LSU Graduate Student will Perform Thesis Research in Nuclear Decay Spectroscopy at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
LSU physics PhD Candidate, David He, has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science for the Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) award in response to the 2023 SCGSR Solicitation 2 cycle in the Nuclear Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics Physics Division. Through world-class training and access to state-of-the-art facilities and resources at DOE National Laboratories, the SCGSR Program prepares graduate students to enter jobs of critical importance to the DOE mission and secures our national position at the forefront of discovery and innovation.
The award is for He’s proposed SCGSR research project, “Commissioning of the MUlti- Segment Electron Spectrometer for Studies of Nuclear Shape Coexistence,” to be conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee. A native of Bonita Springs, FL, He earned his BS in 2020 from the University of South Florida, Tampa. While pursuing his PhD at LSU, He works with Dr. Scott Marley in the experimental nuclear physics research group.
The SCGSR Program provides supplemental funds for graduate awardees to conduct part of their thesis research at a host DOE laboratory in collaboration with a DOE laboratory scientist within a defined award period. The award period for the proposed research project at DOE laboratories may range from 3 to 12 consecutive months.
“The Graduate Student Research program is a unique opportunity for graduate students to complete their PhD training with teams of world-class experts aiming to answer some of the most challenging problems in fundamental science,” said Harriet Kung, Acting Director of the DOE Office of Science. “Gaining access to cutting edge tools for scientific discovery at DOE national laboratories will be instrumental in preparing the next generation of scientific leaders.”
The selection of He for the SCGSR award is in recognition of outstanding academic accomplishments and the merit of the SCGSR research proposal, and reflects He’s potential to advance his Ph.D. studies and make important contributions to the mission of the DOE Office of Science.
“At ORNL David will be commissioning a new detector system for internal conversion electron spectroscopy with reactor-activated samples under the mentorship of Dr. James M. Allmond.” said Associate Professor Scott Marley, LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy. "David is an excellent graduate researcher and we are excited for his opportunity to perform research at a leading national laboratory through the SCGSR program. His dissertation research will contribute to building the state-of-the-art instrumentation necessary to make detailed studies of structure of atomic nuclei at ORNL and beyond.”
While at LSU, He has been involved in the local development of the MUlti-Segmented Electron Spectrometer (MUSES) and with the conversion electron spectroscopy measurements of the LSU-Argonne Conversion Electron Spectrometer (LACES) at Argonne National Laboratory. In addition, He has taught PHYS 2109 laboratory classes, tutored students for general physics courses and held the responsibility for mentoring and training LSU teaching assistants.
“I am looking forward to completing my thesis experiment at Oak Ridge National Lab under the mentorship from both Dr. Marley and Dr. James Allmond,” said He.
The 86 awardees were selected from a diverse pool of university-based graduate applicants from institutions representing 31 states and Puerto Rico. Selection was based on merit peer review by external scientific experts.
About DOE’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research Program
Since 2014, the SCGSR program has provided more than 1150 U.S. graduate awardees from 165 universities with supplemental funds to conduct part of their thesis research at a host DOE laboratory in collaboration with a DOE laboratory scientist. In this cohort, more than 31% of SCGSR awardees are women, about 16% of the awardees attend Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), and 13% are from institutions in jurisdictions that are part of the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).
A list of the 86 awardees, their institutions, host DOE laboratory/facility, and priority research areas of projects can be found at the SCGSR Awards and Publications page.
For more information on SCGSR, please go to the Office of Science Graduate Student Research program page.
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Mimi LaValle
LSU Physics & Astronomy
225-439-5633
mlavall@lsu.edu