Alexandre B. Sousa , Ph.D in Physics

Personal Web Page: http://homepages.uc.edu/~sousaae

Alex Sousa is an Associate Professor in the Physics Department with primary research interests on Experimental High-Energy Physics.  Prior to coming to the University of Cincinnati in 2012, he earned his Ph.D. from Tufts University, Medford, MA, under the supervision of Jacob Schneps in 2006. He went on to hold positions as post-doctoral Research Assistant at the University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, working with Alfons Weber, and Research Associate at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, working with Gary Feldman.  His research work focuses in understanding and measuring the properties of neutrinos, being a member of three US-based long-baseline neutrino experiments, NOvA, DUNE, and MINOS+, that have made and will continue to make the most precise measurements of several neutrino oscillation parameters. Furthermore, they will address fundamental questions about neutrinos that have profound implications in our understanding of Universe evolution, such as whether neutrino interactions violate CP conservation, or how is the ordering of the three neutrino masses structured. Alex Sousa’s research has received major funding support through grants from DOE's HEP program and the SciDAC-4 Computational Science program. He is the recipient of a ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award (2014), and of a UC College of Arts & Sciences Risisng Star award (2017). He has been awarded three Fermilab Intensity Frontier Fellowships (2013-2014, 2018, 2019) supporting neutrino research at Fermilab and more recently the overall coordination of the installation, commissioning, and operations of the NOvA Test Beam detector and beamline.  In teaching, Alex Sousa has championed the use of active learning methods in the Department and served as departmental Teaching & Learning Liaison from 2016 through 2018. He is a 2018 Darwin T. Turner Breakfast of Champions Awardee, and an active member of the Department's Diversity and Inclusion Committee. 

Ph.D. in Physics: Tufts University Medford, MA, 2006

M.Sc. in Physics: Tufts University Medford, MA, 2000

B.Sc. in Physics Engineering: Instituto Superior Técnico Lisbon, Portugal, 1998

My research work focuses in understanding and measuring the properties of neutrinos. I am a member of three long-baseline neutrino experiments, NOvA, DUNE, and MINOS+, that have made and will continue to make the most precise measurements of several neutrino oscillation parameters. Furthermore, they will address fundamental questions about neutrinos that have profound implications in our understanding of Universe evolution, such as whether neutrino interactions violate CP conservation, or how is the ordering of the three neutrino masses structured. I am also interested in searches for  a new kind of neutrino that has no known interactions with other matter beyond gravity, called sterile neutrino. By comparing the energy spectrum from neutral and charged-current neutrino interactions in its two detectors, MINOS+ will be able to look for evidence of these sterile neutrinos, or place very stringent constraints on their existence.

2012 -2018 Assistant Professor, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH

2008 -2012 Research Associate, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

2005 -2008 Post doctoral Research Assistant, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

2018 -To Present Associate Professor, University of Cincinnati, OH

Grant: #ORAU 2014 Investigators:Sousa, Alexandre 06-01-2014 -05-31-2015 Oak Ridge Associated Universities ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Awards - Alexandre Sousa Role:PI $5,000.00 Awarded Level:Private Non-Profit

Grant: #DE-SC0011784 Investigators:Argyres, Philip; Johnson, Randy; Kagan, Alexander; Kinoshita, Kay; Schwartz, Alan; Sousa, Alexandre 06-01-2014 -05-31-2017 Department of Energy Research in Particle Theory and Experiment at the University of Cincinnati Role:Collaborator $914,000.00 Awarded Level:Federal

Grant: #PHY-1219444 Investigators:Meadows, Brian; Sokoloff, Michael; Sousa, Alexandre 09-01-2012 -08-31-2017 National Science Foundation Quarknet 2013 Role:PI $50,420.00 Active Level:Federal

Grant: #PO #641062 Investigators:Sousa, Alexandre 12-04-2017 -08-15-2022 Department of Energy HEP Data Analytics on HPC Role:PI $170,322.00 Active Level:Federal

Grant: #DE-SC0011784 _ 2017 Investigators:Argyres, Philip; Kagan, Alexander; Kinoshita, Kay; Schwartz, Alan; Sousa, Alexandre; Wijewardhana, L.C.R.; Zupan, Jure 04-01-2017 -03-31-2020 Department of Energy Research in Particle Theory and Experiment at the University of Cincinnati Role:Collaborator $927,000.00 Active Level:Federal

