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Biesiada Receives Award for BaBar Dissertation

(Photo - Jed Biesiada)Jed Biesiada, who did his Ph.D. research on BaBar as a member of the Princeton group, has been awarded the 2008 Mitsuyoshi Tanaka Dissertation Award in Experimental Particle Physics.

The award, established in 1999, recognizes exceptional young scientists who have performed original doctoral thesis work of outstanding scientific quality in the area of experimental particle physics.

"I was extremely happy," he said on receiving the award. An advisor, Princeton's Jim Olsen, nominated him. "Jed is one of the best graduate students I've ever seen," he said.

Biesiada joins Shahram Rahatlou, the 2004 winner, as the second BaBar recipient of this prestigious award.

"It's nice to be recognized for my part in opening a new area of investigation for BaBar," Biesiada said. "BaBar is a great experiment and its excellence is implicitly recognized by an award like this." He continued by saying that the award also serves as a testament to the guidance and support of his advisors: Olsen and Stewart Smith.

Biesiada's work resulted in the observation of a new class of decays dubbed "b-to-d penguins" and in the first measurement of charge-parity violating parameters for that class of decays. These "b-to-d penguin" decays are potentially sensitive to the effects of new particles and symmetries beyond the Standard Model.

Smith hailed Biesiada as exactly the kind of person particle physics needs to ensure its future. "Jed is one of the rare people who combines a deep knowledge of physics, expertise with detectors, drive, and leadership needed to make things happen,” he said.

Biesiada currently works on the ATLAS experiment as a Chamberlain Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Read Biesiada's thesis online:
Measurement of Branching Fractions and CP-Violating Asymmetries in B0 → K0K0 and B+ → K0K+ Decays at the BaBar Experiment

—Matt Cunningham, SLAC Today, January 11, 2008