My research advisor is Ken Gayley. I am working on a project which describes the interactions between the winds of massive hot stars (such as Wolf-Rayets). These systems are especially interesting considering the evolution of W-R stars into collapsars, the mechanism of long-duration gamma-ray bursts.

I have also been a member of Yasar Onel's Experimental Particle Physics group which many of the projects described below I did as a part of. An intersection of these fields (a loose intersection at that) which I find interesting are cosmic ray events near or exceeding the GZK limit.

Struve-Sahade Effect

As an undergraduate I worked on a research project with Ken which aimed at a better understanding of spectral line formation in hot binary star systems. We attempted to explain a phenomenon known as "The Struve Sahade Effect" which can be read about here and here

I functioned as an assistant to one of the Iowa HEP group's engineers in fabrication and, to a lesser extent, design of "source driver" units.

Quartz Plate Calorimetry

Much of my work involved preparing for and running tests at "test beams". During test beams hardware and detector prototypes are set up at labs like Fermilab and CERN. Once the hardware and detectors are calibrated, cabled, and secured, beams of particles are "fired" at them. These test beam runs tell us how well our prototypes will work as detectors in large scale experiments such as CMS.

CMS HPD replacement

PMTs as Directional Detectors

Under the guidance of Ed Norbeck I conducted tests using Photo Multiplier Tubes as directional detectors. That is, I aimed a PMT towards the sky and collected 48 hours worth of cosmic ray events and then turned it upside-down and collected another 48 hours worth of data in that orientation. As simple as this may sound, it was one of the more interesting and unique experiments I have performed in experimental particle physics. We discovered a definite difference corresponding to the direction from which the signal events originated. Thus, PMTs can be used to detect the direction and magnitude of an event, this is not something that has ever been done before. As a result, PMTs will most likely be used in a University of Iowa designed "Halo Detector" to be placed in the LHC beam-pipe on either side of the CMS interaction point.

Hydrodynamic Simulations of Bow Shocks

This is my current research. I am modelling stellar bow shocks. The research focuses on the shocks created when the winds of massive hot stars, such as Wolf-Rayets, collide. Currently, I am looking into using the Center for Thermonuclear Flashes' flagship code, FLASH as the basis for these simulations.