Jacob A. Smith Email & Phone Number

Stony Brook, New York, United States

Stony Brook, New York, United States

Stony Brook, New York, United States

Stony Brook, New York, United States

Batavia, Illinois, United States

Through the Department of Energy’s SULI program at Fermilab, I am improving the kinematic cuts placed on neutrino simulation data as part of the effort to better model neutrino-nucleus interactions for upcoming neutrino oscillation experiments such as DUNE. After improving these kinematic cuts, I will compare the proton transparency of neutrino simulation data to that of electron scattering data taken from the CLAS experiment at Jefferson Lab. Later I will refine these kinematic cuts so that we best model the proton transparencies of CLAS experimental data for common nuclear targets that will be used in neutrino oscillation experiments such as He-4, C-12, and Fe-56.

Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States

As part of the National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Undergraduates program, I am researching under Dr. Dorival Gonçalves as a member of the high-energy physics theory group at Oklahoma State University. Throughout the ten-week program, I have been simulating particle physics events with Monte Carlo simulation software such as MadGraph, Pythia, and Delphes. My work has resulted in placing an upper bound on the width of the Higgs boson as a function of data collected at the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider at CERN. This upper bound is independent of the model used to describe fundamental particle interactions such as the current leading candidate, the Standard Model. I hope to continue my research in an experimental context and synthesize ways to reduce the amount of data needed to further constrain the Higgs width.

Rochester, New York, United States

I led weekly, three-hour workshops for students in the University of Rochester’s General Physics II class (PHYS 114) under Professor Pierre Gourdain. PHYS 114 is an electricity and magnetism class geared towards non-physics majors such as life science and pre-med programs. These workshops focused on prepared problems that illustrate course concepts and generate discussion around the lectures. I also held weekly office hours as a part of my position.

Rochester, New York, United States

With data from Fermilab’s MINERvA experiment, my group has corrected for after-pulsing, an unforeseen phenomenon where events registered by the detector appear again later in time. My group combined the results of this after-pulsing study with a new, efficient algorithm I developed to tag Michel electrons. After filtering for physical sources of noise such as muon decay and Michel electrons, I searched for late-time, milli-charged particles, which are one of the theorized extensions to the current Standard Model of physics and have a fraction of the charge of an electron. By analyzing milli-charged particle signatures in MINERvA data, I aim to understand their causality, their interactions, and any implications for the Standard Model.

Rochester, New York, United States

I worked for the Physics, Optics, and Astronomy Library as one of the River Campus librarians. I staffed the circulation desk, assisted patrons with locating texts in various formats, reshelved books, provided general information about the library and surrounding building, and maintained general library upkeep. I also worked within a network of library research assistants to help students and faculty write research papers.

Rochester, New York, United States

I taught a weekly three-hour workshop to 25 students for the honors introductory electricity &magnetism course. I routinely worked through prepared problems with the students and led discussion on course concepts. As part of the teaching assistantship, I also held weekly office hours, proctored exams, and graded homework sets.

Rochester, New York Area

As a member of the University of Rochester’s Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument group, I extracted rotation curves (rotational velocity v. radius) for 4815 galaxies from Sloan Digital Sky Survey's Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point survey data. I then compared these galaxies’ dark-matter-halo-mass-to-stellar-mass ratios to their large-scale environment (i.e. void or wall), absolute magnitude, and chemical composition. This work resulted in a publication in the Astrophysical Journal (doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab4bce; arXiv: 1906.08327). Our work clarified that galaxies’ mass ratios do not correlate with large-scale environment as was previously thought, even when binned by absolute magnitude.

Birmingham, Alabama, United States

After restoring a defunct cryostat, I familiarized myself with the procedures to calibrate and collect data with experiments involving the lab’s terahertz spectrometer and LEGEND laser system. Utilizing my cryostat, I later attempted to grow nitrogen ice samples in an independent project. These nitrogen ice models would have been useful in furthering my NASA InSPIRESS project, for which said models did not exist at the time. However, I graduated from high school and moved to the University of Rochester before I could acquire results.

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Physics

Activities and Societies: Physics Graduate Student Association, Graduate Student Organization, Graduate Student Employees Union, Research.

B.S. Physics & B.S. Applied Mathematics

Activities and Societies: Sigma Pi Sigma Physics Honor Society, Society of Physics Students, Society of Undergraduate Math Students, Sigma.