Kerstin M. Perez

Address Massachusetts Institute of Technology Laboratory of Nuclear Science 77 Massachusetts Ave, 26-541 Cambridge, MA 02139 Email [email protected] Phone (617) 324-1522

APPOINTMENTS

Assistant Professor of Physics 2016 – present MIT, Cambridge, MA Assistant Professor of Physics 2015 – 2016 Haverford College, Haverford, PA NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow 2012 – 2014 Postdoctoral Research Scientist 2011 – 2012 Columbia University, New York, NY

EDUCATION

California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA Ph.D., Physics 2011 Thesis: Inclusive Jet Cross Sections in Proton-Proton Collisions at 7.0 TeV Center-of-Mass Energy with the ATLAS Detector at the Large Hadron Collider Columbia University, New York, NY B.A. in Physics, Minor in Mathematics 2005

AWARDS AND HONORS

Cottrell Scholar Award 2019 – 2022 Sloan Research Fellowship 2017 – 2019 MIT School of Science Teaching Prize for Undergraduate Education 2018 MIT Buechner Special Teaching Award 2018 NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship 2012 – 2014 NSF US LHC Graduate Student Support Award 2010 - 2011 Robert A. Millikan Graduate Fellowship 2006 – 2007 GRANTS

RCSA Cottrell Scholar Award (PI) 2019 - 2022 Closing in on Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter, ID 25928. Cottrell Scholar Collaborative (Co-I) 2019 - 2021 Establishing a Network for Effective Interventions in STEM Classrooms Heising-Simons Foundation, Fundamental Physics Grant (PI) 2019 - 2020 Fabricating the Si(Li) Tracker Array for the GAPS Experiment, ID 2019-1357. NASA NuSTAR Guest Observer Cycle-5 (PI) 2019 - 2020 A Novel Probe of Low-Mass Axion Dark Matter Using Betelgeuse, Prop. 5057. Heising-Simons Foundation, Fundamental Physics Grant (PI) 2018 - 2021 Construction, flight, and first dark matter results of the GAPS Si system, ID 2018-0766. NASA NuSTAR Guest Observer Cycle-4 (PI) 2018 - 2020 Optimizing Sensitivity to Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter in the Galactic Center, Prop. 4261. Heising-Simons Foundation, Fundamental Physics Grant (PI) 2017 - 2019 Finalizing the Si detector program for the GAPS dark matter experiment, ID 2017-243. NASA Astrophysics Research and Analysis (Co-I) 2017 - 2021 The GAPS Experiment: A Search for Dark Matter Using Low Energy Antiprotons and An- tideuterons, NNX17AB44G. RCSA, Cottrell College Science Award (PI) 2015 - 2017 Developing Novel Detectors to Search for the Particle Origins of Dark Matter with the GAPS Experiment, ID 23194.

CURRENT RESEARCH

Antinuclei signatures of dark matter with GAPS · Leading the semiconducting Si detector development for the GAPS experiment, a balloon-borne dark matter search utilizing cosmic-ray antiprotons, antideuterons, and antihelium in an unprecedented low-energy range. Galactic center and dark matter physics with the NuSTAR X-ray observatory · Investigating the Galactic Center region, in particular new insights on stellar remnant populations and cosmic-ray acceleration from inner-parsec to inner-kiloparsec scales. · Pursuing X-ray signatures of dark matter particle physics processes, in particular sterile neutrinos and axions. Developing X-ray optics for axion research with IAXO/BabyIAXO · Member of the Collaboration Board for the International Axion Observatory, a next- generation axion helioscope. · R&D and construction of the focusing X-ray optics for the pathfinder BabyIAXO and ultimate IAXO instruments.

2 TEACHING

8.02 (Electricity & Magnetism, Technology Enhanced Active Learning), MIT 2016 - 2018 8.13 (Experimental Physics I, “Junior Laboratory”), MIT 2017 - 2018 Phys 211 (Laboratories in Electronics and Waves), Haverford College 2015-2016 Phys 213 (Oscillations and Waves), Haverford College 2015 Phys 301 (Laboratories in Quantum Physics), Haverford College 2015-2016 Explorations in Science (designed and led course in modern scientific research for 9-11 grade students), Double Discovery Center at Columbia University 2013-2014

MENTORING

Postdoctoral Scholars · Mengjiao Xiao (2018-present), Shuo Zhang (2017-2019, Hubble Fellowship and Asst. Prof. at Bard College), Rachel Carr (2016-2017, Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow in MIT’s Laboratory for Nuclear Security and Policy).

