TEACHING AND MENTORING

Course Information

• Graduate Seminar: Topics in Spin: a 4-week seminar course on spin and related topics, such as angular distributions of particles in particle decay situations. Course information available at http://www.physics.smu.edu/spin
• PHYS 1303: Introductory Physics I (Mechanics)
  This class is geared toward physics majors and those who plan to pursue engineering degrees. Life science majors are welcome. This course is calculus-based. Find more information in the SMU Course Catalog.
• PHYS 1308: Introductory Physics II (Electricity and Magnetism)
  This course is geared toward life sciences majors. It is still a calculus-based course. Find more information in the SMU Course Catalog.
• PHYS 3305: Modern Physics
  This is the "gateway" to the physics major or minor, and teaches you about relativity and quantum physics, with applications in atomic, nuclear, and particle physics.
• CFB 3333/PHYS 3333/KNW 2333: Introduction to the Scientific Method
  Learn critical thinking and the scientific method, through pedagody and real-world examples. Find more information in the SMU Course Catalog. This class is one of SMU's inaugural "Ways of Knowing" (KNW) courses in the new university curriculum.
• PHYS 1311: Elements of Astronomy
  This course is for any student interested in learning more about the universe, its contents, and how to observe and measure its contents. This is not a course that counts for the physics major, and it routinely attracts students with majors outside the sciences. Find more information in the SMU Course Catalog.
• PHYS 4049/PHYS 1010: Honors Physics Section
  For students in the SMU Honors Program and for those students who wish to go above and beyond the standard introductory physics course, this section meets one day a week and engages students in hands-on explorations of physical phenomena, applications of introductory physics ideas, and interactions with experts in the field. This was originally taught under the course number PHYS 4049 but was approved for a new course number beginning in Fall 2016 as PHYS 1010.
• PHYS 5380: Introduction to Particle Physics
  A broad introduction to the basic ideas and history of particle physics, both theoretical and experimental.Find more information in the SMU Course Catalog.
  
• PHYS 6160: Physics Teaching Practicum
  This course was developed in fall 2017 to train new graduate student in teaching methodologies in introductory physics. The course was taught officially as PHYS 6160 in the fall of 2018. It was developed under PHYS 7170 during its pilot phase. Find more information in the SMU Course Catalog.

Other Teaching

• "Denial and Controversy! A Toolkit": Presented at the meeting of the SMU Secular Humanists Club on Oct. 12, 2012. Based on inspiration from speakers such as biologist and Professor Sean B. Carrol and my colleagues, Profs. Cotton and Scalise, in the CFB/PHY 3333 course at SMU, I put together this short manual on detecting (using?) fake controversy and denial to avoid scientific issues.
• I have guest lectured in several SMU physics courses. You can find these guest lectures in my list of public and guest lectures.

Mentoring

• Post-doctoral Fellows/Research Scientists/Research Professors
  • Katharine Leney (2018-present)
  • Francesco Lo Sterzo (2017-2018) - hired as a Data Scientist at Natural Cycles in 2018
  • Ruchi Gupta (2015-2018) - earned position as co-convener of ATLAS b-jet trigger signature group in 2017, and a second post-doctoral position at the DESY Laboratory on the ATLAS Experiment.
  • Aidan Randle-Conde (2010-2013) - earned a research position at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium, on the CMS Experiment. Presently works for a technology company in the UK.
• Graduate Students
  • Chris Milke (2018-Present) - Earned DOE Office of Science Graduate Research Fellowship for 2019-2020
  • Peilong Wang (2016-Present) - Ph.D. thesis topic: Measurement of H→bb using Vector-Boson Associate Production and 139/fb of ATLAS Data. Earned US ATLAS ATC grant to support upgrade-related form on the ATLAS ITk
  • Matthew Feickert (2015-2019) - Ph.D. thesis topic: "A Search for Boosted Low Mass Resonances Decaying to the b bbar Final State and Produced in Association with a Jet at sqrt {s} = 13~TeV with the ATLAS Detector"
  • Jeffery Hetherly (2013-2017) - Ph.D. thesis topic: "Using VH Associated Production to Search for the H→bb Decay of the Higgs Boson with Data from the ATLAS Detector at SQRT(s)=13TeV"
  • Tingting Cao (2011-2016) - Ph.D. thesis topic: "Measurement of the Spin-Parity Quantum Numbers of the 126 GeV/c² Boson with the ATLAS Experiment."
  • Banafsheh Ferdousi (2010-2011) - M.S. in Physics, 2011. Thesis: "Search for B⁰ → 4 leptons using the BaBar Detector"
• Undergraduate Students
  • Rasikh Amirali (2019-present) - Studies include gluon splitting and applications to Higgs Physics on the ATLAS Experiment, with emphasis on non-Higgs background jet contamination.
  • Jared Burleson (2019-present) - Hamilton Scholar, US ATLAS SUPER grant awarded for Summer 2019. Studies include gluon splitting and applications to Higgs Physics on the ATLAS Experiment, with emphasis on separating Higgs decays from signal process.
  • Rebecca Moore (2018-2019) - Hamilton Scholar. Studies include gluon splitting and applications to Higgs Physics on the ATLAS Experiment
  • Tia Szczesniak (2015, Summer) - Hamilton Scholar. Studied the use of energy correlation functions on pp→VH(bb)
  • Snigdha Smriti (2015-2016) - Study of effect of air motion on radon plate-out on copper.
  • Matthew Bruemmer (2014-2015) - Physics Major, Hamilton Scholar, Engaged Learning Scholar. Presented work on quantifying effect of electric fields on Radon daughter plate-out at the 2015 Low Radioactivity Techniques Conference (LRT2015).
  • Nicole Hartman (2013-2016) - B.S. in Physics, gradutaing with distinction in the major; SMU President's Scholar, SMU Hamilton Scholar, 2014 National Goldwater Scholar, and NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipient. Earned a position in the 2014 Columbia University Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) 10-week CERN program. Earned a position in the 2015 UC Davis REU program in Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics. Currently in Stanford University Physics Ph.D. program.
  • Matthew Rispoli (2010, 2012) - B.S. in physics and electrical engineering, graduated with distinction. Senior Thesis: "USE OF ABCD METHOD IN QCD BACKGROUND ESTIMATION OF H+ → τ ν". Earned an NSF graduate fellowhip. Presently in the Harvard physics Ph.D. program.
  • Holly Howard (2012) - minor in physics. Undergraduate research in biophysics.
  • Garrett Bockman (2011) - B.S. in physics. SMU Hamilton Scholar. Undergraduate research in ttbar+jets events.
  • Sam Scott (2011) - Undergraduate reseach in the study of a "dark photon"
  • Landon Banister (2010-2011) - Undergraduate research in the search for "dark forces" using B⁰→ 4 leptons. Earned the Hyer Award from the Texas Section of the American Physical Society in 2012.