Dr. Cristiano Fanelli Awarded Prestigious NSF Early Career Award for AI-Driven Nuclear Physics Research

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Dr. Cristiano Fanelli a highly competitive Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award in recognition of his innovative research at the intersection of nuclear physics and artificial intelligence. His project, Advancing Precision Nucleon Tomography through Deep Learning and Uncertainty Quantification, aims to unlock new insights into the fundamental building blocks of matter.

Understanding the internal structure of protons and neutrons-collectively known as nucleons-remains one of the central challenges in nuclear physics. Dr. Fanelli’s research will create a three-dimensional map of how quarks and gluons move and interact within nucleons drawing on experimental data from Jefferson Lab and preparing for future experiments at the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). His team applies advanced deep learning and statistical methods to enable precision measurements and rigorously quantify uncertainty in complex datasets.

 

The project also supports national priorities in nuclear science and AI integration, as outlined by the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee. It will train students in physics and data science, develop reusable tools for analyzing high-dimensional data, and produce accessible educational resources through workshops and tutorials. Notably, AI methods pioneered by Dr. Fanelli’s group have already demonstrated broader impact, including applications in detecting social media bots.

Through this work, Dr. Fanelli will reveal how quarks and gluons are distributed inside nucleons, shedding light on their intricate dynamics and advancing our understanding of how matter is built at the most fundamental level. By leveraging deep learning tools for uncertainty quantification and particle reconstruction, his research will push the frontiers of precision measurements and open new windows into the strong force that holds quarks and gluons together inside nucleons, giving rise to the majority of the ordinary matter that makes up the visible universe.

The NSF CAREER Award is one of the most prestigious honors for early-career faculty, recognizing those who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, education, and leadership.