Group Members
Principal Investigator
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Reina Maruyama
Reina’s current research interests are in understanding the particle nature of dark matter and neutrinos, and role of symmetry in fundamental physics. When not working with her fantastic team listed here, she can be found in Underground Laboratories, teaching, or skiing.
Office: WL 209ph: +1.203.432.3362
Research Scientist
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James NikkelJames received his Ph.D. in condensed matter physics physics from Kent State University, but has been working in particle physics ever since. He spent a number of years as a postdoc and scientist at Yale making every kind of noble liquid detector before traveling to England to lecture. He’s now back at Yale largely working on detector design and development projects with a bit of simulation work thrown in for good measure. James is also the supervisor of the Advanced Prototyping Centre in Wright Lab, and would be happy to discuss any project you might dream up. James is an enthusiastic skater and spends a lot of time skating and coaching with the Yale Figure Skating Club.Project 8, PROSPECT, CUORE, DM-Icejames.nikkel@yale.eduOffice: WL 203(203) 432-7682
Post Docs
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Jay Hyun Jo
Jay received his Ph.D. from Stony Brook University in 2015 and joined the group shortly after. He is currently working on DM-Ice experiment, participating in an effort to commission DM-Ice NaI(Tl) crystals into KIMS crystal array in Yangyang, South Korea. He loves to read books, listen to music, and watch Yankees beat Red Sox.
DM-Ice/COSINE-100jayhyun.jo@yale.eduOffice: EAL 100Cph: 203-436-9504 -
Danielle Speller
Danielle joined the Maruyama group in February 2017. Her primary research interests lie in understanding the intersection of particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. Following her graduate work in dark matter direct detection with the SuperCDMS experiment at UC Berkeley, Danielle joined the CUORE experiment in the search for neutrinoless double-beta decay. In her spare time, Danielle enjoys reading, writing, music, and people.
CUORE & HAYSTACdanielle.speller@yale.eduOffice: EAL100Cph: 203-436-9504 -
Pranava Teja Surukuchi
Pranava got his Ph.D. from Illinois Institute of Technology in 2019 in Experimental Particle Physics and joined the group as he was finishing up writing his thesis. His research is currently primarly focused on finding the fundamental properties of neutrino. On CUORE/CUPID, he has been leading the Muon Tagger protoyping efforts in addition to working on high level efficiency calculations in search for the neutrinoless double beta decay with the CUORE data.
CUORE, CUPID, Project 8, and PROSPECTpranavateja.surukuchi@yale.eduOffice:WLC 254D
Graduate Students
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Kelly Backes
Kelly graduated from UC Berkeley in the spring of 2016 with a B.A. in physics. She first joined HAYSTAC as an undergraduate at Berkeley working on microwave cavities. In the fall of 2016, she started as a graduate student at Yale and continues to work on HAYSTAC. She now focuses on the installation and running of a squeezed state receiver system to speed up HAYSTAC’s hunt for axions. When not in the lab, she is a member of the graduate student Senate and spends a lot of time hiking. Her official advisor is Prof. Steve Lamoreaux.
HAYSTACkelly.backes@yale.eduOffice:ph: -
Estella Barbosa de Souza
Estella joined the Maruyama group in 2014. In addition to working on dark matter direct detection, she also searched for exoplanets as an undergraduate, working with Kepler Telescope data. Now she is back on the dark matter search, working on the current phase of the DM-Ice experiment. When she is not doing physics, Estella likes to dance, go see plays and watch good movies.
DM-Ice/COSINE-100estella.desouza@yale.eduOffice: WLC 254Dph: 203-432-5194 -
Christopher Davis
A native of Austin, Texas, with a B.S. in Physics from Texas A&M University, Chris joined the group in 2014. He is currently working on the CUORE experiment on both hardware for the Detector Calibration System and on Monte Carlo simulations to study the CUORE detectors. He is also a Scientific Teaching Fellow at Yale and has done extensive educational outreach at schools and to underrepresented minorities in physics through Yale’s Girls Science Investigations program and as a member of Yale GradSWE. Chris also worked as a Teaching Fellow at Yale’s Center for Teaching and Learning, leading workshops for graduate instructors at Yale. In New Haven, Chris is an avid theatergoer and enjoys seeing films at the Humanities center, and, when not working underground in Italy, enjoys hiking around the mountains he works under.
