Laboratory of Exotic Molecules and Atoms

Ronald Fernando Garcia Ruiz

Office: 26-427

Department of Physics

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue. Cambridge, MA

Phone: +1 (617) 253 8085

rgarciar@mit.edu

​

Prof. Ronald Fernando Garcia Ruiz is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics at MIT. His research actives are focused on the development of laser spectroscopy techniques to investigate the properties of subatomic particles using atoms and molecules made up of short-lived radioactive nuclei. His experimental work provides unique information about the fundamental forces of nature, the properties of nuclear matter at the limits of existence, and the search for new physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics.

​

Ronald grew up in a small town in the Colombian mountains. As a teenager he moved to Bogota, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in physics in 2009 at Universidad Nacional de Colombia. After earning a Master’s degree in Physics in 2011 at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, he moved to Belgium to start his PhD degree at KU Leuven. Ronald was based at CERN during most of his PhD working on laser spectroscopy techniques for the study of short-lived atomic nuclei. After his PhD, he became a Research Associate at The University of Manchester (2016-2017). In 2018, he was awarded a CERN Research Fellowship to lead the local CRIS team. At CERN, he has led several experimental programmes motivated by modern developments in nuclear science, atomic physics and quantum chemistry.

​

Fellowships & Awards

• National Academic Award in Science, Alejandro Angel Escobar Prize, Colombia 2021

• DOE Early Career Award 2020

• 2020 FRIB visiting scholar award

• 2020 Fundamental Physics and Innovation award - Convening award - Gordon & Betty Moore

• 2019 MISTI Global Seed Fund award

• 2018 – 2019 CERN Research Fellowship. CERN, Switzerland

• 2018 IOP Nuclear Physics Group Early Career Prize. Institute of Physics (IOP), UK.

• 2018 Best PhD Thesis prize (period 2015-2017.) Nuclear Physics Division of the European Physical Society (EPS).

• 2011 – 2015 PhD scholarship. KU Leuven, Belgium.

• 2009 – 2011 Graduate Studies Fellowship. National Congress of Sci. and Tech. CONACYT, Mexico.

• 2008 – 2008 Summer student scholarship. ORNL, USA.

• 2006 – 2009  Undergraduate fellowship -
  Department of Physics. Univ. Nacional de Colombia.

Administrative Assistant

Graduate Students @ MIT

​

Technical Support

Ernest Ihloff
eihloff@mit.edu
Bates Research and Engineering BATES, MIT
Principal Research Engineer

Danielle Petterson
dsp759@mit.edu
Mechanical Design Engineer
BATES, MIT
Principal Research Engineer

Christopher J Vidal
cvidal@mit.edu
Senior Mechanical Designer
BATES, MIT
Principal Research Engineer

Undergraduate Students

​

Juntian Tu

University of California, Santa Barbara

 juntian@ucsb.edu 

Santa Barbara, US

María Paula Montes Bejarano
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
mpmontesb@unal.edu.co
Bogotá, Colombia

LASER SPECTROSCOPY AT RADIOACTIVE BEAM FACILITIES

CRIS Collaboration @ CERN

COLLAPS Collaboration @ CERN

Former Members

Graduates

Cory Binnersley (PhD co-supervisor)

The University of Manchester

cory.binnersley@manchester.ac.uk‎

Room 4.18 Schuster Laboratory 

Manchester, UK.

​

Agi Koszorus (PhD co-supervisor)

KU Leuven

agi.koszorus@kuleuven.be

CERN, Geneva 1211

Geneva, Switzerland 

​

Christopher Ricketts (PhD co-supervisor)

The University of Manchester

christopher.ricketts@manchester.ac.uk‎

CERN, Geneva 1211

Geneva, Switzerland 

Undergraduates

Kunal Gupta  
ph1170826@iitd.ac.in

Indian Institute of Technology

Delhi, India

​

Parashar Mohapatra
pm2399@uw.edu
University of Washington
Seattle WA, US

​

Aydan Pirani
aydanpirani@gmail.com

Evergreen Valley High School

San Jose, CA, US

​

Fredrik Parnefjord Gustafsson ( PhD co-supervisor)

KU Leuven

fredrik.parnefjord.gustafsson@cern.ch

CERN, Geneva 1211

Geneva, Switzerland 

​

Jeong Min Kong Jeong.Kong@mail.utoronto.ca
University of Toronto
Toronto, Canada