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Brad Plaster

Research Interests:
Nuclear Physics
Education

B.S. in Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1999)
Ph.D. in Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2003)
Postdoctoral Scholar in Physics, California Institute of Technology (2003-2008)

Professional History
  • Assistant Professor, 2008-2012
  • Associate Professor, 2012-2018
  • Professor, 2018-
  • Associate Chair of Physics and Astronomy, 2017-2021
  • Chair of Physics and Astronomy, 2021-
Research

My research program is currently focused on the search for the neutron electric dipole moment (nEDM) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).  A discovery of the Time-Reversal-Symmetry-violating neutron EDM would have profound implications for our understanding of the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe and physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics.  I have also previously worked in neutron beta decay, probing parameters of the weak interaction, and in electron scattering, on measurements of the electromagnetic and weak structure of the neutron and proton.

I served as the Level-1 Deputy Experiment Director (from 2020-2023) for the neutron electric dipole moment experiment which would have been conducted at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (i.e., the nEDM@SNS experiment).  The nEDM@SNS experiment projected the world's leading sensitivity to the nEDM.  Unfortunately, funding for the experiment was terminated in late-2023.  My years of service as the Deputy Experiment Director provided me with valuable experience in leadership and large-scale project management at national laboratories.

Please also see my personal webpage here.