UTK Physics & Astronomy Prospective Grad Student Visit

22 Mar 2026, 09:00 → 24 Mar 2026, 22:00 US/Eastern

Welcome to Knoxville! We’re happy to show you some of the activities in our department and make sure you have some time to explore our campus, meet with our community, and generally see what our physics graduate program looks like. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to make your visit more comfortable or if you have any special requirements that we should be aware of. 

During your campus visit, if you need anything, please contact the front office at (865) 974-3342 or Nielsen 401. Alternatively, you can email Prof. Richers at richers@utk.edu.

UTK_Map

Sunday 22 March

17:00 → 17:30 Pick up at Graduate Knoxville

Make sure to be in the hotel lobby at 5pm and leave with the group in order to gain access to the Nielsen Physics Building.

17:30 → 18:30 Planetarium Show

Experience UTK's in-house planetarium: Learn what is visible in the sky right now, and take a journey through the solar system as we explore some of the potentially-habitable worlds near us!

18:30 → 19:00 Walk to Tomato Head from Nielsen Physics

Profs will meet the students in the hotel lobby for 6:30 PM and walk over to the restaurant downtown. Any students joining later can walk over to the restaurant on Market Square on their own.

19:00 → 20:00 Welcome Dinner w/ Faculty

Pizza dinner at a Knoxville institution

Monday 23 March

08:30 → 09:00 Transport to IAMM from Graduate Knoxville

Please meet in the lobby at 8:30am.

If you miss the ground transportation for some reason, contact the front office at (865) 974-3342 to arrange a pickup

09:00 → 09:45 Breakfast in IAMM 310

IAMM: 2641 Osprey Vista Way

09:45 → 10:30 Lab tours

Visiting Experimental Labs at the Institute for Advanced Materials & Manufacturing (IAMM)

10:30 → 10:45 Transport to Nielsen

11:00 → 12:00 Meeting with Dept Head, Grad Program Director, Director of Labs

Learn about our department and graduate program

Speakers: Prof. Adrian Del Maestro (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), Christine Cheney (University of Tennessee Department of Physics and Astronomy), Steve Johnston (University of Tennessee)

12:00 → 13:00 Pizza Lunch with Faculty and Current Grad Students

13:00 → 15:00 Pre-scheduled One-on-One Meetings with Faculty

Based on your responses on the survey, we've arranged faculty meetings when possible. Please find your personalized meeting schedule at the link below.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1wiGjxeyCzE_JAsymYtNF6l_GHTkiyyVr?usp=sharing

If you would like to add to this schedule, please get in touch with Prof Richers: richers@utk.edu

14:00 → 15:00 Grad Student Poster Session

Learn about some of the great research going on in the department from our current grad students

15:00 → 15:30 Pre-Colloquium Tea and Refreshments

15:30 → 16:30 Colloquium - Leah Broussard, ORNL

A Broader View of Neutron Beta Decay from the Nab Experiment at ORNL

The weak force of nature uniquely allows quarks to change flavor, resulting in the transformation of nuclei known as nuclear beta decay. Currently, measurements of the weak mixing of quarks are in tension with the Standard Model’s description, a discrepancy referred to as the “Cabibbo Angle Anomaly.” As the simplest nucleus to undergo beta decay, the neutron has emerged as a system which can provide a competitive measurement and shine light on this anomaly if experimental uncertainties in the neutron dataset can be improved. The Nab experiment at the Spallation Neutron Source employs a novel and robust approach to improve decay correlation measurements by observing the full momentum phase space in neutron beta decay accessible above detection thresholds. The tight kinematic constraints from the experiment have recently been used to place first limits on a new hypothesized excited state of the neutron, suggested to address experimental disagreements in neutron lifetime measurements. In this presentation, I will describe the working principles of the experiment, present early results from first physics data-taking, and discuss the outlook for Nab and its upgrade pNAB (polarized Nab) to perform world-leading measurements of neutron decay correlations and improve our understanding of quark mixing in the weak interaction.

more information

16:45 → 18:00 Campus Tours w/ Grad Students or Downtime

For campus tours, gather outside of colloquium after it ends to meet your grad student guides.

18:00 → 21:00 Dinner with Current Grad Students

Tuesday 24 March

07:30 → 08:00 Check out of Hotel on Time

Checkout time is 11am. If going to ORNL, please make sure to checkout before coming to campus for the shuttle. The hotel can store your bags at the counter.

08:00 → 14:30 ORNL Tour: Details

08:00 Leave for ORNL

Meet in the front office of Nielsen 401. Lunch boxes and beverages will be provided.

08:30 Register at ORNL

Registration and ORNL badges at ORNL's visitors office

09:30 OLCF visit

Visit of the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility

10:00 Depart for SNS

Drive to the Spallation Neutron Source campus

10:30 SNS tour

Tour of the Spallation Neutron Source

11:00 Depart for ORNL main campus

Return to the main campus for the rest of the visit

11:30 Tour of the Graphite Reactor at ORNL

Visit of the first continuously operating nuclear reactor, the Graphite Reactor

12:00 Lunch break

Packed lunches provided

13:30 Return to Nielsen Physics

Return to Nielsen Physics front office. Transportation to Knoxville's airport will be provided.

08:00 → 13:00 UTK Activities: Optional UTK Campus Activities (if not going to ORNL)

08:10 Computational Physics

Sit in on Zachary Nicolaou's class.

Speaker: Zachary Nicolaou

08:10 Quantum Field Theory II

Sit in on Lucas Platter's Class

Speaker: Lucas Platter

09:45 Advanced Solid State Physics II

Sit in on Steve Johnston's class.

Speaker: Steve Johnston (University of Tennessee)

11:10 Nuclear Physics Lab Tour - Dien Nguyen and Nadia Fomin

I am an experimental nuclear physicist specializing in using high-energy electron probes to explore nucleon (proton or neutron) and nuclear structures. These structures are determined by how nucleons interact within the nucleus and the interplay between quarks and gluons within the nucleon. These studies contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental properties of strong interactions described by QCD. I have conducted my program at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab), focusing on investigating A=3 nuclei, like 3He and 3H, which offer a unique opportunity for precision testing of strong interaction models. My research interest includes the study of the origin of nucleon spin, particularly in neutron spin structures using polarized 3He. Another crucial aspect of my research involves the study of nucleon interaction at very short distances and its implication for broader scientific fields. In parallel with the physics program, I am actively engaged in the research and development of a new polarized 3He target that can operate high magnetic fields. This ongoing development is a crucial factor for upcoming polarization measurements for nucleon spin study using a 3He target at Jefferson Lab. In addition, I am also advancing my neutron spin program to EIC where I can do a new measurement called double spectator to gain new insight into the origin of nucleon spin.

12:00 Lunch and Free Time

Grab boxed lunches from front office (401 Nielsen)

13:30 → 15:30 Pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings with faculty

Based on your responses on the survey, we've arranged faculty meetings when possible. Please find your personalized meeting schedule at the link from Monday afternoon. Your PDF schedule contains the schedule for both days.