APS News
Fox Lab alumnus Jesus Perello Izaguirre has been featured in the FSU Spectrum magazine as well as in the American Physical Society (APS) News. Jesus joined FSU's graduate school program through the Department's Bridge program. At the Fox Lab, part of the U.S.’s Center for Excellence in Nuclear Training and University-Based Research (CENTAUR), Jesus worked alongside Prof. Sergio Almaraz-Calderon to better understand observations made by the NASA Fermi gamma-ray telescope orbiting in space that detected radioactive elements throughout the galaxy. After graduating in 2021, he accepted at postdoc position at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Read more about his story in the two feature articles.
Nuclear group welcomes its newest faculty member Dr. Kevin Fossez
The low-energy nuclear physics group at Florida State University welcomes its newest faculty member Dr. Kevin Fossez. Kevin is the holder of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) theory alliance bridge position at Florida State University. Before joining FSU, Kevin was a FRIB theory fellow stationed at Argonne National Laboratory. His research interests cover the study of open quantum systems, many-body physics, low-energy nuclear structure and reactions, as well as many other related topics.
Fox Lab congratulates its most recent graduates
The Fox Lab congratulates its most recent graduates Dr. Benjamin Asher, Dr. Nathan Gerken and Dr. Jesus Perello. While Nathan graduated in Spring 2021 after successfully defending his thesis with the title "Isomeric Contributions to Stellar Nucleosynthesis", both Benjamin ("The Making of ENCORE: A MUlti Sampling Ionization Chamber") and Jesus ("Study of Low-Lying Proton Resonances in 26Si and Neutron Spectroscopic Studies with CATRiNA") graduated in Summer 2021. All three worked under the supervision of Prof. Sergio Almaraz-Calderon. Benjamin and Jesus are now on postdoctoral appointments at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and Los Alamos National Laboratory, respectively. Nathan accepted a job at Platinum Edge Solutions.
New insights into the nuclear EOS
Following the new PREX-2 results for the neutron-skin thickness of 208Pb, Professor Piekarewicz and his collaborators have provided new insights into the nuclear equation of state describing atomic nuclei and neutron stars. The results, which were selected as an Editors' Suggestion, are published in Physical Review Letters (B.T. Reed et al.).
J. Piekarewicz named Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor
J. Piekarewicz has been named as one of the 2021 Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professors; one of the highest honors that the faculty bestow upon their own. The Lawton Distinguished Professor Award was first presented in 1957 as the Distinguished Professor Award. It was renamed in honor of the late Vice President for Academic Affairs Robert O. Lawton in 1981.
CLARION2 support structure installed at FSU
With the support from collaborators from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the frame and support structure for the gamma-ray detection array CLARION2 were installed at the John D. Fox Laboratory in March 2021. CLARION2 is a joint project between Oak Ridge National Laboratory and FSU. The array will stay at the Fox lab for an extended campaign and see first beam in Summer 2021. V. Tripathi is in charge at FSU.
A success story
The FSU College of Arts and Sciences chose the nuclear-physics laboratory for a feature article telling the story of the laboratory's 60-year long history of educating generations of elite scholars and being on the forefront of nuclear science.
Nuclear Science Camp
The online (but hands-on!) Nuclear Medicine and Science Camp was held July 13-16, 2020 with the support of the CENTAUR consortium and the FSU Physics Department. The camp served nineteen middle and high school campers and provided a dramatic demonstration of what can be accomplished by talented teachers who are given the resources and freedom necessary to innovate.
Ingo Wiedenhöver named APS Fellow
Ingo Wiedenhöver has been named a 2020 Fellow of the American Physical Society. The citation reads:"For seminal contributions to nuclear structure and nuclear astrophysics, the development of the RESOLUT in-flight radioactive beam facility and the ANASEN active target detector, and for founding the Association for Research at University Nuclear Accelerators."
Why protons and neutrons matter
M. Spieker and his collaborators have published new results on the microscopic structure of the Pygmy Dipole Resonance (PDR) in Physical Review Letters. The PDR could strongly influence the synthesis of atomic nuclei in neutron-star mergers.
FRIB Visiting Scholar Award
The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) and the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) have named M. Spieker as one of the scholarship recipients for the FRIB Visiting Scholar Program for Experimental Science 2020.
Fox Lab wins $5.7M NSF grant
The Fox Laboratory has received a $5.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation to continue its cutting-edge research in nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics.
CLARION2 arrives at FSU
The frame and support structure for the gamma-ray detection array CLARION2 arrived at the Fox Lab in March 2020. CLARION2 is a joint project between Oak Ridge National Laboratory and FSU. The array will stay at the Fox lab for an extended campaign and see first beam in Summer 2021. V. Tripathi is in charge at FSU.
2019 Mentoring Award
S.L. Tabor wins the 2019 Division of Nuclear Physics Mentoring Award of the American Physical Society.
Award for P.D. Cottle
In August 2019, Dr. Paul Cottle received an award from FSU-PC. The award recognized his unwavering commitment to supporting STEM initiatives at FSU-PC and the surrounding Bay District Schools. Dr. Cottle helps foster a love of physics in the next generation.
Physics undergraduate student Shae Machlus wins prestigious Goldwater Scholarship
Shae Machlus, a Florida State University student, who conducts research in theoretical physics has received a prestigious Goldwater Scholarship, awarded to the nation’s brightest mathematics, science and engineering college sophomores and juniors. Machlus is an accomplished undergraduate researcher in physics, chemistry and scientific computing and recently completed his honors thesis, “Calculating Observables in the Three Body Coulomb Problem,” under the direction of FSU Professor of Physics Alexander Volya, who is a nuclear theorist.
Jesse W. Beams Research Award for J. Piekarewicz
Jorge Piekarewicz was awarded the 2018 Jesse W. Beams Research Award for outstanding research by the Southeastern Section of the American Physics Society. The Award was established to recognize especially significant or meritorious research in physics while the recipient was resident of the Southeast region. Prof. Piekarewicz was recognized for significant research and achievements in both nuclear structure and many-body nuclear theory, as well as for his contributions to the theory of neutron-rich matter and to the broader understanding of neutron star structure.