Professional Positions

• Senior Research Scientist   (S&E V)     2017-current
• Research Scientist             (S&E IV)     2011-2016
• Junior Research Scientist   (S&E III)     2006-2010

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy, Experimental Nuclear Physics (March 2004)
A Search for an Electron Antineutrino Signal in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (ps,pdf)
• Master of Science, Physics (August 2001)

• Bachelor of Science, cum laude, Physics (August 1998)
• Bachelor of Science, cum laude, Philosophy (August 1998)

Training & Certifications

• Applications of Quantum Computing professional certificate (four 4-week courses)   August 2019
  • MIT xPRO online programs:
  • Introduction to Quantum Computing
  • Quantum Algorithms for Cybersecurity, Chemistry, and Optimization
  • Practical Realities of Quantum Computation and Quantum Communication
  • Requirements for Large-Scale Universal Quantum Computation
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification (#2106566)                           November 2017
  • Project Management Institute (PMI)
• Management Skills Development Program (MSDP)                                               May 2016
  • Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA
• Scientist & Engineer Development Program (SEDP)                                             September 2008
  • Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA
• Post-doctoral Fellowship                                                                                   May 2006
  • Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA
• Twelfth National Nuclear Physics Summer School                                                 July 2000
  • Hosted by University of California, Santa Cruz, CA

Research Interests

• Dark matter
• Neutrino properties
• National security applications of nuclear science

Experience (Needs a major update)

Research Scientist, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA (6/06-current)
• SuperCDMS-SNOLAB dark matter experiment Level 2 Manager for Background Control and Calibration.
• Development of an ultra-low background liquid scintillation counter.
• Dark matter search using a germanium gamma-ray spectrometer at Soudan Underground Laboratory.
• Process Quality Assurance Lead for the Majorana DEMONSTRATOR experiment.
• Development of an ³⁷Ar measurement system for application to On-Site Inspection under CTBT.
• Effort to measure antineutrino-nucleus coherent scattering to enable a new method to monitor reactor fuel burn-up.
• Instrumentation of a multi-crystal array of high purity germanium detectors.
• Demonstrating a lab-scale liquid argon based Compton-suppression system for HPGe gamma-ray spectrometers.
• Responsible for integrating a beta sensitive environmental monitor into field operations.

Postdoctoral Fellow, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA (4/04 - 6/06)
• Alternative cooling scheme investigation for the Majorana Project: Exposed germanium crystals in liquid argon.
• Developed & performed optimization tests of a scintillating optical fiber, beta detector designed for environmental monitoring.
• Investigated the radial position dependence of a parametric pulse shape analysis for high purity germanium gamma-ray spectrometers.

Research Assistant, Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (1/99 - 4/04)
• Preformed data analysis for the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO).
• Qualified for on-site, Scientist-In-Charge duties at SNO.
• Chairperson of the Run Selection Committee during the salt phase of SNO.
• Trained operator of UW's Tandem Van de Graaff, particle accelerator.

Teaching Assistant, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (10/98 - 12/98)
• Taught two sections of the introductory classical mechanics laboratory.
• Assistant in two sections of the introductory classical mechanics tutorial.

Research Intern, Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago, IL (5/98 - 8/98)
• Studied electron response of the HERMES Cherenkov for electron/pion separation.
• Wrote report on the response of the HERMES Cherenkov for ANL.

Research Intern, Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago, IL (5/97 - 8/97)
• Authored programs to analyze and correct the HERMES Cherenkov counter's response to electrons as a function of track position and time.
• Wrote simulation of the photomultiplier tube light acceptance efficiency for a proposed HERMES Ring Imaging Cherenkov counter.

Lab Developer, Advanced Undergraduate Experimental Physics Laboratory, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY (1/97 - 5/97)
• Built and tested a "Hall Effect in Bi" experiment for use in undergraduate physics labs.
• Work used in-part in Section 2.3 of "Experiments in Modern Physics", 2^nd Ed. by A. Melissonos and J. Napolitano.

