Kerstin Perez

Kerstin Perez is an Associate Professor of Particle Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is interested in physics beyond the standard model. She leads the silicon detector program for the General AntiParticle Spectrometer (GAPS) and the high-energy X-ray analysis community for the NuSTAR telescope array.

Kerstin Perez
Alma mater
Scientific career
Institutions
ThesisInclusive jet cross sections in proton-proton collisions at 7.0 TeV center-of-mass energy with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (2011)
Doctoral advisorEmlyn Hughes

Early life and education

Perez was born and raised in West Philadelphia.[1] She studied physics and mathematics at Columbia University, earning an undergraduate degree magna cum laude in 2005.[2] She moved to the California Institute of Technology for her graduate studies, earning a master's in 2008 and a PhD in 2011.[1] She developed the ATLAS experiment pixel detector, and led the first ATLAS measurements of the inclusive cross-section for the production of hadronic jets.[3] Perez returned to Columbia University as a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow, working in the NuSTAR Galactic Center.[4] During her fellowship she developed outreach activities for the Columbia University Double Discovery Centre.

Research and career

Perez joined Haverford College as an assistant professor in 2015, before moving to Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2016.[1] Her research interests lie in physics beyond the standard model.[1] She leads the detection program for the general antiparticle spectrometer (GAPS), the first experiment that has been optimised to study low energy antinuclei.[5][6][7][8] Perez is interested in anti-deuterons, antiproton-antineutron pairs which may provide evidence of the annihilation of weakly interacting massive particles, a candidate for dark matter.[1][9][10] The GAPS detection is particularly novel, including over 1,000 large-area, low-cost lithium-drifted silicon detectors made by Perez, which can monitor exotic atom capture and decay.[1] The GAPS experiment uses long-duration balloons and reaches the upper atmosphere.[1]

Alongside her work on GAPS, Perez leads the high-energy X-rays analysis group for the NuSTAR telescope array.[11] NuSTAR has revealed how stellar remnant populations vary as you move from the Galactic Center.[12][13] This helps Perez identify sterile neutrinos, which could help to explain neutrino oscillation.[1]

Outreach and advocacy

Perez is an advocate for improved diversity in science, and supports students from underrepresented groups to study and research physics.[14] She is concerned that women and people of colour often carry an unnecessary burden in the scientific workplace.[15] She is involved with public engagement through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, supporting their massive open online course in electricity and magnetism.[1]

Publications
  • Perez, Kerstin "Striving Toward a Space for Equity and Inclusion in Physics Classrooms," Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education: Iss. 18 (2016).[14]
  • B. Roach, et al., ”NuSTAR Tests of Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter: New Galactic Bulge Observations and Combined Impact,” Phys. Rev. D 101, 103011 (2020).[16]
  • F. Rogers, et al., F. Rogers, et al., “Large-area Si(Li) detectors for X-ray spectrometry and particle tracking in the GAPS experiment,” JINST, 14, 10 (2019).[17]

Awards and honors

References
  1. "MIT Department of Physics". web.mit.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  2. "Kerstin Perez » MIT Physics". MIT Physics. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  3. KU Physics & Astronomy Colloquium Series (2018-09-17), In Search of Cosmic-Ray Antinuclei from Dark Matter, retrieved 2019-03-19
  4. "Kerstin M. Perez | Department of Physics". physics.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  5. "Note Special Time: Nuclear Particle Astrophysics (NPA) Seminar: Kerstin Perez, MIT, "The GAPS Experiment: In Search of Cosmic-Ray Antinuclei from Dark Matter" | Department of Physics". physics.yale.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  6. "Department Colloquia | Physics | Brandeis University". www.brandeis.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  7. Zweerink, Jeffrey; Yoshida, Tetsuya; Tajiri, Gordon; Ong, Rene; Okazaki, Shun; Mori, Kaya; Mognet, Samuel Adam Isaac; Madden, Norm; Koglin, Jason (2013-01-01). "The gaps experiment: Hunting for dark matter with antideuterons". Proceedings of the 33rd International Cosmic Rays Conference, ICRC 2013. Sociedade Brasileira de Fisica.
  8. Perez, Kerstin. "Development of a Novel Dark Matter Search with the GAPS Experiment". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. "Kerstin M. Perez - Cottrell College Science Awards". Research Corporation for Science Advancement. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  10. "GAPS - General Antiparticle Spectrometer". gaps1.astro.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  11. "CCAPP Seminar: Kerstin Perez (MIT) "High-energy X-rays from the Galactic Center: "zombie stars" and particle physics" | Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics (CCAPP)". ccapp.osu.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  12. "NuSTAR captures possible 'screams' from zombie stars". phys.org. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  13. "Mysterious X-Rays Could Mark Enormous Star Graveyard Surrounding Our Galaxy's Supermassive Black Hole". IFLScience. 5 May 2015. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  14. Perez, Kerstin (2016-06-14). "Striving Toward a Space for Equity and Inclusion in Physics Classrooms". Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education. 1 (18). ISSN 2381-4268.
  15. Ardalan, Davar (15 July 2015). "3 Emerging Themes From #RaceOnTech". www.wyomingpublicmedia.org. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  16. Roach, Brandon M.; Ng, Kenny C. Y.; Perez, Kerstin; Beacom, John F.; Horiuchi, Shunsaku; Krivonos, Roman; Wik, Daniel R. (2020-05-08). "NuSTAR tests of sterile-neutrino dark matter: New Galactic bulge observations and combined impact". Physical Review D. 101 (10): 103011. arXiv:1908.09037. Bibcode:2020PhRvD.101j3011R. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.101.103011. hdl:1721.1/135363. S2CID 201646209.
  17. Rogers, F.; et al. (2019). "Large-area Si(Li) detectors for X-ray spectrometry and particle tracking in the GAPS experiment". Journal of Instrumentation. 14 (10): P10009. arXiv:1906.00054. Bibcode:2019JInst..14P0009R. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/14/10/p10009. hdl:1721.1/129834. S2CID 173990572.
  18. "Seven MIT researchers win 2017 Sloan Research Fellowships". MIT News. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  19. "Paying it forward: Fellowship boosts women in physics". MIT News. 2 August 2018. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  20. "Four honored with School of Science teaching prizes". MIT News. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  21. "Education and Outreach". Perez Lab @ MIT. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  22. "RCSA Names Two Dozen 2019 Cottrell Scholars". Research Corporation for Science Advancement. 13 February 2019. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
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