Latest News

The Friendly Physics Guide(s) Launch!May 23, 2022
I am very pleased to announce that the first in new a series of books – “The Friendly Physics Guide(s) to … “ – is […]
Congratulations, 2022 Graduates!May 15, 2022
I am thrilled to congratulate the seven Biophysical Science and Physics degree recipients, who graduated in May 2022! This year our department saw the second […]

Biography

I am a Professor of Experimental Particle Physics and Chair of the Department of Physics at SMU. I joined the faculty in 2009. My current research focus is the study of the recently discovered Higgs particle, using the ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS) Experiment located at the Large Hadron Collider, a research facility hosted by the CERN Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. I study the interactions of the Higgs particle with the second-heaviest building block of matter, the bottom quark, to learn what it can teach us about the origin of the universe. I have participated in two major discoveries about the Higgs particle in the last decade: the measurement of its spin-parity quantum numbers using Higgs decays to four leptons (particles like the electron) and the first ever observation of the Higgs directly interacting with quarks. I am also a leader in the growing community of nuclear and particle physicists engaged in planning for the Electron-Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory. I study the identification of quark-initiated jets in the context of the ATHENA (A Totally Hermetic Electron-Nucleus Apparatus) proto-collaboration. In addition to my research, I teach physics at SMU, including introductory physics and modern physics, honors physics, and a teaching practicum for graduate students. I am an SMU Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor. I am also an author, including a series of books called “The Friendly Physics Guide to … ” and a book co-authored with Frank Blitzer and S. James Gates, Jr. entitled “Reality in the Shadows (or) What the Heck’s the Higgs?”