MSE Seminar Series: Dr. Shawn Westerdale (UCR)

Flyer: Dark Material Science and Engineering

Abstract: Over the last century, cosmological and astrophysical measurements have consistently and clearly told us one thing, which we cannot explain: we do not know what the universe is made of or how it got here. 85% of the mass of all matter in the universe is made of dark matter, which exerts gravitational influence on galaxies and holds the universe together but cannot be explained by the Standard Model of particle physics. In order to figure out what the universe is made of on a fundamental level, new detectors are needed to measure the rarest, often extremely faint, interactions that nature can throw at us. Designing these detectors requires identifying materials that can instrument detectors the size of an office with precise control of detector performance. In this talk, we will discuss the material challenges that stand between us and understanding the makeup of the universe.