Dr. Eric Hawker

Dr. HawkerAssistant Professor, Department Of Physics
Office Location: Currens Hall 520
Phone Number: (309) 298-1359
E-mail:EA-Hawker@wiu.edu

Education

  • Ph.D. – Texas A&M University, 1998
  • B. S. – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1991

Courses

  • Physics for Society - PHYS 100
  • Astronomy - PHYS 101
  • Astronomy First Year Experience - PHYS 101
  • Electricity and Magnetism - PHYS 198
  • Thermodynamics and Optics - PHYS 200
  • Modern - PHYS 201
  • Advanced Thermodynamics - PHYS 354
  • Seminar - PHYS 490

Research Interests

I have been involved with nuclear/particle research for over 10 years on two experiments run at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. My thesis experiment (FNAL E866/NuSEA) was to measure the down anti-quark to up anti-quark ratio in the nucleon. The focus of my analysis for my thesis was the calculation of the ratio of proton-proton to proton-deuterium Drell-Yan cross sections, which allowed the extraction of the down anti-quark to up anti-quark ratio.
After receiving my Ph.D., I joined the MiniBooNE experiment. The main goal of MiniBooNE is to confirm or refute the LSND neutrino oscillation result. Since joining I have worked on many important aspects of MiniBooNE, including:
  • detector design and construction
  • upgrades to the GEANT based neutrino beam simulation
  • responsibility for the on-site testing, transport, safety aspects and quality control for the 250,000 gallons of mineral oil used as the neutrino target for MiniBooNE
  • studies and improvements of the neutrino interaction simulation
I am currently part of the neutrino cross section group on MiniBooNE. This group is responsible for the models, simulations, and systematic uncertainties related to the neutrino interactions studied my MiniBooNE. This group is involved in all MiniBooNE analyses of neutrino data. As a member of the cross section group, my re-analysis of Gargamelle neutrino results has proved to be important in validating neutral current pion production models, which is vital since neutral current neutral pion production is an important background to the MiniBooNE oscillation search.
To complement my work on MiniBooNE I have been involved with other projects. I was a member of the organizing committee for the Fermilab Report on ``Physics at a Neutrino Factory''. At the Snowmass 2001 conference I was involved with the Young Physicists Panel and was an author on its survey.