Graduate Students · Field Rogers (2016-present, NSF Graduate Student Fellowship), Brandon Roach (2017- present).

Post-baccalaureate Students · Tyler Erjavec (2016-2018, Ph.D. program at UC Davis).

Undergraduate Students · MIT: Nishat Protyasha (’22, 2019-present), Devin Seyler (’22, 2019-present), Afura Taylor (‘21, 2018-present), Jonathon Brown (‘20, 2016-present), Ivy Li (‘20, 2017- present), Talla Babou (‘19, 2017-2019, Science Policy Fellowship at the Institute for Defense Analysis), Radhika Bhatt (‘19, 2017-2019, NASA JPL intern and Caltech Ph.D. program in physics), Evan Tey (‘19, 2017-2018, MIT Masters in CS), Allen Cheng (‘19, 2015-2016), Lawson Kosulic (‘19, 2015-2016), Federico Llarena (‘20, 2015- 2016). · Haverford College: Cora Hersch (‘16, 2015-2016, Woods Hole Research Center staff and MIT Ph.D program in EAPS), Jiayue Wang (‘16, 2015-2016, Stanford Ph.D. pro- gram in Operations Research), Rui Fang (‘17, 2015-2016, Harvard Masters program in Computational Science & Engineering), Andrew Szczurek (2015-2016).

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS AND SEMINARS

· Indirect Searches: Scanning the Sky for Dark Matter Particles. Invited plenary at APS Division of Particles and Fields, Boston, MA, July 2019. · Scanning the Sky for Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter. Colloquium at Columbia University, New York, NY, January 2019. Colloquium at Northeastern University, Boston, MA, January 2019.

3 · Lithium-drifted Silicon Detectors for the GAPS Antarctic Balloon Program. Invited contribution to CPAD Instrumentation Frontier Workshop, Providence, RI, December 2018. · Cosmic-ray Antinuclei: New Inputs on Dark Matter. Invited overview at PASCOS, Columbus, OH, June 2018. · Antideuteron Signatures of Dark Matter with the GAPS Experiment. Colloquium at Michigan State University, Lansing, MI, April 2019. Colloquium at Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, October 2018. Colloquium at University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, August 2018. Presentation at IDM 2018, Providence, RI, July 2018. Seminar at Yale University, New Haven, CT, January 2018. Seminar at UMass Amherst, Amherst, MA, December 2017. Presentation at TeVPA 2017, Columbus, OH 2017. Colloquium at Stanford University, Stanford, CA, March 2017. Colloquium at Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, March 2016. Seminar at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, March 2016. Colloquium at MIT, Cambridge, MA, March 2015. Seminar at University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, February 2015. Colloquium at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, December 2014. Seminar at MIT, Boston, MA, April 2014. Colloquium at Northeastern University, Boston, MA, April 2014. Seminar at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, December, 2013. · The High-Energy X-ray View of the Galactic Center. Seminar at McGill, Montreal, Canada, October 2017. CCAPP Seminar at OSU, Columbus, OH, April 2017. Colloquium at MIT, Cambridge, MA, December 2016. Seminar at Harvard, Cambridge, MA, December 2016. Invited presentation at IAU Symposium 322: Multi-Messenger Astrophysics of the Galactic Centre, Palm Cove, Australia, July 2016. · Stellar remnant and diffuse emission throughout the Galactic Center. Invited presentation at public NuSTAR Science Meeting, Pasadena, CA, Nov. 2016. · Terrestrial and Astrophysical Probes of Axion-Like Particles. Invited presentation at Princeton Workshop on Non-WIMP Dark Matter, Nov. 2016. · Current Experimental Searches for Dark Matter: WIMPs and Beyond. Invited overview at Lake Louise Winter Institute, Lake Louise, Canada, February 2016. · Galactic Center Diffuse Emission. Presentation in NuSTAR special session at AAS HEAD division meeting, Chicago, IL, August 2014. · Results from NuSTAR. Invited presentation at 26th Rencontres de Blois on Particle Physics and Cosmology, Blois, France, May 2014.

