UT Arlington physicist named American Physical Society Fellow
Andrew White, co-director of the Center for High Energy Physics at UT Arlington, has been named a fellow of the American Physical Society, an honor given to just one half of one percent of that group’s 48,000 members.
White joined The University of Texas at Arlington College of Science as a physics professor in 1991. Since then, he has taken part in groundbreaking research on the fundamental nature of matter at the DZero Experiment at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory or Fermilab in Illinois. In 1995, he was part of a team that discovered the top quark, one of the fundamental elements of the physics Standard Model.
More recently, White has worked on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, searching for evidence of new physics and particles such as the Higgs boson. Physicists believe interaction with the Higgs boson gives particles in the universe their mass. White also is developing a detector concept for a planned International Linear Collider, a possible next step in collider technology.
White said he is grateful for the recognition from his colleagues and for the opportunity to work in a science where each exciting discovery yields more questions to explore.
“I was very lucky career-wise because I knew from the age of 11 or 12 that I wanted to be a particle physicist, probably because it was the most difficult thing I’d ever come across,” said White. “This is a really great job and an incredible time to be in this field.”
The APS citation recognizes White “for his leadership role in experimental particle physics, including invention of the DZero Experiment Intercryostat Detector, searches for new phenomena at DZero, and contributions to national and international committees.”
The DZero Experiment Intercryostat Detector is a liquid Argon calorimeter, or energy measurement device, that White and his colleagues conceived of and constructed. It was an essential addition to the original DZero design and gave scientists better measurements of the proton-antiproton collisions going on there.
“Being named a fellow in a professional society is a distinct honor awarded to very few. Dr. White is joining an elite group from around the world,” said Pamela Jansma, dean of the UT Arlington College of Science. “His selection by his colleagues in the field show the high regard they have for him and his contributions. He will continue to pioneer great research and we are proud to have him at UT Arlington."
White will be honored at an upcoming meeting of the American Physical Society’s Division of Particles and Fields, the division that nominated him to become a fellow.
In addition to his work at CERN and Fermilab, White is chairman of the Physics Research Committee at the DESY accelerator research center in Hamburg, Germany. He also was recently appointed to the detector review committee of the European Committee for Future Accelerators.
White is one of the outstanding scientists and educators at The University of Texas at Arlington, a comprehensive research institution of 33,439 students in the heart of North Texas. Visit www.uta.edu to learn more.
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