KU Physics Doctoral Student Selected for the DOE-INFN Fellowship to Support Electron-Ion Collider Research
LAWRENCE — Anna Binoy, a doctoral student in the physics Ph.D. program at the University of Kansas, has been selected for the DOE-INFN Summer Student Exchange Program, an international fellowship supporting research in fundamental physics.
Binoy, who is from Kerala, India, is one of only 11 students nationwide chosen for the 2026 program, which is jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and Italy’s Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN). The program enables U.S. students to collaborate with leading scientists at INFN laboratories across Italy.
As part of the fellowship, she will spend September and October 2026 in Bologna, Italy, working with an INFN research team on advanced particle detector technologies.
Her project, “EPIC – Fast and intelligent methods for the reconstruction of the ePIC dRICH beam test data,” focuses on developing modern computational and artificial intelligence–driven techniques to improve how data are processed from particle detectors. The work contributes to the ePIC detector, a central experiment planned for the future Electron-Ion Collider.
The Electron-Ion Collider, a U.S. Department of Energy project with an estimated cost of $2 billion, will be built at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York. The facility will collide electrons with protons and atomic nuclei to reveal how quarks and gluons form the building blocks of matter, addressing fundamental questions about the origin of mass and the internal structure of visible matter in the universe.
Binoy’s research focuses on improving reconstruction of data from the dual-radiator Ring Imaging Cherenkov (dRICH) detector, a key component of the ePIC experiment that enables precise particle identification.
“Anna’s selection reflects both her talent and the strength of her work in advanced data analysis,” said Daniel Tapia Takaki, professor of physics and her doctoral advisor. “Her contributions are directly relevant to the Electron-Ion Collider, and this experience will allow her to collaborate with international experts on a project of major scientific importance.”
Binoy’s selection continues a pattern of success for KU students in the program. In 2024, graduate student Amrit Gautam was also awarded the DOE-INFN fellowship, highlighting KU’s growing presence in international nuclear physics collaborations.
The exchange program promotes collaboration between the United States and Italy in areas including particle physics, nuclear physics and detector development. INFN is a global leader in fundamental physics research and a key partner in major international experiments.
KU researchers are actively involved in the Electron-Ion Collider, contributing to the design and construction of advanced instruments that detect and identify highly energetic particles.
Binoy’s participation is another example of KU’s role in advancing one of the most significant scientific projects of the coming decades while training students to contribute to US-led large-scale international research efforts.