Edward O'Brien

Edward O'Brien serves as Distinguished Scientist and Assistant Chair of the Physics Department at Brookhaven National Laboratory, where he is a key member of the sPHENIX Group and former Director of the sPHENIX project.

His educational background includes:

• BA in Physics from University of Virginia (1980)
• MS in Physics from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1981)
• PhD in Physics from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1987)

As a Nuclear Physics Experimentalist, Dr. O'Brien specializes in Relativistic Heavy Ion physics and conducts critical R&D on nuclear physics detector technologies. His work advances fundamental understanding of quark-gluon plasma and subatomic particle interactions through large-scale experimental collaborations.

His distinguished recognition includes:

• American Physical Society Fellow (2008)
• BNL S&T Pinnacle Award (2024)

Dr. O'Brien leads instrumentation development for the sPHENIX experiment at RHIC, focusing on cutting-edge detector systems for high-energy nuclear collision studies. His technical leadership spans project management, hardware innovation, and data analysis frameworks within international particle physics collaborations.