Ph.D. Alum Tyler Johnson Awarded the 2025 Springer Thesis Prize
Tyler Johnson is currently a postdoctoral associate at Yale University. (Photo courtesy of Yale Wright Laboratory/Victoria Misenti)
Duke Physics Ph.D. alum Tyler Johnson was awarded the 2025 Springer Thesis Prize.
Johnson’s award-winning thesis, “The First Indication of Neutrino-Induced Nuclear Fission,” will be published in a book series called “Springer Theses”.
The series “Springer Theses” brings together a selection of the very best Ph.D. theses from around the world and across the physical sciences. The work reported in the thesis must represent a significant scientific advance.
Johnson’s thesis, which was conducted under advising by Associate Professor of Physics Phillip Barbeau, reports the findings from several thousand hours of data collected by the NuThor neutrino-induced nuclear fission detector, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, over the course of three science runs. The thesis reports a comprehensive account of the experiment from early concepts to a full-fledged analysis. A statistical analysis of the collected Science Run 2 data results in a 2.4σ rejection of the null hypothesis.
Johnson said, “I’m honored that my thesis was selected for the Springer Thesis Prize. It couldn’t have happened without the support of my Ph.D. mentor Phil Barbeau and the COHERENT collaboration.”
Johnson continued, “I hope the work highlights the spirit of saying ‘why not?’ and pursuing fun, strange problems in physics.”
Johnson is currently a postdoctoral associate at Wright Lab, where he works with professor Reina Maruyama’s group on the RAY experiment. The group is contributing to the search for axion dark matter.
