Elena Amanda Long is assistant professor of physics at the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

and is an activist for

LGBT people in science LGBT people in science are students, professionals, hobbyists, and anyone else who is LGBT and interested in science. The sexuality of many people in science remains up for debate by historians, largely due to the unaccepting cultures in which m ...

. The journal ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'' called her a "diversity trailblazer" in their ''

Nature's 10 ''Nature'' 10 is an annual listicle of ten "people who mattered" in science, produced by the scientific journal ''Nature (journal), Nature''. Nominees have made a significant impact in science either for good or for bad. Reporters and editorial s ...

: Ten people who mattered this year'' in 2016. Long's research on the internal structure of

nucleon In physics and chemistry, a nucleon is either a proton or a neutron, considered in its role as a component of an atomic nucleus. The number of nucleons in a nucleus defines the atom's mass number. Until the 1960s, nucleons were thought to be ele ...

s earned her a 2015 Jefferson Science Associates (JSA) Promising Young Scientist award. Long has made significant contributions to improve the inclusion of under-represented researchers and students by founding the LGBT+ Physics organisation and serving as a member 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 ...

(APS) Committee of LGBT Issues.Elena Long's

Education

Long was educated at

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a Public university, public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, Kent State ...

where she successfully defended her

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

thesis in 2012, on ''Polarized ³He(e, e'n) Asymmetries in Three Orthogonal Measurements'' which provides important tests of models that use

Helium-3 Helium-3 (3He see also helion) is a light, stable isotope of helium with two protons and one neutron. (In contrast, the most common isotope, helium-4, has two protons and two neutrons.) Helium-3 and hydrogen-1 are the only stable nuclides with ...

as a neutron target. Long earned a bachelor's degree in Physics from Juniata College in 2006

Research and career

Long's research in atomic physics focuses on understanding how the

quark A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nucleus, atomic nuclei ...

s inside of

proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , Hydron (chemistry), H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' (elementary charge). Its mass is slightly less than the mass of a neutron and approximately times the mass of an e ...

s and

neutron The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol or , that has no electric charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. The Discovery of the neutron, neutron was discovered by James Chadwick in 1932, leading to the discovery of nucle ...

s interact to form atomic nuclei. She has worked on the

deuteron Deuterium (hydrogen-2, symbol H or D, also known as heavy hydrogen) is one of two Stable isotope ratio, stable isotopes of hydrogen; the other is protium, or hydrogen-1, H. The deuterium atomic nucleus, nucleus (deuteron) contains one proton and ...

structure as well as attempts to detect the first measurement on the quasi-elastic tensor asymmetry A_zz. The A_zz experiment can provide information about nucleon-nucleon calculations at the

relativistic Relativity may refer to: Physics * Galilean relativity, Galileo's conception of relativity * Numerical relativity, a subfield of computational physics that aims to establish numerical solutions to Einstein's field equations in general relativity ...

level, as well as provide new experimental constraints on decade-old questions about

wavefunctions. An explanation of the A_zz experiment described for a six year old can be found on Long's research page. Long's

postdoctoral research A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

at the

, involved the construction of the polarised target lab in DeMeritt Hall. In 2014 Long was elected to the

Jefferson Lab Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), commonly called Jefferson Lab or JLab, is a US Department of Energy National Laboratory located in Newport News, Virginia. Since June 1, 2006, it has been operated by Jefferson Scienc ...

User's Group Board of Directors as a postdoc representative. Long held this position until 2016.

Public engagement

In 2009 Long founded the

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

+ Physicists organisation which serves as a networking resource for gender and sexual minority (GSM) physicists as well as providing a yearly award named the ''Acknowledgement of Excellence Awards.'' Long worked with the

for their 2012 meeting, ensuring invited speakers and participants were able to share their experiences as LGBT+ physicists in a special session which was attended by over 100 people. A summary of the discussions titled '' Gender and Sexual Diversity Issues in Physics: The Audience Speaks'' co-written by Long, is quoted as the start of a grassroots movement to produce guides for the LGBT+ scientific community. Long has served as the Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion for '' Out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (oSTEM), Inc'', a

501(c)(3) organization A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

and non-profit professional society focused on LGBTQ people in the STEM community. In an interview with the

Society of Physics Students The Society of Physics Students (SPS) is a professional association with international participation, granting membership through college chapters with the only requirement that the student member be interested in physics. All college majors a ...

(SPS) Observer Long spoke about the driving force behind her efforts to increase support for LGBT physicists:

"I want there to be more LGBT physicists, and I don't want young people to look at this career and find people telling them to never be themselves at their job. I don't want anyone else to have to go through what I did"

Long was honoured as one of ''

's 10: Ten people who mattered this year'' in 2016 as a 'Diversity trailblazer'. As part of this recognition, Long was named as one of the architects of a first-of-its-kind survey called LGBT+ Climate in Physics run by the American Physical Society (APS), gathering experiences of physicists in the LGBTQ+ community.

Awards and honors

Long's awards and honors include: * 2017:

Kidder Fund *2017:

Juniata College Juniata College () is a private liberal arts college in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1876 as a co-educational normal school, it was the first college started by members of the Church of the Brethren. It was originally founded as a cent ...

Young Alumni Achievement award *2016: ''

s 10: Ten people who mattered in 2016 *2016: Jefferson Science Associates

Postdoctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

Prize * 2014: Jefferson Science Associates Promising Young Scientist * 2014: oSTEM Global STEM Service Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Elena Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of New Hampshire faculty Juniata College alumni Kent State University alumni American women physicists American LGBTQ scientists American women academics 21st-century American women LGBTQ physicists 21st-century American scientists 21st-century American LGBTQ people

Education

Research and career

Public engagement

Awards and honors

Further reading

References