Rijeesh Keloth

Rijeesh Keloth is a Research Scientist in the Department of Physics at Virginia Tech’s College of Science, Blacksburg, VA. His work centers on experimental particle physics, particularly in neutrino physics and dark matter detection. He is actively involved in major international experiments including DUNE, DarkSide-20K, SoLid, and ProtoDUNE.

His research focuses on neutrino oscillations, sterile neutrino searches, and detector instrumentation, especially in liquid argon time projection chambers. He has led critical roles in data quality and operations in the SoLid experiment and contributes to hardware design for DarkSide-20K. His expertise spans simulation, data analysis, and real-time system monitoring.

Rijeesh earned his Ph.D. from Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), where his thesis received the Best Thesis Award in 2019. He has mentored undergraduate and graduate students at institutions like Malabar Christian College and IIT Hyderabad, and has co-taught advanced physics courses including Quantum Mechanics and Electrodynamics.

He has received recognition through awards such as the Second Place Poster Award at the 11th International Neutrino Summer School and is a qualified UGC-CSIR NET lecturer. His outreach includes public speaking, science writing for online magazines like LUCA, authoring science books in Malayalam, and guiding dignitaries at Fermilab.

• Best Ph.D. thesis award 2019 - Dept. of Physics, Cochin University of Science and Technology
• Second place poster award - 11th International Neutrino Summer School 2017 (INSS), Fermilab
• Qualified National Eligibility Test (NET) for Lecturership - UGC-CSIR, INDIA (December 2010)

Rijeesh has advised and mentored multiple students across institutions, providing day-to-day research support and co-guiding master’s and B.Sc. projects. He has been a teaching fellow and co-instructor in advanced physics courses. He is actively involved in scientific collaborations and leadership, serving as Data Manager and Data Quality Group Convener for the SoLid experiment.

He is a member of the Neutrino Social Organizing Committee (NSOC) at Fermilab and contributes to public science engagement through writing, workshops, and invited talks. His technical skills include C++, Python, Bash, and multivariate data analysis tools. He is also the author of two educational books on ‘Light’ and ‘Basic Electronics’ for high school students in Malayalam.