Janet Conrad
, Physics Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Research Focus
Research Interests
About Janet
My work focuses on the lightest known matter particle, the neutrino. Their number far exceeds the atoms in the universe, yet we know surprisingly little about these particles. It is only recently that we realized these particles have mass, albeit very tiny. This became clear when we observed neutrinos transforming from one type into another through the quantum mechanical effect of neutrino oscillations. This effect requires neutrino mass, and it is one of the few experimental signs of physics beyond the Standard Model. My research exploits this opportunity—I use oscillations to test if neutrinos have more unexpected “features”. I perform these searches using accelerators at Fermilab, Los Alamos, and, in the future, at underground laboratories. I also utilize ultra-high-energy neutrinos produced by cosmic rays and observed in a detector in the ice at the South Pole. You can learn more about my research and my group members at http://www2.lns.mit.edu/~conrad/whointro.html.
Honors
Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow
Amar G. Bose Fellow
Fellow of the American Physical Society
Guggenheim Fellow
The Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award from the American Physical Society
Education
Postdoc
Nevis Laboratories, Columbia University, 1993 - 1995
Ph.D.
Particle Physics, Harvard University, 1993
Bachelor's
Physics, Swarthmore College, 1985