CUOREchristopher.davis@yale.eduOffice: WLC 254Bph: 203-436-9287 -
Sumita Ghosh
Sumita graduated from UC Berkeley in the spring of 2016 with a joint B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Materials Science and Engineering. Sumita started at Yale in June 2016 in Charles Ahn’s group doing MBE with SRO then moved around in Michel Devoret’s quantum information lab and David Moore’s AMO lab before settling into HAYSTAC in June 2019. Outside of lab, Sumita is a member of the Yale Climbing Team, one of two graduate liasons for the undergraduate Women in Physics, a graduate affiliate of Timothy Dwight College, and a volunteer for other outreach organizations such as the Girls’ Science Investigations.
HAYSTAC/HAYSTAC-RAYsumita.ghosh@yale.eduOffice: WLC 254Bph: 9164205614 -
Samantha PaganSamantha graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2019 with a B.S. in physics. She joined Yale’s CUORE/CUPID Group during the summer of 2019 but began studying Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay with the Majorana collaboration while at UNC. Samantha’s current research focuses on developing the Muon Tagger systems for CUPID. She is also passionate about scientific outreach and creating a more inclusive environment in classrooms and labs. To relax and recharge, Samantha enjoys reading, hiking, and warm cups of coffee.CUORE/CUPIDsamantha.pagan@yale.eduOffice: WL 254
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William Thompson
William graduated from Wake Forest University in the Spring of 2015 with a B.S. in Physics and Computer Science and began working in the Maruyama lab shortly thereafter. He began his graduate career on DM-Ice, but his main focus is COSINE-100. William enjoys applying his background in computer science to problems in his research and is supported by the NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program. In his free time, he can be found hiking and playing the trumpet.
DM-Ice/COSINE-100william.thompson@yale.eduOffice: WLC 254A203-436-9273
Undergraduate Students
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Caitlin Gainey
Caitlin is a first year astrophysics major in Yale college. She joined the Maruyama group during the fall of 2019 and is working on CUORE/CUPID. Outside of physics, Caitlin enjoys playing the guitar and volleyball.
CUORE/CUPIDcaitlin.gainey@yale.eduOffice:ph:Expected Graduation Date:2023 -
John Gunderson
John is a first year physics and mathematics major in Benjamin Franklin College. He joined the Maruyama group in the Spring of 2020 and currently is working on the COSINE-100 collaboration. Outside of physics, John enjoys playing guitar, studying philosophy, and is an intramural table tennis and broomball enthusiast.
COSINE-100john.gunderson@yale.eduExpected Graduation Date:2023 -
Daniel Heimsoth
Daniel is a senior astrophysics major in Morse College who is currently working on his thesis with COSINE, studying quenching factors in NaI scintillators. He has been with the collaboration since Fall 2018. Besides physics, Daniel also spends his time playing saxophone in the Yale Precision Marching Band and failing repeatedly at Kerbal Space Program.
COSINE-100daniel.heimsoth@yale.eduExpected Graduation Date:May 2020 -
Gabe Hoshino
Gabe joined the group in Fall 2018. Gabe is a physics major (and possibly math major) in Benjamin Franklin College. When not doing physics or math, Gabe enjoys beekeeping, cooking, and juggling.
HAYSTAC/Single Photongabe.hoshino@yale.eduExpected Graduation Date:2021 -
Neal Ma
Neal is a first year physics major in Silliman College. He joined the Maruyama group in the Spring of 2020 and currently is working on the CUORE/CUPID collaboration. Outside of physics, Neal plays Ultimate Frisbee on SüperFly, writes for the Yale Scientific Magazine, plays percussion, and works on the CubeSat project in the Yale Undergraduate Aerospace Association.
CUORE/CUPIDneal.ma@yale.edu14001 Somerset Blvd SE2063354103Expected Graduation Date:May 2023 -
Liz Ruddy
Liz is a junior physics major in Yale College. She joined the Maruyama group during the fall of 2018 and is working on COSINE-100 investigating potential sources of radioactive background in the detector. Outside of physics, Liz dances in two groups at Yale and loves hiking, skiing, and being outdoors.
