Dr. Stephen Sekula
Astroparticle Physicist. Teacher. Author.
Dr. Stephen Sekula

Service

In addition to research and teaching, I view service to my department, university, and field as a key duty. Please find below more information about roles I play, or have played, in each of these communities.

Current Service Activities

Past Service Activities

Research Projects

  • Co-Convener of the ATHENA Collaboration Jets, Heavy Flavor, Electroweak, and Beyond-the-Standard Model Physics Working Group (2021-2022)
  • US ATLAS Diversity and Inclusion Committee (2019-2020)
  • Co-Convener of the ATLAS b-jet Trigger Signature Group (2018-2020)
  • Co-Convener of the ATLAS Higgs Hbb Software Framework Group (2017-2018)
  • ATLAS Charged Higgs Contact to the LHC Higgs Cross Section Working Group (2014-2016)
  • Co-convener of the ATLAS Higgs Subgroup 6: Beyond-the-Standard Model Higgs Searches (2012-2013)
  • Co-editor of the “Bottomonium” chapter of the “Physics of the B-Factories” Book (2009-2014). Published in 2015.
  • Co-Convener, BaBar Leptonic Bottom and Charm Working Group (2010 – 2012)

Department/University

  • Chair of the SMU Department of Physics (2020-2022)
  • SMU Information Technology Leadership Council, Research Principle Investigator (2019-2022)
  • SMU Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) Faculty Advisory Committee (2020-2022)
  • SMU Working Group on Graduate Students and COVID-19 (2020-2021)
  • Director of Graduate Studies in Physics (2019-2020)
  • “Exploring Science” Common Curriculum Subcommittee – tasked with defining the standard for general education natural science courses to define such courses for the new curriculum.
  • SMU Teaching Prizes Committee Member (in association with the Center for Teaching Excellence), 2017-2019
  • Co-Coordinator for the PHYS 1105/1106 Cooperative Problem-Solving Sessions (Fall 2018-present)
  • New Faculty Search Committee Member – Experimental Particle Physics (2017-2018)
  • Director of Graduate Studies in Physics ad Interim (2017)
  • Associate Director of Graduate Studies in Physics (2016-2017)
  • Visiting Scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel (July 2017)
  • Faculty Affiliate, Morrison-McGinnis Residential Commons (2014-2016)
  • Voting Member, SMU Undergraduate Curriculum Council (UCC) – Spring 2016
  • Member, Mathematics Pillar Committee Chaired by Dean Moore (2015)
  • Member, Advisory Panel to Associate Dean Peter Moore on the creation of a “Bachelor of Arts in Applied Sciences” degree in Dedman College (2015).
  • Member, Dean’s Faculty Committee to assess the creation of a “Master of Public Policy” in Dedman College (2014).
  • Faculty Advisor to the SMU Hunt’s Scholar Program (2012-2018)
  • Member, Faculty Advisory Board to the SMU Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute (2012-2017)
  • Member, SMU Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute planning committee (2011).
    • SMU Dean William Tsutsui formed a committee in the spring of 2011 to formulate a plan for the development of an Interdisciplinary Institute within Dedman College. Report. This resulted in the donation of funds to the university to create the Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute (DCII).
  • Physics Department Computing Contact – 2009-2018

Field

  • American Physical Society, Division of Particles and Physics, Program Committee (2018-2020)
  • Session Chair, Rencontres de Blois 2019, “BSM and Dark Matter 2”. June 3-7, 2019.
  • Session Chair, American Physical Society April 2018 Meeting (Columbus, OH). “QCD and Hadrons” and “Electroweak Physics, and Lepton Non-Universality”. April 14-17, 2018.
  • Local Organizer for the 2017 US ATLAS Hadronic Final State Forum, hosted by SMU from Dec. 11-14, 2017.
  • Co-Editor of LHC Higgs Cross Section Working Group’s “Yellow Report 4” chapter on charged Higgs bosons. arXiv:1610.07922. http://www.arxiv.org/abs/1610.07922. (2016)
  • Co-Editor of ATLAS Conference Note “Search for a CP-odd Higgs boson decaying to Zh in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector”. ATLAS-CONF-2016-015. http://cds.cern.ch/record/2141003. (2016)
  • Session Chair, Rencontres de Blois 2016, “ElectroWeak + Top + Higgs: Parallel Session 1”. (2016)
  • Member, International Scientific Advisory Committee, Charged Higgs Conference, 2016
  • SUSY2015 Conference, Higgs Session Co-Convener, 2015
  • Session Chair, Rencontres de Blois 2015, “Beyond-the-Standard Model and Dark Matter Session 2 (Parallel Session)”. (2014)
  • Local Organizer for the 23rd Workshop on Deep Inelastic Scattering 2015 (DIS2015) at SMU. Organized the Public Lecture on April 26, 2015
  • Session Chair, Rencontres du Blois 2014, “ElectroWeak, Top, and Higgs Session 2 (Parallel Session)”. (2015)
  • Member, US ATLAS Task Force on the Tier 3 Computing Systems (2013)
    • Result of this Task Force: a report to US ATLAS, shared with funding agencies, regarding the value of Tier 3 computing to US ATLAS institutions during LHC Run 1 and possible models for such computing as complimentary to the GRID for Run 2.
  • Organizer, ATLAS HSG6 Workshop, May 19-21, The Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel (2013)
  • Session Convener, “Top”, Southwest US ATLAS Physics Jamboree, UT-Arlington, April 25-29 (2011)
  • At various times since joining the faculty at SMU, I have served in a capacity as an external referee for journal publications and for grant applications. I cannot list specifics as these are undertaken in an anonymous capacity.