Brad Plaster

• Assistant Professor of Physics, 2008-2012
• Associate Professor of Physics, 2012-2018
• Professor of Physics, 2018-
• Associate Chair, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 2017-2021
• Chair, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 2021-2025
• Associate Dean for Research, College of Arts and Sciences, 2025-

My research program is currently focused on precision measurements of neutron beta decay observables in the Nab experiment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the search for the neutron electric dipole moment (nEDM) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Precision measurements in neutron beta decay probe fundamental parameters of the weak interaction and contribute to tests of the Standard Model of particle physics. A discovery of the Time-Reversal-Symmetry-violating neutron EDM would have profound implications for our understanding of the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe and physics beyond the Standard Model. I have also previously worked in neutron beta decay at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and also in electron scattering at the Jefferson Laboratory, the Mainz Microtron MAMI, and the MIT-Bates Accelerator on measurements of the electromagnetic and weak structure of the neutron and proton. My Ph.D. thesis on a precision measurement of the neutron electromagnetic form factors at Jefferson Laboratory is here. Throughout my research career, I have especially enjoyed thinking about the underlying conceptual physics basis for data analysis and the assessment of systematic errors, with the objective of delivering physics results and publications.

I have significant experience in leadership and management of complex projects at national laboratories. In particular, I served as the Level-1 Deputy Project Director (from 2020-2023) for the neutron electric dipole moment experiment which would have been conducted on the Fundamental Neutron Physics Beamline (FNPB) at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (i.e., the nEDM@SNS experiment). The nEDM@SNS experiment projected the world's leading sensitivity to the nEDM. Unfortunately, funding for the experiment, which was initiated some ~20 years prior, was terminated in late-2023, despite an investment of $58M to-date by the Department of Energy and National Science Foundation. Nevertheless, my years of service in this role provided me with valuable experience in leadership and large-scale project management at national laboratories, and with many lessons learned for success and failure. The position required constant communication with the scientific collaboration (~100 physicists and engineers representing ~20 U.S. and international institutions), ORNL leadership, and Department of Energy and National Science Foundation leadership. The strong scientific merit of the physics that would have been probed in nEDM@SNS was clearly articulated in the most recent Long Range Plan for the field of nuclear physics.

Please also see my personal webpage here.