L. Arielle Phillips, research assistant professor in the Department of Physics, has been named assistant dean in the College of Science.
Phillips will work closely with Associate Dean Sister Kathleen Cannon, OP, D. Min., who advises students in the science-education, science-business, and science computing majors. She will also advise Interim Dean Michael Hildreth, as well the future dean, on matters related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“Supporting students as they go through their journeys is something that I have done since I was an undergraduate, when I was a student peer advisor and president of the student physics society,” Phillips said.
Phillips was recently named a fellow of the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP), partly in recognition for her work founding an algebra-based physics program at the Westville Correctional Facility. The courses and laboratories are part of the Moreau College Initiative, a liberals arts program where students can obtain a degree from Holy Cross College.
She has been an assistant research professor at Notre Dame since 2009, and earned her undergraduate degree in honors physics, with a minor in mathematics, from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and her doctoral degree in astrophysical sciences from Princeton.
Her research has led her to develop tools to find and characterize structure, specifically filaments, clusters and voids, in large scale simulations and large data sets, to explore its effect on the evolution of galaxies. Her group has built a framework of large scale simulations and computational astrophysics tools to probe dark matter and dark energy models.
She is looking forward to continuing her work with Sr. Cannon, whom she has assisted previously with study abroad opportunities.
“I’m excited about my new role,” Phillips said. “I’ve always enjoyed this type of work, advising students, analyzing how these programs work, and thinking of ways to enhance them.”