Wright Lab welcomes Celín Hidalgo and Sergio Oscar Nuñez Silva, who have both been selected as Wright Lab DOE Research Trainees for Diversity in Nuclear Physics for the academic year 2023-24.
Celín Hidalgo
Born and raised in Cuba, Hidalgo recently graduated from Rutgers University with degrees in astrophysics and art history. At Wright Lab, under the mentorship of Dr. Karsten Heeger, she collaborates in Project 8, a next-generation experiment to measure neutrino mass. In addition to working at Yale, Celín also works as a science communicator for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Hidalgo said, “I am looking forward to getting a lot of hands-on experience at the lab and collaborating closely in the experiment.” Hidalgo continued, “The neutrino, even when small, can change our perspective about the universe. It is exciting to work on trying to understand how small particles can change our understanding from the Big Bang until now.”
Hidalgo is also excited to join the Women+ in Physics group at Yale, which will have its first event of the academic year this week. Hidalgo said, “it’s a great way to connect and meet new physicists of similar backgrounds.”
Sergio Oscar Nuñez Silva
Nuñez was born and raised in Peru, where he obtained his bachelor’s degree in Physics from Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería in Lima. During his third year, as part of the Research Experience for Peruvian Undergraduates (REPU) program, he came to Wright Lab to conduct an internship in the PROSPECT experiment, under the supervision of Karsten Heeger and Pranava Surukuchi.
Nuñez then went to Colorado School of Mines to work in the BeEST experiment (which searches for sterile neutrinos in the keV scale) and to take some graduate classes. After a year working as a data scientist in a consulting firm in Peru, Nuñez has returned to Yale and Wright Lab.
This year, Nuñez will work on Project 8, part of the time in simulation and part in developing instrumentation for the the Large UHF Cavity CRES Krypton Experiment at Yale (LUCKEY) prototype.
Nuñez said, “I am really happy to be back into scientific research and to meet so many outstanding people! I am looking forward to getting the expertise to contribute to Project 8 research, and I hope to extend this experience into my Ph.D. research.”
Nuñez added that he is especially excited for the opportunity “to find physics that no one saw, measured, or thought before”.
Nuñez enjoys science communication, in particular, in Spanish, and has created an Instagram page called “Física para gente con prisa” (Physics for People in a Hurry). In his free time, Nuñez likes to read and discuss many topics, in particular science policy, philosophy, and classical novels. He is a big fan of Star Wars, loves soccer and Latin dance, and plays the saxophone.
Wright Lab DOE Research Traineeship for Diversity in Nuclear Physics
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded support for a pilot Research Traineeship for Diversity in Nuclear Physics program at Wright Lab for undergraduates and recent college graduates to gain hands-on research experience before graduate school. The traineeship is aimed at training and retaining a diverse cohort of next-generation scientists as future nuclear physicists and leaders in science. More information about the program can be found here.