4 · Future Astroparticle Searches for Dark Matter. Invited overview at Latest Results in Dark Matter Searches Workshop, NORDITA, Stockholm, Sweden, May 2014. · Unsolved Problems in Astrophysics: Particle Searches for Dark Matter. Guest lecture for CUNY Honors course, AMNH, New York, NY, May 2014. · Morphology of the Galactic Center with NuSTAR. Seminar at MIT, Boston, MA, April 2014. · Progress on Large-Scale, Low-Cost Si(Li) Detector Fabrication for the GAPS Balloon Mission. Poster presented at IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, Seoul, South Korea, October-November 2013. · The GAPS Experiment: Hunting for Dark Matter with Antideuterons. Presentation at 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 2013. Presentation at NSF AAPF Symposium, Long Beach, CA, January 2013. · Jet Cross Section Measurements in ATLAS. Presentation at Implications of First LHC Data Workshop, Boston, MA, August 2010. · Choice of Jet Algorithms in ATLAS. Presentation at School of Subnuclear Physics, Erice, Italy, September 2009.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND REPORTS

Peer-Reviewed Publications Note: For publications with more than 10 authors, I list only the first three authors and my rank among all authors. · B. M. Roach, K. C. Y. Ng, K. Perez, J. F. Beacom, S. Horiuchi, R. Krivonos, D. R. Wik, NuSTAR Tests of Sterile-Neutrino Dark Matter: New Galactic Bulge Observa- tions and Combined Impact, submitted to Phys. Rev. D. (2019) arXiv:1908.09037. · S. Zhang, Z. Zhu, H. Li, et al. (8 out of 10), NuSTAR and Chandra Observation of the Non-thermal Filament G0.13-0.11: A Pulsar Wind Nebula Driven Magnetic Filament, submitted to Astrophysical Journal (2019). · K. Perez, R. Krivonos, and D. R. Wik, The Galactic Bulge Diffuse Emission in Broad-band X-rays with NuSTAR, Astrophysical Journal, 884, 2 (2019). · F. Rogers, M. Xiao, K. Perez, et al. (3 out of 17) Large-area Si(Li) detectors for X-ray spectrometry and particle tracking in the GAPS experiment, JINST, 14, 10 (2019). · M. Kozai, H. Fuke, M. Yamada, K. Perez, et al. (4 out of 15) Developing a mass- production model of large-area Si(Li) detectors with high operating temperatures, Nucl.Instrum.Meth. A947, 162695 (2019). · K. C. Y. Ng, B. M. Roach, K. Perez, J. F. Beacom, S. Horiuchi, R. Krivonos, D. R. Wik, New Constraints on Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter from NuSTAR M31 Observa- tions, Phys. Rev. D., 99, 8 (2019).

5 · E. Armengaud, D. Attie, S. Basso, et al. (64 out of 91, alphabetical) Physics potential of the International Axion Observatory (IAXO), Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2019, 06 (2019). · K. Perez, T. Aramaki, C. Hailey, et al., Fabrication of low-cost, large-area prototype Si(Li) detectors for the GAPS experiment, Nucl.Instrum.Meth. A905, 12-21 (2018). · S. Zhang, Z. Tang, Z. Zhang, et al. (11 out of 13), NuSTAR Detection of a Hard X-ray Source in the Supernova Remnant – Molecular Cloud Interaction Site of IC 443, Astrophysical Journal, 859, 2, 141 (2018). · K. Perez, K. C. Y. Ng, J. F. Beacom, C. Hersh, S. Horiuchi, R. Krivonos, (Almost) Closing the Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter Window with NuSTAR, Phys. Rev. D., 95, 12 (2017). · C. Hailey, K. Mori, K. Perez, et al. (3 out of 17), Evidence for Intermediate Polars as the Origin of the Galactic Center Hard X-ray Emission, Astrophysical Journal, 826, 160 (2016). · J. Hong, K. Mori, C. Hailey, et al. (10 out of 44) NuSTAR Hard X-ray Survey of the Galactic Center Region II: X-ray Point Sources, Astrophysical Journal, 825, 132 (2016). · T. Aramaki, S. Boggs, S. Bufalino, et al. (17 out of 27, alphabetical)*, Theoretical and Experimental Status of Cosmic-Ray Antideuteron Searches for Dark Matter, Physics Reports, 618, 1 (2016). *Co-editor, with P. von Doetinchem (corresponding), for this review paper, in particular the experimental sections. · T. Aramaki, C.J. Hailey, S.E. Boggs, P. von Doetinchem, H. Fuke, S.I. Mognet, R.A. Ong, K. Perez, J. Zweernick, Antideuteron Sensitivity for the GAPS Experiment, Astroparticle Physics, 74, 6 (2016). · K. Mori, K. Foster, B. Grefenstette, et al. (7 out of 38), NuSTAR Hard X-ray Survey of the Galactic Center Region I: Hard X-ray Morphology and Spectroscopy of the Diffuse Emission, Astrophysical Journal, 814, 94 (2016). · K. Perez, C. Hailey, F. Bauer, et al. (1 out of 22), Extended hard-X-ray emission in the inner few parsecs of the Galaxy, Nature, 520, 646-649 (2015). · T. Aramaki, S.E. Boggs, P. von Doetinchem, H. Fuke, C.J. Hailey, S.A.I. Mognet, R.A. Ong, K. Perez, J. Zweerink, Potential for Precision Measurement of Low-Energy An- tiprotons with GAPS for Dark Matter and Primordial Black Hole Physics, Astropart. Phys., 59, 12-17 (2014). · P. von Doetinchem, T. Aramaki, N. Bando, et al. (13 out of 15, alphabetical after corresponding author), The flight of the GAPS prototype experiment, Astropart. Phys., 54, 93-109 (2014). · S.A.I. Mognet, T. Aramaki, N. Bando, et al. (13 out of 15, alphabetical after corre- sponding author), The Prototype GAPS (pGAPS) Experiment, Nucl. Inst. Meth. A, 735, 24-38 (2014).

