I am the I.I. Rabi Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics at Columbia University. My research is supported by Columbia’s Nevis Laboratories , and funding from the Office of Nuclear Physics in the U.S. Department of Energy.
I study high energy nuclear collisions (aka relativistic heavy ion physics) to investigate strongly interacting nuclear matter at high temperatures and densities. My research is conducted at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), located at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
I truly enjoying teaching, not only because it’s a real pleasure helping students understand physics but also because the deep questions asked by interested students help me better understand physics. Most recently I have taught our two-semester Quantum Mechanics I and II sequence (GU4021/GU4021). A few years ago I initiated a new course String Theory for Undergraduates (GU4012), a one-semester course covering Part 1 of Barton Zwiebach’s superb A First Course in String Theory. , which I taught again in the Fall 2026 semester.
Recent developments:
- I wrote some extended remarks on the path that took to me to the Columbia Department of Physics and to my research in relativistic heavy ion physics: My Path to the Quark-Gluon Plasma, to appear in Quark-Gluon Plasma: 50 Years and Beyond.
- I greatly enjoyed working Wit Busza in preparing another article for that same “QGP50” volume: The Early History of the Quark-Gluon Plasma.
