Whitney is a scientist in the field of nuclear physics with the aim to understand the dynamics of Quantum Chromo-dynamics (QCD) in hadrons and nuclei.

Currently constructing a new detector for experiments to probing the quark and gluon structure of light nuclei. The new detector is a low energy recoil tracker (ALERT)  and the experimental program will use the 11 GeV polarized electron beam at Jefferson Lab and the CLAS12 detector in Hall B. Whitney is responsible for the ALERT time-of-flight particle identification system (ATOF) which surrounds a drift chamber.

Whitney is also involved the development of superconducting nanowire particle detectors for applications in nuclear physics. The Electron-Ion Collider is one area where superconducting nanowire detectors could have a high impact and recent efforts are focused on developing sensors with hybrid cryogenic readout electronics for large scale applications.  See the Superconducting Nanowire Detector R&D page for more information.

With the Electron Ion Collider project ramping up, Whitney has developed detector simulations for the Athena EIC detector proposal, much of which has become the core toolkit for the EPIC collaboration.