Overview
Experimental Elementary Particle Physics, Heavy Quark Physics, Hadron Collider Physics, Solid State Detectors for Particle Physics, X-ray science, and Electron Microscopes, Study of Cultural Heritage Objects using Synchrotron X-rays
Research Focus
My research focus is data analysis at the Compact Muon Soleniod (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, as well as the development of novel detectors for particle physics, x-ray science, and electron microscopes. I also have an interest in the study of cultural heritage objects, using x-ray diffraction and other techniques.
The LHC is colliding protons at the highest energies ever reached with accelerators- a new energy scale that opens up the exciting possibility of great scientific discoveries. Explanations for the origin of electroweak symmetry breaking, the existence of dark matter, and the discovery of supersymmetric particles are within our reach. The discovery of the Higgs boson has been a major milestone for our field, and we are now exploring the Higgs sector in more detail, as we are integrating data and are gaining sensitivity rapidly.
At the LHC, I work on the upgrades of the innermost layers of the pixelated Silicon detectors, which have to withstand enormous doses of radiation. Our sensitivity to New Physics depends critically on our ability to track particles with very high precision in a very challenging environment.
Pixelated sensors are also used in imaging radiation detectors, to reveal the detailed static and dynamic structural properties of matter. I work on detector development for use at CHESS and other light sources, as well as in electron-microscopes.
A third research focus involves the study of cultural heritage objects using a range of scientific techniques. This work currently happens in the Conservation Science EASL working group at CHESS.
Research work in my group involves detector R&D both for particle and x-ray science, development of data analysis algorithms and Monte Carlo simulation of New Physics phenomena expected to be observed at the LHC, and CMS detector operations and upgrades. A new research direction is the scientific study of ancient coins and other objects in collaboration with art historians and archaeologists.
Graduate Students
Lena Franklin, Sixuan Li, Kasia Krzyzanska
Postdocs
Xuan Chen
Undergraduate Students
Nathan Birkett, Nick Viscomi, Eli Slavin
Awards and Honors
- Fellow, German National Scholarship Foundation 1993-1997
Professional Experience
- Research Assistant, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) 1997-2002.
- Research Associate, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) 2002-2005.
- Assistant Professor, Physics, Cornell University, 2005-2012.
- Associate Professor, Physics, Cornell University, 2012-2018.
- Professor, Physics, Cornell University, 2018-present.
- Deputy Director of the Cornell Laboratory of Accelerator-Based Sciences and Education, January 2018-present.
- Vice Provost for Academic Innovation, May 2017-present.
- Associate Vice Provost for Research in the Physical Sciences, 2022-2024
- Chair of the Physics Department, 2025-present
Publications
L. A. Franklin, N. J. Brown, S. M. Gruner, E. Met-Hoxha, M. W. Tate, J. Thom-Levy. Characterizing electron-collecting CdTe for use in a 77 ns burst-rate imager. Journal of Synchrotron Radiation 31 (2024). http://dx.doi.org/10.1107/S160057752400643X
Yu, F., Thedford, R.P., Tartaglia, T.A. et al. Hierarchically ordered porous transition metal compounds from one-pot type 3D printing approaches. Nat Commun 16, 7704 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62794-8
C. J. Duncan, A. C. Johnson, I. Maity, A. Rubio, M. Gordon, A. C. Bartnik, M. Kaemingk, W. H. Li, M. B. Andorf, C. A. Pennington, I. V. Bazarov, M. W. Tate, D. A. Muller, J. Thom-Levy, S. M. Gruner, A. M. Lindenberg, F. Liu, and J. M. Maxson, “Photoinduced twist and untwist of moiré superlattices in TMDC heterobilayers.” arXiv, Feb. 17, 2025. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2502.11452. Available: http://arxiv.org/abs/2502.11452
