INT Summer School on

Problem Solving in Lattice QCD

June 28 – July 16, 2021

School Teaching Assistants


The school teaching assistants are very important for maximizing the learning experience in the flipped classroom. Below, you can find out more about the teaching assistants (TAs) who volunteered for the summer school. The TAs share what they do, why they love their lattice field theory research, and their positive experiences during COVID.

Dr. Dan Hackett (he/him)

MIT

"Machine learning for LQCD applications" TA

I am a computational particle/nuclear physicist (or, as I sometimes like to describe it, an experimental quantum field theorist), and I also enjoy cooking, hiking, and reading. I'm presently thinking mostly about hadron structure and applications of ML to LQCD, but am also interested in lattice for Beyond the Standard Model physics, lattice thermodynamics, and lattice applications of quantum computing. I find lattice gauge theory and all the math and computing that go into it to be a very beautiful way of thinking about physics. During COVID, I met a very friendly dog.

Denis Boyda (he/his)

Argonne National Laboratory

"Machine learning for LQCD applications" TA

I am in the LQCD community working more on algorithm development and writing code. I like hiking and have a passion for sailing. I work on the development of LQCD algorithms enforced with machine learning. ML can help to study physics not tractable with standard methods. Working from home I save a lot of time on traveling to work.

Volodymyr Chelnokov (he/him)

Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main

"Nonzero temperature and density QCD" TA

I am a Ukrainian physicist currently working in Germany, and in my free time I like reading and programming. Main topics of my research are the different ways of simulation of lattice models at nonzero chemical potential and study of the flux tubes in lattice QCD. I am impressed by the complexity that is exhibited by the lattice models that have relatively simple descriptions, and also I like the fact that by the way of numeric simulations we can perform "experiments" while being in full control of all the external conditions.

Chris Winterowd

Goethe University

"Nonzero temperature and density QCD" TA

I am interested in strongly-correlated systems, both in high-energy and in condensed matter. I feel blessed to be able to do research for a living. I also enjoy working with so many smart and interesting people. I have used the extra time during COVID to study foreign languages.

Mr Daniel Jenkins (he/him)

University of Regensburg

"Structure of Hadrons" TA

I am a Scottish physicist, and I enjoy mountaineering and playing the saxophone. Extraction of matrix elements from Monte Carlo samplings of gauge fields. I love being able to compare theoretical predictions to experiment, and Lattice QCD input is essential for this to happen.

Lorenzo Barca (he/him)

University of Regensburg

"Structure of Hadrons" TA

I am an Italian PhD students employed in Germany and my hobby is playing chess. I investigate more deeply the structure of the hadrons, by determining corrections to some benchmark quantities. Although challenging, it's rewarding. I enjoy the problem solving part, which is basically a daily aspect of my life as a PhD student. During COVID, I have learned even more to appreciate the little things in life.

Thomas Wurm (he/his)

University of Regensburg

"Structure of Hadrons" TA


Dr. Lento Nagano (he/his)

International Center for Elementary Particle Physics (ICEPP), University of Tokyo

"Quantum Computation" TA

I am a Japanese physicist, and I also like cooking. I am working on finite density QCD and quantum computing. I would like to understand the nonperturbative properties of quantum field theories and lattice simulation is the most powerful tool for finding them. During this COVID, I feel it becomes easier to organize and attend many international workshops.

Dr. Yuta Kikuchi (he/him)

Brookhaven National Laboratory

"Quantum Computing" TA

My research interest includes quantum information/computing and quantum field theories for condensed matter and high-energy physics. The results of my research would provide a unifying tool to describe wide range of theoretical problems in physics. During COVID, I have read and affirm that I will be a good example for students.

Dr. Savvas Zafeiropoulos (he/his)

CNRS and Aix-Marseille University

Introduction to Lattice QCD TA

I am a Greek physicist living and working in France and I enjoy climbing, tennis and skiing. I am interested in several non-perturbative aspects of quantum field theories (parton distributions, sign problem, strongly correlated electrons). I love my research because it gives me the opportunity to study interesting and challenging problems together with people from whom I have learned a lot. It helped me reassess many things that I was taking for granted.

Dr. Santanu Mondal (he/him)

Los Alamos National Laboratory

"Introduction to Lattice QCD" TA

I am an Indian physicist, and in my free time I enjoy hiking and playing tennis/badminton. My research interest is lattice QCD. The current focus is on studying nucleon structure using LQCD. Solving complex problems using analytic and numeric methods is very satisfying to me.

Dr. Akio Tomiya (he/him)

Riken/BNL

"High Performance Computing" TA and class-material developer

I am a Japanese physicists, and I also enjoy reading books, watching movies. I work on the research for finite temperature QCD, implementation of lattice QCD, development algorithms with machine learning. QCD has interesting phase structure but cannot be solved by hand. Using new code with new algorithm enable us to investigate the phase structure efficiently. During Covid, I wrote a book and have organized online seminar series.

Dr. Zhihua Dong (he/his)

Brookhaven National Laboratory

"High Performance Computing TA"

I am a computational science researcher and I like meditation and promote vegan. My work is in area of performance portability of scientific applications. The work will help scientists writing portable codes which run on different type of hardware. Covid 19 brought my family more close and saved a lot of my commuting time.

Dr. Andrew Jackura (he/his)

Old Dominion University & Jefferson Lab

"Hadron Spectroscopy and Resonance" TA

I am a nuclear physicist in the lattice QCD and scattering theory communities. I am interested in multi-hadron systems from lattice QCD, focusing on three-body resonant reactions and hadronic scattering systems interacting with external currents. Multi-hadron scattering processes allow us to study the rich spectrum of QCD in an elegant and rigorous way, allowing us to disentangle the nature of the strong interaction.

Keegan Sherman (he/him)

Old Dominion University

"Hadron Spectroscopy and Resonance" TA and class-material developer

I am a nuclear physicist and I also like to play games, watch movies, and listen to music. I am currently working on the mathematical formalism required to study the structure of hadronic resonances by probing them with external currents. I love my research because I enjoy collaborating with others and the "behind the scenes" peak at the universe that studying physics provides. One thing I've enjoyed during COVID was the extra time I have to spend with my dog while working from home.


This summer school will be held virtually by the Institute for Nuclear Theory, supported by the US Department of Energy.

This summer school will be held virtually by the Institute for Nuclear Theory, supported by the US Department of Energy.