David Stuart
Professor and chair, Dept. of Physics
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
DavidStuart@UCSB.edu
UCSB office: 3001 Broida, (805) 893-3742
CERN office: Bat. 510-1-006, phone: 79809

   

Research:

My research is in experimental particle physics, where we are striving to understand the fundamental constituents and interactions of matter. I am working on the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment focusing on searching for new phenomena beyond the standard model. I'm particularly interested in the long-lived particles that are expected in a variety of beyond-standard-model physics scenarios because they lead to challenging signatures that would not yet have been uncovered in the experimental data collected so far.

I'm also working on a detector upgrade called the MIP Timing Layer that will provide a time measurement for minimum ionizing particles with timing resolution of about 30 ps. This new detector is based on two exciting new technologies with LYSO scintillator readout by silicon photomultipliers in the lower-radiation central part of the detector and low-gain avalanche diodes in the higher radiation forward detector.

I have ongoing opportunities for undergraduate students to participate in research by taking a Phys199 course.

Teaching:

In winter quarter I will teach a 1st-year Discovery Seminar, INT 86K, entitled "Experimenting with the Fundamental Building Blocks of the Universe". This seminar will discuss the physics experiments that revealed the fundamental building blocks of the universe over the course of the last century. We'll look at the questions that drove the experiments, the techniques that they used, and the impact that they had. We'll also discuss ways that undergraduate science majors can make their own contributions to modern experiments through undergraduate research projects.

Other recent courses are: Intermediate mechaincs (Phys103), Analog Electronics (Phys127AL), and Measuring cosmic ray properties (Phys150).

Interesting links: Paul Graham, Collaborative fund, Daniel Stuart