Dr. Benjamin Crider is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Mississippi State University. His research focuses on experimentally studying the structure of atomic nuclei with large (or small) proton-to-neutron ratios. These so-called “exotic” nuclei often display many unexpected properties and exist for a short amount of time before decaying. Therefore, his research program is currently focused on performing experiments at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) using decay spectroscopy and a variety of radiation detection systems.

• Curriculum Vitae

Graduate Students

• Stephan Vajdic, PhD TBD
• Olalekan Abdul Shehu, MS TBD, PhD TBD
• Timilehin "Timmy" Ogunbeku, MS TBD, PhD TBD

Teaching Areas

• PH 1133 General Physics III
• PH 4113/6113 Electronics Circuits for Scientists
• PH 4143/6143 Intermediate Laboratory
• PH 4152 Modern Physics Laboratory

Education

• Ph. D. Physics, University of Kentucky, 2014
• M.S. Physics, University of Kentucky, 2009
• B.S. Physics, University of Richmond, 2006
• B.S. Mathematics, University of Richmond, 2006

Experience

• 2023-present: Associate Professor, Mississippi State University
• 2017-2023: Assistant Professor, Mississippi State University
• 2014-2017: Research Associate, National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory
• 2008-2014: Research Assistant, University of Kentucky
• 2006-2008: Teaching Assistant, University of Kentucky
• 2003-2006: Tae Kwon Do instructor
• Computer languages: Python, Java, C, C++, Fortran, and HTML/CSS
• Graphics and Simulation Tools: Matematica, MATLAB, Maple, GEANT4, LATEX
• Wrote the Kmax-based data acquistion systems currently in use at the University of Kentucky Accelerator Laboratory

Research Interests

• Structure of atomic nuclei

Recent Publications

• Benchmarking the extraction of statistical neutron capture cross sections on short-lived nuclei for applications using the b-Oslo method S.N.Liddick, A.C.Larsen, M.Guttormsen, A.Spyrou, B.P.Crider, F.Naqvi, J.E.Midtbo, F.L.Bello Garrote, D.L.Bleuel, L.Crespo Campo, A.Couture, A.C.Dombos, F.Giacoppo, A.Gorgen, K.Hadynska-Klek, T.W.Hagen, V.W.Ingeberg, B.V.Kheswa, R.Lewis, S.Mosby, G.Perdikakis, C.J.Prokop, S.J.Quinn, T.Renstrom, S.J.Rose, E.Sahin, S.Siem, G.M.Tveten, M.Wiedeking, F.Zeiser, Phys.Rev. C 100, 024624 (2019)
• Co b-decay strength distributions from total absorption spectroscopy S.Lyons, A.Spyrou, S.N.Liddick, F.Naqvi, B.P.Crider, A.C.Dombos, D.L.Bleuel, B.A.Brown, A.Couture, L.Crespo Campo, J.Engel, M.Guttormsen, A.C.Larsen, R.Lewis, P.Moller, S.Mosby, M.R.Mumpower, E.M.Ney, A.Palmisano, G.Perdikakis, C.J.Prokop, T.Renstrom, S.Siem, M.K.Smith, S.J.Quinn, Phys.Rev. C 100, 025806 (2019)
• Inelastic neutron scattering studies of Se S. Mukhopadhyay, B. P. Crider, B.A.Brown, A.Chakraborty, A.Kumar, M.T.McEllistrem, E.E.Peters, F.M.Prados-Estevez, S.W.Yates, Phys. Rev. C 99, 014313 (2019)
• Nuclear structure of Ge from inelastic neutron scattering measurements and shell model calculations S. Mukhopadhyay, B. P. Crider, B. A. Brown, S. F. Ashley, A. Chakraborty, A. Kumar, M. T. McEllistrem, E. E. Peters, F. M. Prados-Estevez, and S. W. Yates, Phys. Rev. C ´ 95, 014327 (2017)
• Neutron-capture rates for explosive nucelosynthesis: the case of Ni(n,g)Ni A. Spyrou, A. C. Larsen, S. N. Liddick, F. Naqvi, B. P. Crider, A. C. Dombos, M. Guttormsen, D. L. Bleuel, A. Couture, L. Crespo Campo, R. Lewis, S. Mosby, M. R. Mumpower, G. Perdikakis, C. J. Prokop, S. J. Quinn, T. Renstrom, S. Siem, R. Surman, J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 44 044002 (2017)

Honors/Professional Activities

• 2018 FRIB Visiting Scholar
• 2018 Department of Physics and Astronomy Diversity Committee Chair
• 2014-2016 Nuclear Science and Security Consortium Postdoctoral Fellow
• 2013 Marcus T. McEllistrem Summer Fellowship Award
• 2011 Fourteenth International Symposium on Capture Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy and Related Topics award for best poster presentation