Rosi Reed
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I'm a post-doc at Yale working on the ALICE experiment, where I hope to study the hot matter we call the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) produced in heavy ion collisions at the LHC. In particular I will be looking at jets, which are streams of particles that come from quarks or gluons that have a large energy. The way in which jets are modified as they travel through the QGP can tell us a great deal of its underlying properties.
I grew up in Connecticut, and after 14 years of living in California, it is a little strange to be back home. My interest in physics was just a natural extension of my love of math and science as a child. To me, this was the ideal way to combine my interests into one coherent whole. After my first physics class, I was hooked and the course of my life was set.
But my path to particle physics was not a straight line. I moved to California and went to San Jose State University to study physics and attempt to make the Olympic team in Judo. After graduation, I worked as an engineer on giant vacuum tubes that were used in particle accelerators for four years before returning school. I then attended the University of California at Davis, where I joined the heavy-ion group and the STAR experiment at Brookhaven National Lab. I made the decision to study particle physics because I felt that it answers some of the most fundamental questions we can ask in physics, and these are the questions that intrigue me.
When I'm not doing physics, I spend most of my time with my husband, Ed. Or playing with my ferrets, two of the most spoiled animals in existence. I also play D&D and enjoy running my own games when I have the chance. I teach Judo when I have the opportunity, though I am too busy to run my own dojo.