6 · H. Fuke, R. Ong, T. Aramaki, et al. (13 out of 15, alphabetical after corresponding author), The pGAPS experiment: an engineering balloon flight of prototype GAPS, Advances in Space Research, 53, 1432-1437 (2014).

· The ATLAS Collaboration*,√ Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at s=7 TeV, Eur. Phys. J., C73, 2304 (2013). *Co-editor of the public conference note on photon-jet measurements that contributed to this pub- lication.

· The ATLAS√ Collaboration*, Measurement of inclusive jet and dijet production in pp collisions at s = 7 TeV using the ATLAS detector, Phys. Rev. D, 86, 014022 (2012). *Summary of my thesis analysis. · The ATLAS Collaboration*, Measurement of inclusive jet and dijet cross sections in proton-proton collisions at 7 TeV centre-of-mass energy with the ATLAS detector, Eur. Phys. J., C71, 1-59 (2011). *Co-editor of this publication. · The ATLAS Collaboration*, The ATLAS Inner Detector commissioning and calibra- tion, Eur. Phys. J., C70, 787-821 (2010). *Editor of the public note on pixel threshold calibration that contributed to this publication. · J. Small, K. Perez, P. Kim, Modulation of Thermoelectric Power of Individual Carbon Nanotubes Phys. Rev. Lett., 91 (2003) 256801.

Science Education Publications · K. Perez, Making Space to Address Equity Issues in Physics Classrooms, Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education: Issue 18 (2016).

Selected White Papers and Conference Proceedings · J. Hong, S. Romaine, A. Kenter, C.S. Moore, K. Reeves, B.D. Ramsay, K. Kilrau, J. Vogel, J. Ruiz Armendariz, H. Hudson, K. Perez, SmallSat Solar Axion and Activity X-ray Imager (SSAXI), SPIE Proceedings Vol. 11118, UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XXI (2019) arXiv:1909.03090. · Z. Ahmed, A. Apresyan, M. Artuso, et al. (55 out of 83, alphabetical) New Technologies for Discovery, a report of the 2018 DPF Coordinating Panel for Advanced Detectors (CPAD) Community Workshop (2019), arXiv:1908.00194. · K. Perez, P. von Doetinchem, T. Aramaki, M. Boezio, S.E. Boggs, W.W. Craig, L. Fabris, H. Fuke, F. Gahbauer, C.J. Hailey, R. Ong, Astro2020 Science White Paper: Cosmic-ray Antinuclei as Messengers for Dark Matter, input for the Astro2020 Decadal Survey (2019), arXiv:1904.05938. · J. Hong, S. Romaine, C.S. Moore, K. Reeves, A. Kenter, B.D. Ramsay, K. Kilrau, K. Perez, J. Vogel, J. Ruiz Armendariz, H. Hudson, SmallSat Solar Axion X-ray Imager (SSAXI), Proceedings of AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites (2018). · M. Kozai, H. Fuke, M. Yamada, et al. (9 out of 14), Development of Large-area Lithium-drifted Silicon Detectors for the GAPS Experiment, Proceedings of IEEE Nu- clear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (2018), arXiv:1812.07255.

