Cameron Dean

I am an experimental nuclear physicist who studies the strong force by investigating the properties of quark–gluon plasma (QGP). My research focuses on heavy quarks (charm and beauty) as probes of this fluid. As they are produced in the earliest, high-energy stages of a collision, before the QGP forms, heavy quarks experience its full evolution and carry valuable information about its behavior.

To support these studies, I have built and operated high-precision silicon vertex detectors for the sPHENIX and LHCb collaborations. I have also developed machine-learning algorithms for event reconstruction and heavy-quark identification, designed for deployment in either software or firmware. These algorithms must operate at extreme speed, completing reconstruction and particle identification within 10 microseconds.

A major next step for experimental nuclear physics is the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), which will use electron and ion beams to make precision measurements of nuclear structure and dynamics. The EIC will succeed the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider in New York and is expected to begin operations in the 2030s.