Dr. Ransom W. Stephens

Assistant Professor of Physics

Research Area : Experimental High Energy physics.
Member of the DØ experiment at the Fermilab tevatron and the ATLAS experiment at CERN's LHC.
Former member of the CLEO collaboration (1991-93) and the TPC/Two-gamma experiment (1986-1990).

Research Activities:

• My talk for the XXXIII Rencontres de Moriond conference on Tevatron Inclusive Jet Cross Sections at 630 GeV
• I'm interested in developing techniques from image reconstruction (i.e., from digital photo enhancement, tomography, sonar signal processing) for application in analysis of High energy Physics data.
• I am coordinating the Future QCD Analysis for the DØ Experiment.
• Working in a DØ QCD sub-group studying and developing the Kt jet reconstruction algorithm with particular interests in jet sub structure and the development of exclusive techniques in hadron collisions applied to model independent new phenomena searches.
  Here's the postscript file of my D0 Note (number 3010) A Comparison of Inclusive Jets Reconstructed with the K_T and cone Algorithms.
  I am currently working on the measurement of the inclusive jet cross section with jets reconstructed by the K_T algorithm.
  
• Working with nonlinear dynamics theorist Michael Vinson on developing and evaluating techniques to identify fractal structure in the fragmentation of color charged objects into color singlet hadrons. Here's a link to a description and Phys. Rev. D draft of this work.
  
• I like to involve undergraduates in important research projects. Recently I worked with three undergraduates in a study of the gain of photo-multiplier tubes in large magnetic fields with a variety of shielding configurations.
  Here's the postscript file of the D0Note (number 2706) Study of Magnetic Shielding Configurations for the ICD Photo-multiplier Tubes in The DØ Upgrade.
• DØ Monte Carlo Production Collective Coordinator:
  Link to DØ Monte Carlo Production status page
  and to the Farmer's Guide to DØ Monte Carlo Production.
  
• I have ported the DØ data reconstruction code to the DEC alpha platform running openVMS, hit this for instructions of how to install FULL_D0RECO on your cluster.
  

Teaching :

• Spring 1999: Physics 1444: 2nd Semester General Physics.
• Spring 1999: Physics 3313: Modern Physics.
  
• The Discovery With ATLAS! summer school for high school students and teachers. A course in conceptual particle physics over two weeks for high school students and one week for teachers.
• I have designed a new Bachelor of Science degree program: Bachelor of Science in Physics with Medical School Preparation .

Vitae :

• Born: November 20, 1961, Oakland California (fifth generation Californian).
  
• Attended first Oakland Raider football game: Thanksgiving day, 1968 -- have bled silver and sweated black ever since.
  
• Summer 1977: Attended Led Zepplin concert.
• Spring 1978: Purchased '69 Dodge Charger.
  
• Summer 1980: graduated Las Lomas Highschool, Walnut Creek, California.
  
• Summer 1980: met Miles Dylan.
  
• 1980-1981: Had long hair, didn't wear shoes.
  
• 1982-1983: Attended University of Birmingham, England.
  
• 1984: UC San Diego, BA in Physics.
  
• April 20, 1985: married Susan Attinson -- the reception was, without question, the best party I've ever been to . . . somewhat later she moved out - easy come easy go.
• October 25, 1985: met Heather L. Stephens -- my brilliant daughter.
  
• Spring 1986: joined UC Santa Barbara's High Energy Physics Group.
  
• July 1989: attended the International School of Subnuclear Physics in Erice, Sicily -- had a great time.
  
• Spring, 1990: Announced the discovery of the R(1525) a, possibly exotic, resonance produced in the interaction of a nearly real and a quite virtual photon --- was NOT awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
• August 20, 1990, was granted the Ph.D. in Physics by UC Santa Barbara (Thesis advisor: David Caldwell).
  
• September 1990 -- October 1993: Research Associate in Physics at the University of Florida (go Gators!!).
  
• November 1993 -- present: Assistant Professor of Physics at UTA.
  
• Summer 1995: Bought a wacky looking house on an acre in Mansfield Texas where it's like living in a park with two dogs Sherman and Shayna, two cats Shadow and Trent Shade, a bunny Mrs. Bono, a hamster Bear, two gerbils Sparkle and Fade, a hedgehog Edge, and my daughter, Heather. I like it here. If only it weren't so damn far from a real beach...
  
• October 1995: Attended the 2nd Rencontre's du Vietnam in Saigon Vietnam. This is a wonderful country with an enthusiastic, industrious, friendly people. I would love to retire in South Vietnam and finally live next to the beach.
• August 1996: Swam with Pelicans and Dolphins in the Atlantic ocean.
• September 1996: Attended the XI QFTHEP workshop in St. Petersburg Russia. Drank lots of Vodka, hung out with a wierd guy from Trinidad and a nutty Belgian woman -- we sang the Star Spangled Banner in the streets of (the former) Leningrad. There was `a problem'. We solved it.
• August 1997: watched an amazing meteor shower in Montana -- The shooting stars were like roman candles -- with a smooth guitar and cold beer.
• March 1998: Attended that XXXIII Rencontres du Moriond confrence on QCD in Les Arcs France. What a lifestyle!! Breakfast 7-9, talks 9-12, ski 12-5p, talks 5-7p, dinner 7-10p, hang out in the lounge 10-12, repeat. I could get used to that!! I learned a fascinating lesson while skiing the slopes, jumping, falling, flying, going crazy: bruises after skiing are like scratches after sex -- it just means you're doing it right. (Disclaimer: If you find this offensive...then I deny all accusation of ever saying it or including it on a web page sponsored by UTA.)
• May 1999: At Scarborough Renaissance Faire I met a man, Standing Bear Cooper. An intense dude, as we say in California, after discussing many things in depth, from relativity to sado-masochism to spirituality to economics (yes we had several mugs of ale over the course of the discussion) he said to me: "You are a portal." I'm still trying to figure out what it means. But I think it was the highest compliment I've ever been paid.

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