Lab Technician, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, Newport News, VA (8/96)
• Installed and aligned mirrors in the CLAS Collaboration Cherenkov detectors.
• Detected and repaired gas & light leaks in completed Cherenkov detectors.

Lab Technician, Photomultiplier Test Lab, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY (9/95 - 7/96)
• Tested 5" photomultiplier tubes for the CLAS Collaboration Cherenkov detectors.
• Analyzed test results to obtain relative efficiency and dark noise at a specified gain.
• Trained other students in testing procedures.

Honors, Awards and Leadership Positions

Elected to Secretary/Treasurer for the Northwest Section of the American Physical Society (APS) (2011-2015).

Elected to Member-at-Large for the Northwest Section of the American Physical Society (APS) (2007-2011).

Appointed as the 2006 Chairperson of the APS Committee on Careers and Professional Development.

Appointed to the APS Committee on Careers and Professional Development (2004-2007).

Visiting Scholar at the University of Washington, March 2004 - July 2005.

Two Best Graduate Student Talk awards at annual meetings of the Northwest Section of APS:
• 2002 - High Energy Physics Session, May 17 - 18, Banff, Alberta.
• 2001 - Nuclear Physics Session, May 25 - 26, Seattle, WA.

Scholarship to attend the Twelfth National Nuclear Physics Summer School at the University of California, Santa Cruz, July 3 - 14, 2000.

Initiate of the National Order of Omega, the Greek Leadership Honor Society.

Gamma Tau Chapter of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity
• President - Fall Semester, 1997.
• Internal Vice President - String Semester, 1997.
• Treasurer (Managed $160,000 annual dues based budget) - Spring and Fall Semesters, 1996.

Dean's List all 8 semesters while attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).

Professional Affiliations

• American Physical Society (APS)
• APS Northwest Section
• APS Division of Nuclear Physics
• APS Division of Particles & Fields

Publications (Selected papers by topic and experiment)

Most recent papers available at iNSPIRE.
Comprehensive and curated publications at .


Neutrino research

—nEXO—

Sensitivity and discovery potential of the proposed nEXO experiment to neutrinoless double beta decay


J.B. Albert et al., Physical Review C 97 (2018) 065503.

—Majorana Demonstrator—

Search for neutrinoless double-beta decay in ⁷⁶Ge with the Majorana Demonstrator


C.E. Aalseth et al., Physical Review Letters 120 (2018) 132502.

The Majorana Demonstrator neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment


N. Abgrall et al., Advances in High Energy Physics (2014) 365432.

—COHERENT—

Observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering


D. Akimov et al., Science 357 (2017) 1123-1126.

Coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering detection with a CsI[Na] scintillator at the SNS spallation source


J.I. Collar et al., Nuclear Instruments and Methods A 773 (2014) 56.

—Sudbury Neutrino Observatory—

Electron antineutrino search at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory


B. Aharmim et al., Physical Review D 70 (2004) 093014.

Measurement of the total active ⁸B solar neutrino flux at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory with enhanced neutral current sensitivity


S. N. Ahmed et al., Physical Review Letters 92 (2004) 181301.

Direct evidence for neutrino flavor transformation from neutral-current interactions in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory


Q.R. Ahmad et al., Physical Review Letters 89 (2002) 011301.

Measurement of the rate of  ν_e + d → p + p + e^- interactions produced by ⁸B solar neutrinos at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory


Q.R. Ahmad et al., Physical Review Letters 87 (2001) 071301.

Dark matter research

—SuperCDMS—

Search for low-mass dark matter with CDMSlite using a profile likelihood fit


R. Agnese et al., Physical Review D 99 (2019) 062001.

Low-mass dark matter search with CDMSlite


R. Agnese et al., Physical Review D 97 (2018) 022002.

Projected sensitivity of the SuperCDMS SNOLAB experiment


R. Agnese et al., Physical Review D 95 (2017) 082002.

—CoGeNT—

CoGeNT: A search for low-mass dark matter using p-type point contact germanium detectors


C.E. Aalseth et al., Physical Review D 88 (2013) 012002.

