Mark C. Kruse

Prof. Mark Kruse's research is in the area of High-Energy Particle Physics, where his primary focus is on the analysis of data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). With the Higgs boson now discovered by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations (in July 2012) his main interest is now directed toward discovering what model of the Universe exists beyond our Standard Model. There are many reasons to believe in a theory beyond the Standard Model. Perhaps the most easily apparent is the existence of Dark Matter, which the Standard Model has no particle candidate for. To this end Prof. Kruse's group are developing a global search technique for new physics beyond the Standard Model (in the belief that we likely haven't thought of what might exist!). Prof. Kruse is also coordinating an effort at Duke for the building of the next generation of ATLAS silicon tracking detectors for the so-called phase II ATLAS upgrade scheduled for around 2025.