Earlier this week, a number Jesuit students were surprised to hear that they would be heading to the theater for the final period of the day. Professor Ricardo Eusebi, from the Texas A&M Physics & Astronomy department, prepared an electrifying presentation on Einstein’s theory of relativity. Dr. Eusebi’s expertise and humor found a way to connect with every student in the theater and bring them a very special experience.
A Background on Dr. Eusebi
Currently, Dr. Eusebi is a Professor of Physics at Texas A&M University and a member of the Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy in that department. He currently co-leads a team of more than 30 Texas A&M scientists working on the CMS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, the highest-energy particle accelerator in the world.
He received his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester, while simultaneously working at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Chicago, the highest-energy particle accelerator in the world at that time, and obtained the prestigious Lederman Fellowship. Dr. Eusebi worked on particle accelerators alongside Jesuit Dallas’s own Dr. Shulamit Moed, who invited him to present.
“I had the privilege of working closely with Professor Eusebi when he was a Wilson Fellow at Fermilab (a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship), and I was a graduate student based there for my research. We both worked on analyses that involved the W boson, and therefore we shared a lot of our analysis framework. In terms of running the experiments, we were both members of the CDF Silicon Tracker. Right from the beginning, it was easy to recognize how wonderful Professor Eusebi is as a mentor. I cannot count the number of hours we spent writing and debugging code, or fixing parts of the Silicon tracker during breaks for underground access. There are many times in scientific life when exhaustion and pressure can take over: you are running a complicated and expensive experiment under time constraints, and at the same time you are working toward breakthrough publications. For me, Professor Eusebi was the exact kind of colleague one would want to have around in such an environment. He radiates and emphasizes the joy of the process, and he appreciates our growth as scientists who are lucky to produce original work and make discoveries.” – Dr. Shulamit Moed
The Presentation
Professor Eusebi’s presentation introduced Jesuit students to the theory of relativity. Although working with a confusing and difficult topic, Dr. Eusebi found a way to make it approachable and interesting for every student. It was a pure experience of academic curiosity to learn about some of the most interesting physics concepts.
“The fact that Jesuit students are exposed to science from such an internationally recognized scientist, who values outreach and loves to interact with young students and spread the love of the scientific method, is precious. I got an overwhelming number of comments about how great it was to listen to a lecture with pure interest and an open mind, and some even expressed the wish to explore fundamental research as a future career. That was truly the intention of this presentation. We are all so thankful for Professor Eusebi for taking the time to come to Jesuit and hope he makes it a tradition!” – Dr. Moed
“Professor Eusebi’s talk on relativity allowed me to see physics in a different way.” – Ryan Beaudoin ’23
Conclusion
Thankfully, this experience was wonderful for our students to have. After the presentation, I was so deep in thought from all of the interesting concepts that Professor Eusebi presented in such a charming way. His talk has opened up a new world for our Jesuit community to view our search for knowledge in a new, inspiring way. I am so thankful that our school had this opportunity.