Xin Qian Named 2011 Jefferson Lab Thesis Award Winner

Xin Qian Named 2011 Jefferson Lab Thesis Award Winner
Professor Haiyan Gao’s former student, Xin Qian, has been named the 2011 Jefferson Lab Thesis Award winner.  Qian, who came to Prof. Gao’s Medium Energy research group at the age of 19, will receive the prize and present on his thesis at the Jefferson Lab Users Meeting Award ceremony on June 7th, 2011.  Qian went on to a postdoctoral position at Caltech in 2010.   Qian’s thesis, “Measurement of Single Spin Asymmetry in n↑(e, e′π±)X on Transversely Polarized 3He” was selected through a rigorous process out of a field of theses submitted by other physicists.
 
Qian says that he will discuss his thesis work during the presentation and also cover his experiences during the process of the experiment. He states that his thesis experiment currently provides the “best measurement of Collins and Sivers moments of neutrons in the valence quark region.”  Qian was also able to modify the experiment’s setup and adjust data taking techniques in order to better streamline the experimental process and data analysis. Qian’s thesis (in .pdf format) can be seen here. Qian writes: “I am now working on Dayabay Experiment to search for theta_13 and the long baselin neutrino experiment to measure the CP violation phase/mass hierachy in the neutrino sector. In addition, I am working closely with Prof. Gao and a few other collaborators on a new experiment after [the] 12 GeV upgrade. This new experiment will be a natural continuation of my thesis work, [called] "Measure SSA with SIDIS process on a transverse polarized 3He target with SoLID at 12 GeV Jlab." To read more about Qian’s work and his 2010 Caltech Postdoctoral Prize Fellowship, click here. More pictures can be viewed here.