Amy Connolly

{{Short description|American physicist}}

{{Infobox academic

| name = Amy Connolly

| image =

| image_size = 230px

| caption =

| birth_date =

| birth_place = Cincinnati, Ohio, US

| education = BS, physics, 1996, Purdue University
MS, Physics, 1998, PhD, Physics, 2003, University of California, Berkeley

| thesis_title = A search for supersymmetric Higgs bosons in the di-tau decay mode in proton-antiproton collision at 1.8 TeV

| thesis_url = https://www.osti.gov/biblio/15017134

| doctoral_advisor = Marjorie Shapiro

| spouse =

| children =

| awards = National Science Foundation CAREER Award

| workplaces = Ohio State University
University College London

}}

Amy Lynn Connolly is an American physicist. She is an associate professor in the Department of Physics at Ohio State University and a Fellow of the American Physical Society for "her contributions to experimental and theoretical studies of ultrahigh energy neutrinos, and to searches for these neutrinos using radio techniques."

Early life and education

Connolly is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio{{cite web |title=Amy Connolly |url=https://www.physics.purdue.edu/alumni/outstanding_alumni/connolly.html |publisher=Purdue University |access-date=June 29, 2021}} where she attended Anderson High School.{{cite news |title=Anderson High School |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80520655/anderson-high-school/ |access-date=June 29, 2021 |publisher=The Cincinnati Enquirer |date=December 5, 1989|via=newspapers.com}} She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Purdue University and her Master's degree and PhD at the University of California, Berkeley. While completing her doctorate degree, she carried out a search for the Higgs boson decaying to tau leptons with data from the Collider Detector. From 1997 until 2003, Connolly worked as a research assistant at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.{{cite web |title=Prof. Amy L. Connolly |url=http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/briefcvs/hill(connolly)_briefcv.pdf |publisher=Ohio State University |access-date=June 29, 2021}}

Career

Upon completing her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles, Connolly spent years at University College London (UCL) studying radio techniques to search for ultra-high energy neutrinos. During her time at UCL, she helped set up experiments in Antarctica to detect energetic particles.{{cite web |title=ANITA's quest for high-energy neutrinos |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2007/jul/anitas-quest-high-energy-neutrinos |publisher=University College London |access-date=June 29, 2021 |date=July 17, 2007}} She left UCL in 2010 to become an assistant professor of physics at Ohio State University (OSU). In this role, she received a five-year National Science Foundation CAREER Award to support her search for high-energy neutrinos.{{cite web |title=Physicist's NSF CAREER Award Assists Search for "Ghost" Particles |url=https://artsandsciences.osu.edu/news/physicists-nsf-career-award-assists-search-ghost-particles |publisher=Ohio State University |access-date=June 29, 2021 |date=March 6, 2013}} Following this, Connolly was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society for "her contributions to experimental and theoretical studies of ultrahigh energy neutrinos, and to searches for these neutrinos using radio techniques."{{cite web |title=Prof. Amy Connolly Named 2019 APS Fellow |url=https://physics.osu.edu/news/prof.-amy-connolly-named-2019-aps-fellow |publisher=Ohio State University |access-date=June 29, 2021 |date=September 25, 2019}} She also received the 2019 Physics Undergraduate Teaching Award as voted for by students.{{cite web |title=Professor Amy Connolly Wins Undergraduate Teaching Award |url=https://physics.osu.edu/news/professor-amy-connolly-wins-undergraduate-teaching-award |publisher=Ohio State University |access-date=December 25, 2021 |date=April 17, 2019}}

During her tenure at OSU, Connolly's research focused on simulations, data analysis, and instrumentation for experiments searching for neutrinos through vast volumes of natural media. The goal of her research was to utilize neutrinos at extreme energies to probe neutrino interactions and search for hints of new physics. In 2020, she earned the Susan M. Hartmann Mentoring and Leadership Award.{{cite web |title=Amy Connolly and Heather Tanner Win The Susan M. Hartmann Mentoring and Leadership Award, 2020 |url=https://artsandsciences.osu.edu/news-events/awards-recognition/susan-m-hartmann-mentoring-and-leadership-award-0 |publisher=Ohio State University |access-date=June 29, 2021 |date=2020}}

References