Z. Han, A. Mukherjee, A. Albert, A.K. Rumaiz, I. Harding, M.W. Tate, S.M. Gruner, J. Thom-Levy, A.J. Kuczewski, D.P. Siddons, G.A. Carini, J. Stavro, S. Léveillé, D. Vasileska, W. Zhao, and A. Goldan. High spatial resolution direct conversion amorphous Selenium X-ray detectors with monolithically integrated CMOS readout. JINST 18 (2023) P04021. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/18/04/P04021
D. Gadkari, K.S. Shanks, H. Hu, H.T. Philipp, M.W. Tate, J. Thom-Levy, and S.M. Gruner. Characterization of 128x128 MM-PAD-2.1 ASIC: A Fast Framing Hard X-Ray Detector with High Dynamic Range. Journal of Instrumentation, 17 (2022)
P03003. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/17/03/P03003 371
Hugh T. Philipp, Mark W. Tate, Katherine S. Shanks, Luigi Mele, Maurice Peemen, Pleun Dona, Reinout Hartong, Gerard van Veen, Yu-Tsun Shao, Sol M. Gruner, Julia Thom-Levy, and David A. Muller. Wide Dynamic Range, 10 kHz Framing Detector for 4D-STEM. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927621003767
Observation of ttH production, CMS Collaboration with J.Thom, Published in PRL 120, No.23, 231801 (2018)
Evidence for associated production of a Higgs boson with a top quark pair in final states with electrons, muons, and hadronically decaying \tau leptons at sqrt{s} = 13 TeV, CMS Collaboration with J.Thom, published in JHEP 1808, 066 (2018)
Searches for R-parity-violating supersymmetry in pp collisions at √ s=8TeV in final states with 0–4 leptons. V. Khachatryan et al. (CMS Collaboration) Phys. Rev. D 94, 112009 – Published 29 December 2016.
Measurement of the integrated and differential ttbar production cross section for high-pT top quarks in pp collisions at √s= 8 TeV , CMS Collaboration). Apr 30, 2016. 25 pp. Published in Phys.Rev. D94 (2016) no.7, 072002 CMS-TOP-14-012, CERN-EP-2016-078.
Measurement of Jet Multiplicity Distributions in Top Quark Pair Events at √s = 7 TeV, CMS collaboration, Eur. Phys. J. C74 (2014) 8, 3014
Measurement of the t-tbar production cross section in pp collisions at 7TeV with lepton+jets final states, CMS Collaboration, Physics Letters B 720 (2013) 83.
In the news
- 3D-printed superconductor achieves record performance
- Two-day ‘LepageFest’ honors physicist and former dean of A&S
- Leading particle physicist headlines fall 2024 Bethe Lectures
- Staff changes will support interdisciplinary research
- Active Learning Initiative, at 10, elevates teaching and belonging
- $3.8M NSF grant begins a new era of early universe research
- Three students in STEM win 2022 Goldwater Scholarships
- Active Learning Initiative awards 5 new grants
- 2020 in review: COVID-19 was the story
- Snail mail to Wi-Fi: Cornell’s history of remote instruction
- Smooth start to virtual instruction, thanks to weeks of prep
- Faculty mobilize to provide virtual instruction
- New approaches to teaching revolutionize the classroom
- Early adopters of Canvas share lessons learned
- A&S Dean Ray Jayawardhana to lead Argentine study tour to see eclipse
- Provost’s seminar celebrates innovation in teaching
- Active Learning Initiative funds nine projects
- Thom-Levy channels innovation to benefit faculty and students
- Women in STEM event to address gender pay gap, overcoming barriers
- New grant program seeks innovative teaching and learning projects
- Cornelia Ye Award recognizes teaching assistants Aguillon, Natarajan
- Zamudio to study effects of active learning as Menschel Teaching Fellow
- College of Arts and Sciences launches education innovation web feature
- New unit merges teaching excellence center with academic technology
- $2.7 million grant expands Arts & Sciences Active Learning Initiative
- In Search of New Physics Phenomena
