Group Members

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.

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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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.