Michael Wood

Dr. Wood is an experimental nuclear physicist whose research projects are in the dynamics of the subatomic nucleus and in the particle nature of Dark Matter. The nucleus is a collection of protons and neutrons where each proton and neutron is made of particles called quarks. Quarks have an interesting characteristic called confinement where is a quark is knocked out of the nucleus, it uses its energy to create more quarks out of the vacuum. Dr. Wood is studying how these free quarks arrange themselves into stable, neutral composite particles. With regard to Dark Matter, its true nature remains a mystery. Dr. Wood and his collaborators are designing an experiment produce a Dark Matter particle with an electron beam.

His goal is to extend the education beyond the classroom with student research experiences. He routinely takes students to the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, a Department of Energy national laboratory in Newport News, VA. His collaborators include physicists and graduate students from the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare in Genova, Italy and the Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria in Valparaiso, Chile. Whether it is teaching in the classroom or conducting independent research, Dr. Wood gives his students the mathematical, computational, and problem solving skills to launch them into graduate school, industry, government service, or wherever their career may be.