Senior Physicist Breese Quinn Featured on ‘Great Faces and Places’ Poster

Poster was displayed at the NUFO Science Exhibition hosted by Science and National Lab Caucus

From University Communications

OXFORD, Miss. – A University of Mississippi physicist is among an elite group of scientists featured on a National User Facility Organization poster that was displayed at the Science and National Lab Caucus.

Breese Quinn’s photo and a brief description of his research are on “Faces and Places of Great Science and Innovation in the U.S.” The poster was among those displayed at the NUFO Science Exhibition, hosted by U.S. Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-Miss.) in his Science and National Lab Caucus in Washington, D.C.

“I am very honored to have my work featured in this celebration of our nation’s scientific enterprise,” said Quinn, associate professor of physics and astronomy. “The partnership of U.S. universities and national laboratories is a key element of American discovery and innovation, and will be critical in continuing the unmatched record of advances in knowledge and technology that our nation has established.

“I am pleased that inclusion in this event brings recognition of the commitment to world-leading research found in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, College of Liberal Arts and entire University of Mississippi community.”
Quinn was selected for the recognition following a rigorous search by NUFO officials.

“Breese has been doing outstanding research at Fermilab since graduate school, and he is a very active member of Fermilab’s Users Executive Committee,” said Kurt Riesselman, deputy head of Fermilab’s Office of Communication. “Hence we thought he would be an excellent representative for Mississippi. We are happy to see that the NUFO committee agreed.”

Quinn has been involved in research at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermilab for more than 20 years, since he was a graduate student at the University of Chicago.

“My research over the last few years has focused on leading the effort to measure the mass of the W boson particle at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab),” Quinn said. “The W mass is a fundamental parameter in particle physics, and its value has critical impacts on the structure and dynamics of our universe, including the mass of the recently discovered Higgs boson.”

Quinn’s research team was also part of the Higgs search. His latest project is helping design and build two new experiments at Fermilab, Quinn said.

“The Muon g-2 experiment will look for undiscovered subatomic particles hiding in the vacuum of space, and ORKA will investigate the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe.” –– BY EDWIN SMITH

To view the NUFO poster, visit http://ftp.aps.anl.gov/NUFOposters/NUFO_2013_FacesPlaces_2_draft.pdf.