Amy Lynn Connolly is an American physicist. She is an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

in the Department of Physics at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

and a Fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

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 Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, Ohio where she attended Anderson High School. She completed her

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in physics from

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

and her

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

and PhD at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. While completing her doctorate degree, she carried out a search for the

Higgs boson The Higgs boson, sometimes called the Higgs particle, is an elementary particle in the Standard Model of particle physics produced by the excited state, quantum excitation of the Higgs field, one of the field (physics), fields in particl ...

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 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL, Berkeley Lab) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in the Berkeley Hills, hills of Berkeley, California, United States. Established i ...

Career

Upon completing her postdoctoral fellowship at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

, Connolly spent years at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

(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. She left UCL in 2010 to become an

assistant professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

of physics at

(OSU). In this role, she received a five-year National Science Foundation CAREER Award to support her search for high-energy neutrinos. Following this, Connolly was elected a Fellow of the

for "her contributions to experimental and theoretical studies of ultrahigh energy neutrinos, and to searches for these neutrinos using radio techniques." She also received the 2019 Physics Undergraduate Teaching Award as voted for by students. 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, Amy Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Scientists from Cincinnati American women physicists American physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society Purdue University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Ohio State University faculty