Vince Cianciolo

Bio

I was born and raised in the suburbs of Detroit and went to school at the University of Michigan and MIT. I've been in the ORNL Physics Division since 1997, initially working on the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Since 2009 my work has focused on the development of an experiment to measure the neutron's electric dipole moment (nEDM) at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). The goal of nEDM experiments is to determine the degree to which the neutron's charge distribution is not perfectly round - which is curiously related to the (unknown) reason that matter exists in the Universe. For many years the only place to make nEDM measurements was at ORNL; the first was in 1950 at the Graphite Reactor. ORNL, specifically the SNS, is the perfect place to mount a new experiment that takes advantage of a nearly miraculous confluence of liquid Helium properties. The goal of our collaboration (~ 50 scientists at ~ 20 institutions) is to make a measurement of the nEDM that is a factor of 100 more precise than the current best measurement. For scale - if the neutron were the size of the earth our goal would be to determine the difference between the polar and equatorial diameters to a precision of 40 nanometers.My interests outside of work include keeping up with my wife and kids, construction work for Habitat for Humanity, hiking and craft beer (these days drinking more than brewing).

Awards

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers 2001
“For innovative definition of a unique measurement program for an experiment on the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and leadership in organizing and designing a principal detector that has been implemented at the facility”

Lockheed Martin Technical Achievement Award 1999
“For innovative definition of a unique measurement program for an experiment on the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and leadership in organizing and designing a principal detector that has been implemented at the facility”