Bio:
Naoko Kurahashi Neilson is a Professor in the Department of Physics at Drexel University. Professor Kurahashi Neilson's research centers on high-energy neutrinos, high-energy particle astrophysics and particle physics. Kurahashi Neilson's efforts are mainly involved in the IceCube South Pole Neutrino Observatory. She also contributes to BL3, a next-generation beam neutron lifetime experiment, and P-ONE, the Pacific Ocean Neutrino Observatory, an ocean neutrino telescope. Kurahashi Neilson earned her PhD by listening acoustically to extremely high-energy neutrinos in the Bahamian ocean. Her research group at Drexel works to resolve high-energy neutrino sources in the sky.
Professor Kurahashi Neilson received the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award, Towards the First Astronomical Catalog of Neutrino Sources. This NSF award will support the development of a new channel of source localization analysis using IceCube data –namely cascade events– independent of the ones used in traditional source searches. She is among the junior physics faculty featured in the Symmetry magazine story, Get to know 10 early-career experimentalists. Kurahashi Neilson, who often gives public-facing talks about her research, is passionate about education, outreach and access to science at every level —including grades K-12, the general public and other segments— and is a dedicated advocate for diversity in physics.
On October 4, 2024, Dr. Kurahashi Neilson was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society for outstanding contributions and leadership in experimental neutrino physics to produce the first neutrino map of the Milky Way, and for strong service to improve the culture for women in physics, including the development of an active community of mid-career women in large physics collaborations.