Grant: #PO 647474 / DE-AC02-07CH11359 Intensity Frontier Fwshp Investigators:Sousa, Alexandre 06-01-2018 -11-30-2018 Department of Energy Intensity Frontier Fellowship Role:PI $28,555.00 Active Level:Federal

Grant: #Fermi 661600_DOE DE-AC02-07CH11359 Investigators:Sousa, Alexandre 01-01-2020 -12-31-2022 Department of Energy HEP Data Analytics on HPC - Year 3 of Fermilab PO 641062 Role:PI $171,152.00 Active Level:Federal

Grant: #DE-SC0011784 Investigators:Argyres, Philip; Aurisano, Adam; Bischoff, Colin; Brod, Joachim; Kagan, Alexander; Kinoshita, Kay; Schwartz, Alan; Sousa, Alexandre; Wijewardhana, L.C.R.; Zupan, Jure 04-01-2020 -03-31-2023 Department of Energy Research in Particle and Cosmology Theory and Experiment at the University of Cincinnati Role:Collaborator $1,250,000.00 Awarded Level:Federal

Grant: #Sub #673702 / DE-AC02-07CH11359 Investigators:Sousa, Alexandre 01-01-2021 -12-31-2021 Department of Energy HEP Data Analytics on HPC - Year 4 (backdoor) Role:PI $199,325.00 Awarded Level:Federal

Grant: #DE-SC0011784 Investigators:Argyres, Philip; Aurisano, Adam; Bischoff, Colin; Brod, Joachim; Kinoshita, Kay; Pereira E Sousa, Alexandre; Schwartz, Alan; Wijewardhana, L.C.R.; Zupan, Jure 07-01-2023 -06-30-2026 Department of Energy Research in Particle and Cosmology Theory and Experiment at the University of Cincinnati Role:Collaborator 1353000.00 Hold Level:Federal

Peer Reviewed Publications

Sousa, A. et al. (MINOS Collaboration) (2012). Improved Measurement of Muon Antineutrino Disappearance in MINOS. Physical Review Letters, 108, 191801.

Sousa A., Abazajian, K.N. et al (2012). Light Sterile Neutrinos: A White Paper. arXiv:1204.5379.

Sousa, A. et al. (MINOS Collaboration) (2011). Improved search for muon-neutrino to electron-neutrino oscillations in MINOS. Physical Review Letters, 107, 181802.

Sousa, A. et al. (MINOS Collaboration) (2011). Search for the disappearance ofmuon antineutrinos in the NuMI neutrino beam. Rapid Communication to Physical Review D, 84, 071103.

Sousa, A. et al. (MINOS Collaboration) (2011). Active to sterile neutrino mixing limits from neutral-current interactions in MINOS. Physical Review Letters, 107, 011802.

Sousa, A. et al. (MINOS Collaboration) (2010). Search for sterile neutrino mixing in the MINOS long-baseline experiment. Physical Review D, 81, 052004.

Sousa, A. et al. (MINOS Collaboration) (2006). Observation of muon neutrino disappearance with the MINOS detectors and the NuMI neutrino beam. Physical Review Letters, 97, 191801.

Sousa, A. et al. (Soudan 2 Collaboration) (2003). Measurement of the L/E distributions of atmospheric neutrinos in Soudan 2 and their interpretation as neutrino oscillations. Physical Review D, 68, 113004.

Conference/Workshop Proceedings

Sousa. A. (2011). MINOS Search for Sterile Neutrinos. Proceedings of the XIIIth International Workshop on Neutrino Factories, Superbeams and Beta beams (NuFact 11), Geneva, Switzerland, arXiv:1110.3455.

Sousa, A. (2011). Status of NOvA. Proceedings of the 14th International Workshop on Neutrino Telescopes (NeuTel 2011), Venice, Italy.

Sousa, A. (2010). Long Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiments. Proceedings of the XXX Physics in Collision Symposium (PIC 2010), Karlsruhe, Germany, arXiv:1102.1125.

More updated information on publications and presentations given can be found in http://homepages.uc.edu/~sousaae.,