Foundations for Trapped Molecular Ion Parity-Violation Studies

This proposal describes my research and outreach plans that will provide a foundation for my academic career over the next five years. My research goals focus on developing new techniques for high-precision spectroscopy of milliKelvin (mK) trapped molecular ions. I propose two applications: (1) a laboratory search for time-variation of the electron-proton mass ratio and (2) spectroscopy of chiral molecules in order to make the first observation molecular parity violation. My educational and outreach goals are threefold: (1) development of an interactive weekend program, focused on energy Science, for intermediate school students, (2) a Junior Seminar Series course on atomic/molecular physics research and (3) a public science lecture series modeled on the Compton Lectures at University of Chicago.