简介

I am an Associate Professor in the Physics Department at The Catholic University of America and work in close collaboration with scientists at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab). My current research is aimed at unveiling the mysteries of hadron structure in the transition region of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) confinement to QCD asymptotic freedom. My experimental program for JLab after the 12 GeV Upgrade focuses on studies of the transition to quark and gluon degrees of freedom, e.g., the aspects of scaling related to QCD factorization. My approved JLab experiments for the studies of the pion (E12-07-105) and the kaon (E12-09-011) systems will allow for quasi-model independent comparison in the scaling regime. With the support of an NSF MRI grant (1039446) my group built the kaon aerogel Cherenkov detector required for carrying out the strangeness physics program in Hall C at JLab. I am the contact person for the Neutral Particle Spectrometer (NPS) project that aims to push the energy scale for studies of the transverse spatial and momentum structure of the nucleon through reactions with neutral particles requiring precision and high luminosity. To date, five experiments have been approved that will use the NPS, e.g., E12-13-007 and E12-13-010 on which I am co-spokesperson. I have also initiated an experimental program aimed at studying nucleon structure through Timelike Compton Scattering (TCS, E12-12-001), and I am involved in the development of the medium energy electron-ion collider (EIC) at JLab. The latter would make it possible to study the spin, flavor, and spatial distributions of quarks and gluons through GPDs in exclusive meson production. I am also performing various studies related to detector development for 12 GeV magnetic spectrometers and both medium- and high-energy e-p colliders. (...more)