On November 19, 2024, Justin Flaherty ‘16 ’18 (BS Physics Honors/BS Math Honors, MS Physics) successfully defended his Ph. D. thesis in Physics entitled “Reconstruction of Radio Emission Using the Askaryan Radio Array” at the Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus Ohio.

     Justin graduated Magna Cum Laude from CSU in 2016 completing his BS Honors Physics and BS Honors Math majors. He then earned MS Physics (Optics and Materials track) from CSU in 2018. While at CSU, in addition to excelling in rigorous dual major academics, Justin participated in numerous undergraduate and graduate research projects. He conducted research on light scattering, optical trapping, and computational atmospheric physics under Drs. Streletzky, Resnick, and Heus, respectively. His research with Dr. Resnick led to Justin’s first author peer-reviewed publication. As an undergraduate, Justin served as treasurer and president of CSU’s chapter of the Society of Physics Students (SPS) for three years. He led CSU’s SPS chapter in organizing Physics Olympics, Catapult Contest, Physics Jeopardy, and other campus wide events. Justin was also instrumental in organizing a physics student conference (2015 SPS Zone 7 Meeting) at CSU. In addition, Justin was a popular undergraduate and graduate Teaching Assistant for the Physics department teaching many physics labs. For his academics, research achievements, SPS leadership, and teaching Justin won 2016 Outstanding Physics Senior Award.

During his PhD studies at OSU, Justin researched ultra-high energy neutrinos from extra-galactic sources at the Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (CCAPP) in the group of Dr. Connolly. His project focused on a search for neutrinos using radio waves in two experiments based in Antarctica. One of those experiments is Askaryan Radio Array (ARA) which is an in-ice experiment at the South Pole that looks for neutrinos year-round.  In fact, in 2023 Justin was sent to the Antarctic Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station for a couple of weeks to perform maintenance on ARA experiment.

    Currently, Justin is transitioning into a Postdoctoral Fellow position at the OSU in the Dr. Beatty’s group. There he will be working on the HELIX (High Energy Light Isotope eXperiment) and PUEO (Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations) experiments, which study cosmic rays and neutrinos, respectively. The HELIX experiment flew earlier this year out of Sweden, while PUEO is slated for launch out of Antarctica in December 2025. Justin will be assisting in the analysis of the HELIX data and getting PUEO constructed for launch.

Please join us in congratulating Justin on finishing his PhD and starting his work as a Postdoc at the OSU! Long Live Physics at CSU!