Diane M Markoff

Dr. Markoff is a professor of physics in the Department of Mathematics and Physics at NCCU. The primary courses she teaches include Fundamentals of Physics I and II for Scientists and Pre-Engineers, Modern Physics, and Introduction to Quantum Mechanics. Additional courses include a graduate course in nuclear and particle physics. Dr. Markoff supervises undergraduate and graduate students in research projects for course credit (PHYS 4800 and PHYS 5800) and through grant-supported stipends.

She has earned the following degrees: a Ph.D. in Physics (Experimental Nuclear Physics), an M.S. in Nuclear Engineering (Reactor Analysis), a B.S. in Engineering Physics (Nuclear Engineering), and a B.A. in Applied Mathematics.

Dr. Markoff's current research includes low-energy experimental nuclear and neutrino physics. Her primary research involves studying neutrino-nucleus scattering in various target materials. She is an active member of the COHERENT collaboration, which carries out these studies in detector systems deployed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). A secondary research area is the measurement of neutrino-less double beta decay, a rare decay mode that if discovered will reveal important properties of the neutrino particle. This work is carried out by the KamLAND-Zen collaboration, which is currently upgrading the detector system located in a mine in the Japanese Alps. Dr. Markoff’s research work is carried out on the day-to-day level at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) located on the Duke University campus. Experiments at TUNL include measuring Compton scattering on liquid cryogenic targets, quenching factor measurements to characterize detector materials for neutrino and dark matter experiments, and few-body cross-section measurements.