Dr. James deBoer (UND) and Dr. Michael Febbraro (ORNL) have recently lead a research initiative to make new measurements of the ¹³C(a,n)¹⁶O reaction at energies relevant for background simulations for large volume neutrino experiments. These new measurements were made possible by pairing the Notre Dame Nuclear Science Laboratory’s new high current Sta. ANA accelerator with state-of-the-art deuterated liquid scintillation detectors recently developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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Nuclear physics graduate student Nirupama Sensharma will speak on Tuesday, September 29 at the Michiana Science Cafe on nuclear energy. Her talk "Nuclear Energy -- The Better Energy?" will be a Facebook live event. The United States depends on nuclear power to meet about one-fifth of its demand for electricity. This equals the combined total of the generation capacity of two leading nuclear power producing countries, France and Japan. However, we have been standing still for the last 30 years with absolutely no progress in this sector. Is the halt a result of economic, political or scientific reasons and how is this affecting the ever-escalating climate crises? Do we have an alternative?…

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Experimental nuclear science faculty have published a book that summarizes scientific methods that are currently used to characterize objects of cultural heritage and archaeological artifacts. Authored by Friemann Professor of Physics Michael Wiescher…

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Freimann Professor of Physics Ani Aprahamian recently presented at two virtual conferences in Armenia. 

The Armenia Medical International Committee (AMIC) virtual course was held July 12 and had over 650 participants. Aprahamian's presentation was "Isotopes for new pharmaceutical applications." The AMIC consists of representatives from Armenian healthcare associations throughout the Diaspora. Its purpose is to improve healthcare in Armenia through coordination of efforts among our member organizations.…

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A team of Notre Dame nuclear physics professors was recently awarded a three-year $8.1M grant from the National Science Foundation to continue operation of the Nuclear Science Laboratory (NSL) and to continue their research in nuclear physics. The team consists of Profs. Dan Bardayan, Tan Ahn, Ani Aprahamian, Max Brodeur, Philippe Collon, Manoel Couder, Umesh Garg, Anna Simon, and Michael Wiescher. A particular focus of this proposal entitled "Nuclear Physics at the Notre Dame Nuclear Science Laboratory Providing a Window on the Universe" is the study of nuclei and nuclear reactions that are critical for interpreting observations of multi-messengers in astrophysics.  These messengers provide windows on the Universe and elucidate nuclear astrophysics processes occurring throughout.
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The Committee of Plenipotentiaries of the Governments of the Member States of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) has appointed Freimann Professor of Physics Ani Aprahamian as a new member.

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Graham Peaslee’s team tested more than 30 samples of used and unused PPE from six specialty textile manufacturers in the United States and found them to be treated extensively with PFAS or constructed with fluoropolymers, a type of PFAS used to make textiles oil and water resistant.

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Freimann Professor of Physics Ani Aprhamian has been elected to serve on the Board of Trustees for Clark University. Aprahamian received her undergraduate degree from Clark in 1980. Aprahamian will serve a six year term starting July 1, 2020. Clark’s trustees draw on their expertise in the fields of business, law, and higher education to shape the policies that guide the University’s growth, enhance its reputation, and ensure its standing as a destination of choice for academically engaged students.…

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Physics graduate students Saurabh Bansal (advised by Prof. Chris Kolda) and Orlando Gomez (advised by Prof. Anna Simon) are the recipients of 2020 Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Awards from the Kaneb Center. 

This award was created in 1999 to recognize graduate student instructors and TAs who demonstrate commitment to exceptional teaching in lectures, seminars, labs, and across the academic profession. The Graduate School and the Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning present the award annually to TAs that are nominated by their departments. There were fourteen awards given to TAs in the College of Science. The award consists of a certificate from the Kaneb Center and Graduate School, a letter documenting the award for the graduate student’s file, and a $100 honorarium from the Kaneb Center.…

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Ani Aprahamian, Freimann Professor of Physics at the University of Notre Dame, is fighting the impact of COVID-19 in Armenia.

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Last week a team from Notre Dame, Dan Robertson and Orlando Gomez, were at the Sanford Underground Research Facility working 4850 feet underground to install HECTOR, Notre Dame’s high-efficiency, gamma-ray summing detector. The combined setup, called CASTOR, is now ready and soon be measuring alpha-capture reactions relevant for a wide and varied range of stellar burning scenarios.

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Nirupama Sensharma's publication Longitudinal Wobbling Motion in ¹⁸⁷Au was recently highlighted in Nature. Click here to see the article.

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The article below was published on February 5, 2020 on APS Physics website, written by Marric Stephens.

Synopsis: Gold Nucleus is Wobbly
A rare kind of nuclear spinning motion has been detected in an isotope of gold.

Planets, footballs, and even some large molecules have something in common: they rotate as rigid, classical bodies. Atomic nuclei are another matter, in that quantum mechanics allows strange new modes of motion. In experiments involving a short-lived isotope of gold, ¹⁸⁷…

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Adam Clark has been awarded as the first recipient of the NSL’s Applied Nuclear Fellowship (funded by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission). This fellowship was created in 2019 for the purpose of training students in applied nuclear physics and is awarded to senior graduate students who exhibit a clear interest in applied research with broad applications.

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Freimann Professor of Physics Ani Aprahamian gave two invited talks in January. One talk was hosted by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Lecture Series on Contemporary Armenian Issues, and the Ararat-Eskijian Museum. At this event, Prof. Aprahamian talked about Science, Technology and Education in Armenia…

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Prof. Daniel Bardayan was recently featured on the Department of Energy’s Office of Science website as a 2010 Early Career Award winner. Read more at  https://www.energy.gov/science/articles/daniel-bardayan-then-and-now-early-career-award-winner…

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Article appeared in the Sunday, December 15 issue of the South Bend Tribune.

Rob Bilott received a call from a farmer in Parkersburg, W.Va., more than 20 years ago who said his cows were dying at an alarming rate. A corporate attorney for a large law firm in Cincinnati, Bilott took on the case as a favor to a family friend, but as he continued to investigate, he realized the problem was much more serious than he’d anticipated.…

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Link to video and full article:

https://fightingfor.nd.edu/2019/fighting-to-protect-the-brave/

Professor Graham Peaslee of the University of Notre Dame Department of Physics is featured on the newest “What Would You Fight For?” video. The University of Notre Dame’s award-winning “What Would You Fight For?” series showcases the work, scholarly achievements, and global impact of Notre Dame faculty, students, and alumni. These two-minute segments, each originally aired during a home football game broadcast on NBC…

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Nuclear Physics Professors Ani Aprahamian, Manoel Couder, James deBoer, Daniel Robertson and Anna Simon as well as research associate Dr. Xilu Wang and a fifth year graduate student Erika Holmbeck presented their research at the 9th Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics conference that took place from September 15^th to 20^th in Budenheim, Germany. 

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A team of researchers and undergraduate students at Nuclear Science Laboratory, Department of Physics at Notre Dame, published an article in the Applied Surface Science journal on the characterization of a set of Roman denarii, ranging from 136 BCE to 240 CE. The work presents results of macro, micro, and nanoscale surface characterization of coins using several different X-ray based spectroscopic and electron microscopy methods. This enabled the surface, the subsurface, and volume composition of these coins to be probed to better understand their production techniques, surface treatment methods, and corrosion patterns. The results also provide evidence that a particular surface treatment method, amalgam silvering, had been used to make authentic Roman coins as early as the third century CE.…

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