Brief Vita

• 1997-2000, PhD Experimental Nuclear Physics, University of Surrey, England
• 1992-1996, BSc (Hons) Physics with Acoustics, University of Surrey, England
• 2017-Present, Professor, University of Tennessee
• 2012-2017, Associate Professor, University of Tennessee
• 2006-2012, Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee
• 2002-2006, Post Doc, Rutgers University, working in the Nuclear Astrophysics group, ORNL
• 2000-2001, Post Doc, LAND group, GSI, Darmstadt, Germany
• 1996-1997, Assistant Consultant Engineer, Alan Saunders Associates, Winchester, England

Research

Nuclear Astrophysics/Nuclear Structure

I use direct nuclear reactions to extract information about the structure of the atomic nucleus, which can aid in understanding nucleosynthetic processes that occur in the cosmos. Many of these studies have been performed on short-lived nuclei around doubly-magic ¹³²Sn. This region is important as the nuclear shell structure influences the path of the rapid neutron capture (r-) process, which is responsible for the production of roughly half of the elements heavier than iron. Other projects I’m working on include studying resonant reactions in light neutron-deficient nuclei, important in nova nucleosynthesis and X-ray bursts. I am leading efforts to develop proton-transfer reactions to be used with radioactive ion beams and developing an advanced scintillator array for gamma-ray measurements, HAGRiD.

Links

• Experimental Nuclear Structure Physics at UT
• ORNL Nuclear Structure and Astrophysics

Creative Teaching

Dr. Jones teaches Physics 341, a requirement for all students of nuclear engineering and an upper-level physics elective. She was concerned about the lack of fit between a 1988 text and current research in the field. To remedy this, she revised the course structure to incorporate group research projects, so that students could extend the foundational material in the text by investigating and sharing current ideas and research in the field of nuclear physics.

Selected Recent Publications

Google Scholar Profile

• Structure of ¹⁰⁷Sn studied through single-neutron knockout reactions. G.Cerizza, A.Ayres, K.L.Jones, R.Grzywacz, A.Bey, C.Bingham, L.Cartegni, D.Miller, S.Padgett, T.Baugher, D.Bazin, J.S.Berryman, A.Gade, S.McDaniel, A.Ratkiewicz, A.Shore, S.R.Stroberg, D.Weisshaar, K.Wimmer, R.Winkler, S.D.Pain, K.Y.Chae, J.A.Cizewski, M.E.Howard, and J.A.Tostevin. Phys. Rev. C 93, 021601 (2016).
• Constraint of the Astrophysical ^26gAl(p, γ)²⁷Si Destruction Rate at Stellar Temperatures. S.D.Pain, D.W.Bardayan, J.C.Blackmon, S.M.Brown, K.Y.Chae, K.A.Chipps, J.A.Cizewski, K.L.Jones, R.L.Kozub, J.F.Liang, C.Matei, M.Matos, B.H.Moazen, C.D.Nesaraja, J.Okolowicz, P.D.O’Malley, W.A.Peters, S.T.Pittman, M.Ploszajczak, K.T.Schmitt, J.F.Shriner, Jr., D.Shapira, M.S.Smith, D.W.Stracener, and G.L.Wilson. Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 212501 (2015)
• The first science result with the JENSA gas-jet target: Confirmation and study of a strong subthreshold ¹⁸F(p, α)¹⁵O resonance. D.W.Bardayan, K.A.Chipps, S.Ahn, J.C.Blackmon, R.J.deBoer, U.Greife, K.L.Jones, A.Kontos, R.L.Kozub, L.Linhardt, B.Manning, M.Matos, P.D.O’Malley, S.Ota, S.D.Pain, W.A.Peters, S.T.Pittman, A.Sachs, K.T.Schmitt, M.S.Smith, and P.Thompson. Phys. Lett. B 751, 311 (2015).
• Recent Direct Reaction Experimental Studies with Radioactive Tin Beams. K.L.Jones, S.Ahn, J.M.Allmond, A.Ayres, D.W.Bardayan, T.Baugher, D.Bazin, J.S.Berryman, A.Bey, C.Bingham, L.Cartegni, G.Cerizza, K.Y.Chae, J.A.Cizewski, A.Gade, A.Galindo-Uribarri, R.F.Garcia Ruiz, R.Grzywacz, M.E.Howard, R.L.Kozub, J.F.Liang, B.Manning, M.MatoS, S.McDaniel, D.Miller, C.D.Nesaraja, P.D.O’Malley, S.Padgett, E.Padilla-Rodal, S.D.Pain, S.T.Pittman, D.C.Radford, A.Ratkiewicz, K.T.Schmitt, A.Shore, M.S.Smith, D.W.Stracener, S.R.Stroberg, J.Tostevin, R.L.Varner, D.Weisshaar, K.Wimmer, and R.Winkler. Acta Phys. Pol. B46, 537 (2015).
• Double-Magic Nature of ¹³²Sn and ²⁰⁸Pb through Lifetime and Cross-Section Measurements. J.M.Allmond, E.S.Stuchbery, J.R.Beene, A.Galindo-Uribarri, J.F.Liang, E.Padilla-Rodal, D.C.Radford, R.L.Varner, A.Ayres, J.C.Batchelder, A.Bey, C.R.Bingham, M.E.Howard, K.L.Jones, B.Manning, P.E.Mueller, C.D.Nesaraja, S.D.Pain, W.A.Peters, A.Ratkiewicz, K.T.Schmitt, D.Shapira, M.S.Smith, N.J.Stone, D.W.Stracener, and C.-H.Yu. Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 172701 (2014).