Postdoctoral Fellowship: MPS-Ascend: "Effective Field Theory Approach to Nuclear Structure for Next Generation of High-Energy Scattering Experiments"

Frank Vera is awarded an NSF Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Postdoctoral Research Fellowship to conduct a program of research and activities related to broadening participation by groups underrepresented in STEM. This fellowship to Dr. Vera supports his research project entitled Postdoctoral Fellowship: MPS-Ascend: "Effective Field Theory Approach to Nuclear Structure for Next Generation of High-Energy Scattering Experiments"", under the mentorship of a sponsoring scientist. The host institution for the fellowship is the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator (JLab), and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. Christian Weiss. In this project the PI will pursue a research project to better develop a new theoretical method for the analysis of high-energy scattering experiments on nuclei to unveil the nuclear microscopic substructure and internal interactions. Dr. Vera will employ the developed method to calculate nucleon momentum distributions, the nuclear pion density, nuclear quark/gluon densities, deuteron breakup processes, and other properties of nuclei, and apply the results to analyze experiments at JLab and the anticipated Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). Dr. Vera will participate in outreach activities, such as public presentations and lectures, and will mentor junior students, with a focus on those from underrepresented groups in STEM. Dr. Vera will support the JLab REYES program by providing lectures and research mentoring to local high school students and undergraduates involved in REYES. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.