UTA undergraduate researcher receives national honors

(Press-News.org) A physics student at The University of Texas at Arlington studying ways to measure the mass of tiny particles called neutrinos has earned a prestigious national award for her research.

Senior Kara Stogsdill received the Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award from the Society of Physics Students, an organization of the American Institute of Physics. The award is given to students based on exceptional research achievements in any physics-related field.

Stogsdill’s research is part of the Project 8 Neutrino Mass Experiment, which includes faculty and students from UTA and 13 other universities and national laboratories in the United States and Europe. Project 8’s goal is to measure the mass of the neutrino, one of the building blocks of the universe. Ben Jones, UTA associate professor of physics and Stogsdill’s faculty mentor, is a principal investigator for Project 8.

Neutrinos are the most abundant particles with mass in the universe. Every time atomic nuclei come together (in the case of stars like the sun) or break apart (such as in nuclear reactors), neutrinos are produced. Even everyday items like bananas emit neutrinos from the natural radioactivity of potassium in the fruit. Scientists believe that studying neutrinos can help us understand how the universe came to contain matter.

In addition to having little mass, neutrinos also interact very weakly, making it difficult for scientists to pinpoint them to study. Stogsdill is building a Zeeman slower, an instrument that is used to slow and cool a beam of hot atoms so that scientists may study them more easily.

“Kara is an outstanding researcher who has made major contributions to UTA’s work for Project 8,” Dr. Jones said. “She has played a central role on our team, working with UTA scientists, undergraduates, and graduate students to realize a new method of cooling large fluxes of atoms to millikelvin temperatures. She has led development of the Zeeman slower system in collaboration with magnet system engineers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.”

Stogsdill, who grew up in Waco and attended Midway High School, said she developed an early fascination with physics as well as chemistry, mathematics, and science in general. She came to UTA initially planning to major in engineering.

“It wasn’t until I started talking to my physics professors that I realized that being a physicist was a very realistic career goal,” she said. “I asked my physics professor, Barry Spurlock, questions after class every day. Eventually he asked if I would like to see a lab, maybe get a job, and then he introduced me to Dr. Jones. I was brought down to see the lab, and I was hooked.”

Stogsdill said Jones has given her confidence to grow as an undergraduate researcher. She started out with no research experience and is now an experienced member of the lab group.

“As a mentor, Dr. Jones is infectiously and intensely fascinated with experimental particle physics and invested in my research project, but he is also very respectful and flexible when it comes to what I need as a student,” she said.

After graduating next spring, Stogsdill said she plans to apply for an internship at a national laboratory and then pursue a doctoral degree.

END