COSINE-100elizabeth.ruddy@yale.eduExpected Graduation Date:May 2020 -
Huaijin (Jean) Wang
Jean joined the Maruyama group during the spring of 2019 and is working on the HAYSTAC experiment. Jean is a sophomore in Morse College, and a prospective physics and philosophy major. Jean enjoys playing the violin, reading, cycling, and building Formula SAE race cars with Yale’s Bulldogs Racing team.
HAYSTAChuaijin.wang@yale.eduOffice:ph:Expected Graduation Date:May 2022 -
Andrew Zheng
Andrew is currently a first year physics major in Yale College. He joined the Maruyama Lab during the spring of 2019, and is working on the COSINE-100 experiment. Outside of physics, Andrew loves listening to all types of music, especially pop music, and plays percussion in the Yale Concert Band.
COSINE-100andrew.zheng@yale.eduExpected Graduation Date:May 2022
Administrative Assistant
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Lil Vinstonlillian.vinston@yale.eduWL-220203-432-3393
Past Members
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Byron Daniel
Undergraduate Student, CUORE, B.S. 2019Current Position: Graduate Student, Carnegie Mellon
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Katherine Melbourne
Undergraduate Student, CUORE, B.S. 2019Current Position: Ball Aerospace
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Cady van Assendelft
Undergraduate Student, HAYSTAC, B.S. 2019Current Position: Graduate Student, Stanford University
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Jeremy Cushman
Graduate Student at Yale, PhD in 2018Current Position: Algorithms R&D for autonomous vehicle navigation at Optimus Ride
Thesis: A search for tellurium-130 neutrinoless double-beta decay with CUORE
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Surya Dutta
Undergraduate, CUORE, B.S. 2018Current Position: Data Science Fellow at Census Bureau, (UC Berkeley, Physics PhD Program from 2019) Current Position:
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Tom Wise
Research Scientist, CUORE, DM-Ice, PROSPECTCurrent Position: Retired in 2018 Current Position:
Current Position:
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Lauren Chambers
Undergraduate, DM-Ice, B.S. 2017
Current Position: Research and Instrumentation Analyst, Space Telescope Science Institute
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Kyungeun Lim
Postdoc, CUORE, COSINE, 2013 - 2017Current Position: Senior Lead Data Scientist, NBCUniversal Current Position:
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Ivy Wanta
Undergraduate, CUORE, B.S. 2017
Current Position:
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Nikita Dutta
Undergraduate, DM-Ice, B.S. 2016Current Position: Graduate Student Princeton University
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Ke Han
Scientist while at Yale, 2014 - 2016Current Position: Associate Professor Shanghai Jiao Tong University
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Walter Pettus
PhD in 2015, Postdoc 2015 - 2016, DM-IceCurrent Position: Postdoc, CENPA, University of Washington
http://faculty.washington.edu/pettus/
Thesis: Cosmogenic Activation in NaI Detectors for Dark Matter Searches
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Zack Pierpoint
PhD 2010 - 2016, DM-Ice
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Field Rogers
Undergraduate & Post Graduate, DM-Ice 2015 - 2016Current Position: PhD Student, MIT Physics
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Tomas Albergo
Undergrad Research, CUORE, Spring 2015
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Antonia Hubbard
PhD in 2015, DM-IceCurrent Position: Post Doc, Northwestern, Figueroa Group
ahubbard@northwestern.edu
Thesis: Muon-Induced Backgrounds in the DM-Ice17 NaI(Tl) Dark Matter Detector -
Matthew Kauer
Postdoc 2012-2015Current Position: Research Scientist, UW-Madison on IceCube
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Bethany Reilly
PhD in 2014, DM-IceCurrent Position: Lecturer, UW-Fox Valley
Thesis: Background Simulation and Verification for DM-Ice
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Benedikt Riedel
PhD in 2014, IceCubeCurrent Position: Postdoc, University of Alberta
Thesis: Modeling and Understanding Supernova Signals in the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
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Aleks Cianciara
Undergraduate Student, DM-Ice, 2013Current Position: Undergraduate Student University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Chris Hilgenberg
Undergraduate Student, DM-Ice, 2013Current Position: PhD Student, Physics Colorado State