Search for an annual modulation in a p-type point contact germanium dark matter detector


C.E. Aalseth et al., Physical Review Letters 107 (2011) 141301.

Results from a search for light-mass dark matter with a p-type point contact germanium detector


C.E. Aalseth et al., Physical Review Letters 106 (2011) 131301.

Experimental constraints on a dark matter origin for the DAMA annual modulation effect


C.E. Aalseth et al., Physical Review Letters 101 (2008) 055502.   Errata: Physical Review Letters 102 (2009) 109903.

Applied research

—Treaty monitoring—

Decision trees for optimizing the minimum detectable concentration of radioxenon detectors


A. Hagen et al., Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 229-230 (2021) 106542.

Antineutrino detectors remain impractical for nuclear explosion monitoring


M. Foxe et al., Pure and Applied Geophysics 178 (2020) 2753-2763.   Errata: Vol. 177 (2020) 5117

Shielding concepts for low-background proportional counter arrays in surface laboratories


C.E. Aalseth et al., Applied Radiation and Isotopes 108 (2016) 92-99.

Production of ³⁷Ar in The University of Texas TRIGA reactor facility


C.M. Egnatuk et al., Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 291 (2012) 257-260.

Measurement of ³⁷Ar to support technology for On-site Inspection under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty


C.E. Aalseth et al., Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A 652 (2011) 58-61.

Methodological development

—Quantum information science—

Sensor-assisted fault mitigation in quantum computation


J.L. Orrell et al., Physical Review Applied 16 (2021) 024025.

Impact of ionizing radiation on superconducting qubit coherence


A.P. Vepsäläinen et al., Nature 584 (7822): 551-556.   Errata: Vol. 586 (7827): E8-E8.

—Ultra-low-background liquid scintillation counter—

Liquid scintillation counting of environmental radionuclides: a review of the impact of background reduction


M. Douglas et al., Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 307 (2016) 2495-2504.

Development of a low background liquid scintillation counter for a shallow underground laboratory


J.L. Erchinger et al., Applied Radiation and Isotopes 105 (2015) 209-218.

Optical design considerations for efficient light collection from liquid scintillation counters


B.E. Bernacki et al., Applied Optics 54 (2015) 2413-2423.

—Cosmogenic backgrounds—

Production rate measurement of tritium and other cosmogenic isotopes in germanium with CDMSlite


R. Agnese et al., Astroparticle Physics 104 (2019) 1-12.

Naturally occurring ³²Si and low-background silicon dark matter detectors


J.L. Orrell et al., Astroparticle Physics 99 (2018) 9-20.

The Majorana parts tracking database


N. Abgrall et al., Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A 779 (2015) 52-62.

The μ-Witness Detector: A ruggedized, portable, flux meter for cosmogenic activation monitoring


E. Aguayo et al., IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science 60 (2013) 689-692.

—High purity germanium gamma-ray spectrometers—

A low-noise germanium ionization spectrometer for low-background science


C.E. Aalseth et al., IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science 63 (2016) 2782-2792.

Cryostat for ultra-low-energy threshold germanium spectrometers


C.E. Aalseth et al., IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science 60 (2013) 1168-1174.

Operation of a high-purity germanium crystal in liquid argon as a Compton-suppressed radiation spectrometer


J.L. Orrell et al., Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A 579 (2007) 91-93.

—Material assay—

Evaluation and mitigation of trace ²¹⁰Pb contamination on copper surfaces


R. Bunker et al., Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A 967 (2020) 163870.

Assay methods for ²³⁸U, ²³²Th, and ²¹⁰Pb in lead and calibration of ²¹⁰Bi bremsstrahlung emission from lead


J.L. Orrell et al., Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 309 (2016) 1271-1281.

The Majorana Demonstrator radioassay program


N. Abgrall et al., Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A 828 (2016) 22-36.