By Ashley Yeager

Physics grad student Georgios Laskaris, left, and Haiyan Gao, the chair of Duke's physics department, right, work on an experiment to look for a new force of nature. Credit: Megan Morr, Duke Photography.

More than 20 years after Haiyan Gao began her work on the neutron, she is hosting the Symposium on Electroweak Nuclear Physics at Duke to celebrate Caltech physicist Robert McKeown’s influence on her and others in nuclear physics.

The event will also honor his achievements in the field and celebrate his sixtieth birthday. The conference will be held March 8-9 in the French Family Science Center. Click here for a full schedule of the talks. Physicist Steve Koonin will also give a public lecture on addressing the nation’s energy issues as part of the symposium.

Gao will present her latest research, describing how she and her collaborators are identifying the factors that cause a neutron to spin. Other leading scientists will present their research on protons, neutrinos, dark matter and more exotic particles, such as free quarks and dark photons.

You can read more about Gao’s work in Duke Today.