Jocelyn Monroe

Jocelyn Monroe is an American experimental particle physicist who is a Professor at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her research considers the development of novel detectors as part of the search for dark matter. In 2016 she was honoured with the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for her work on the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory.

Jocelyn Rebecca Monroe
Alma materColumbia University (BSc, PhD)
Scientific career
InstitutionsRoyal Holloway, University of London
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ThesisA Combined νµ and νe Oscillation Search at MiniBooNE (2006)
WebsiteDark Matter & Neutrino Research Group

Early life and education

Monroe is from Chicago.[1] She studied physics at Columbia University, where she completed a bachelor's degree in astrophysics in 1999. After graduating she joined the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) as an engineering physicist in the neutrino factory. In the neutrino factory, Monroe worked on muon beam cooling.[2] After one year at Fermilab, Monroe returned to Columbia University, where she joined the Booster Neutrino Experiment (MiniBooNE) neutrino experiment and completed a doctorate under the supervision of Michael Shaevitz. She was part of the team who confirmed that there were three types of neutrinos, and that the Standard Model was still in effect.[3]

Research and career

After earning her doctorate Monroe was made Pappalardo Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and was promoted to Assistant Professor soon after. At MIT, Monroe joined the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory where she looked for exotic particles in solar neutrino oscillations.[4][5] After completing her postdoctoral research, Monroe joined the MiniCLEAN and Dark Matter Time Projection Chamber (DMTPC) experiments to detect dark matter particle interactions.[6] Whilst at MIT she taught physics to Dianna Cowern.[7]

In 2011 Monroe moved to the United Kingdom, where she joined Royal Holloway, University of London. Here she founded the Dark Matter research group, in which she specialises in the direct detection of dark matter. Direct detection means that experiments record dark matter particles scattering off atomic nuclei.[2] She has worked with the DEAP-3600 (Dark matter Experiment using Argon Pulse-shape discrimination) at SNOLAB and the DarkSide-20k experiment in the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso.[8] DarkSide-20k is proposed to be the world's largest dark matter detector, and will use silicon-based detectors to look for the light emitted by dark matter interactions with argon.[9] As part of her work on dark matter detectors, Monroe works on new strategies to detect the dark matter wind. As planet Earth moves through dark matter in the galaxy it should create a wind of dark matter particles that can be easily differentiated from the terrestrial background.[2][9] She has developed tetrafluorethane-based detectors(DMTPC) with silicon readout for the first demonstration of particle tracking in the low-energy regime relevant for dark matter and geo-neutrino searches.[10] Ultimately Monroe looks to develop a kilotonne observatory for dark matter and neutrino physics. Such an observatory could observe the geoneutrinos created by potassium decay in the earth's core.[11]

Awards and honours

Select publications
  • MiniBooNE Collaboration; Aguilar-Arevalo, A. A.; Anderson, C. E.; Bazarko, A. O.; Brice, S. J.; Brown, B. C.; Bugel, L.; Cao, J.; Coney, L.; Conrad, J. M.; Cox, D. C. (2009-03-11). "Unexplained Excess of Electronlike Events from a 1-GeV Neutrino Beam". Physical Review Letters. 102 (10): 101802. arXiv:0812.2243. Bibcode:2009PhRvL.102j1802A. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.101802. hdl:1721.1/54759. PMID 19392103.

Personal life

Monroe is married to Morgan Wascko, Professor of Physics at Imperial College London. Together they have two daughters.

References
  1. "About Me". www.pp.rhul.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  2. "Professor Jocelyn Monroe - Research - Royal Holloway, University of London". pure.royalholloway.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  3. "Experiment confirms famous physics model". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  4. "Experiment confirms famous physics model". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  5. Coveney/M.I.T, Donna. "Are You in Here, Dark Matter?". Scientific American. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  6. "Jocelyn Monroe". World Science Festival. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  7. "How Physics Girl Is Changing the Way Science Is Brought To The Masses". Raising Nerd. 2018-01-25. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  8. White, Lori Ann. "WIMPs in the dark matter wind". symmetry magazine. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  9. "Professor Jocelyn Monroe's why". www.royalholloway.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  10. "WIMPs in the dark matter wind". Symmetry. 2017-04-04. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  11. "Neutrino detector could see radioactive potassium deep within the Earth". Physics World. 2017-11-08. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  12. "MIT Department of Physics". web.mit.edu. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  13. "Jocelyn Monroe". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  14. "Breakthrough Prize – Fundamental Physics Breakthrough Prize Laureates – Arthur B. McDonald and the SNO Collaboration". breakthroughprize.org. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
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