General Lab Information

Ejiro Umaka

Physics Department

Ejiro Umaka

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Physics Department
Bldg. 510C
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000

(631) 344-3627
eumaka1@bnl.gov

I am a Research Associate in experimental high-energy nuclear physics, specializing in jet measurements and collective flow observables in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. My research spans detector construction and calibration (sPHENIX HCAL, ZDC, and sEPD), global reconstruction and analysis leadership, and the development of next-generation streaming workflows for the future ePIC detector at the EIC.

Research | Education | Appointments | Awards | Video


Research Activities

Current Activities:

  • sPHENIX experiment: Advancing the study of jet quenching and flow observables to probe the quark–gluon plasma. Lead efforts in global reconstruction and analysis coordination.
  • ePIC experiment: Developing the streaming workflow testbed to enable next-generation real-time data processing.

Education

  • M.S & Ph.D in High Energy Nuclear Physics, University of Houston, Houston TX, 2020
  • B.S. in Biology & Physics, University of Houston, Houston TX, 2014

Professional Appointments

Professional Appointments & Service:

  • Detector Working Group Lead / Zero Degree Calorimeter (ZDC) Expert, sPHENIX (2023-2025)
  • Committee member: sPHENIX Publication Board, sPHENIX By-laws Committee (2022–2025).
  • Elected leadership: Co-chair, sPHENIX Juniors (2022–2024); Co-chair, ALICE Juniors Committee (2020).

Awards & Recognition

  • Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2025), awarded collectively to ALICE Collaboration for advancing understanding of QCD matter.
  • Certificate of Congressional Recognition (2025), presented by office of Rep. Nick LaLota (NY-01) for representing BNL at the National Lab Research SLAM..
  • 1st Place, BNL Research SLAM (2024) for public presentation of my research on sPHENIX 
  • sPHENIX Hero Award (2023), for key contributions to detector calibration and operations.
  • CEU23 Mentors Award (APS/PSJ, 2023), recognizing outstanding mentoring of undergraduate researchers.

Featured Video

  • Ejiro Umaka - "Jetting through the Big Bang's quark soup"

    April 4, 2025

    Ejiro Umaka, BNL - "Jetting through the Big Bang's quark soup" | National Lab Research SLAM

Featured: Research SLAM presentation on probing the quark–gluon plasma with jets.

Ejiro Umaka

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Physics Department
Bldg. 510C
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000

(631) 344-3627
eumaka1@bnl.gov

Ejiro's Links