7 · K. Perez on behalf of the NuSTAR Collaboration, Results from the NuSTAR High- Energy X-ray Mission, Proceedings of the 26th Rencontres de Blois on Particle Physics and Cosmology (2014). · K. Perez, T. Aramaki, A. Brickman, C. Hailey, G. Kewley, N. Madden, S. Mechbal, and G. Tajiri, Progress on Large-Scale, Low-Cost Si(Li) Detector Fabrication for the GAPS Balloon Mission, Proceedings of IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (2013). · K. Perez, T. Aramaki, N. Bando, et al. (1 out of 17), The GAPS Experiment: Hunting for Dark Matter with Antideuterons, Proceedings of 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference (2013).

· The ATLAS Collaboration*, Determination of the ATLAS jet√ energy measurement uncertainty using photon-jet events in proton-proton collisions at s = 7 TeV, ATLAS- CONF-2011-031, CERN (2011), For the 46th Rencontres de Moriond on QCD and High Energy Interactions, La Thuile, Italy, March 2011. *Co-editor of this public conference note.

· The ATLAS Collaboration*,√ Jet energy scale and its systematic uncertainty in proton- proton collisions at s = 7 TeV in ATLAS 2010 data, ATLAS-CONF-2011-032, CERN (2011), For the 46th Rencontres de Moriond on QCD and High Energy Interactions, La Thuile, Italy, March 2011. *Co-editor of the public conference note on photon-jet measurements that contributed to this publication. · The ATLAS Collaboration*, Jet energy resolution and reconstruction efficiencies from in-situ techniques with√ the ATLAS Detector Using Proton-Proton Collisions at a Cen- ter of Mass Energy s= 7 TeV, ATLAS-CONF-2010-056, CERN (2010), For the 35th International Conference on High Energy Physics, Paris, France, July 2010. *Co- editor of this public conference note. √ · The ATLAS Collaboration*, Performance of the ATLAS Jet Trigger in the Early s = 7 TeV Data, ATLAS-CONF-2010-094, CERN (2010). *Contributed analysis results to this public conference note. · The ATLAS Collaboration*, Threshold Tuning of the ATLAS Pixel Detector, ATL- INDET-PUB-2010-001, CERN (2010). *Editor of this public calibration note.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

External · Organizing committee for Aspen Summer Program, 2019 Progress After Impasse: New Frontiers in Dark Matter · Organizing committee for 2nd Cosmic-ray Antideuteron Workshop at UCLA 2019 · Session convener for TEVPA 2017, APS DPF 2019 2017-2019 · Reviewer for NSF, NASA proposals 2014-2018

MIT · Co-advisor for undergraduate Diverse Physics Society 2018-present

8 · Faculty PI of Randomized Experiment to Promote Belonging and Retention in Undergraduate Physics (IRB proposal title) 2017-present · Undergraduate advisor for physics majors 2017-present · Pappalardo Fellowship Committee 2016-present · Dinners with 8.02 students via the Student-Faculty dinner program (3x) and the Undergraduate and Graduate Women in Physics Groups (3x) 2017-2018 · Laboratory of Nuclear Science colloquium committee 2017-2018

SELECTED OUTREACH ACTIVITIES

· Classroom Practices for Retention of Underrepresented Students. Created and facilitate a workshop in which instructors develop interventions tailored to their own courses, with the aim of improving students? sense of belonging within the class environment and retention in an academic field. Columbia University, New York, NY, November 2019. Boston-Area Women of Color in the Academy Conference, Boston, MA, March 2020. · Get to know 10 early-career experimentalists, Symmetry Magazine. Interview in Symmetry Magazine, November 2019. · Greater Boston Society of Physics Students Conference. Keynote speaker, MIT, Cambridge, MA, November 2018. · APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics. Faculty speaker, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, January 2017. · Philly Sci Fest, Franklin Institute. Panelist for ‘Science 2066’ event, Philadelphia, PA, April 2016. · Night Skies at the Observatory, Franklin Institute. ‘Dark Matters!’ Public lecture, Philadelphia, PA, December 2015. · NPR’s #RaceOnTech Series. Invited participant for day-long conversation with public via Twitter, July 2015. · Particles Colliding, The Simons Foundation’s Math for America program. Co-facilitated teacher training program on LHC physics, New York, NY, May 2015. · My Path Towards BIG PHYSICS, Young Women’s Conference. Keynote speech, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, March 2015. · Top Physicist to Follow, Symmetry Magazine. Ranked one of the ‘Top Physicists to Follow’ on Twitter, January 2014. · NuSTAR’s View of the Galactic Center, Rolnick Observatory. Public lecture, Westport, CT, 2013-2014. · Why Dark Matter Matters: The Invisible Universe, Columbia University. Public lecture, New York, NY, May 2013.

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