Joel Sander

I am a physicist and teacher who is especially interested in discovering new physics, especial detection of dark matter.

Teaching physics is my opportunity to show how amazing it is that the universe can be understood and explained. Teaching opens the door for future scientists to realize for themselves the prospect and excitement of making their own contribution to human knowledge and understanding.

One of my chief goals as a physicist is to reach out to engage the next generation and help to kindle their interest. I'm interested in helping students see how physics connects to their every day life and how physics can help them obtain their career goals.

I've been fortunate that my teachers have demonstrated some of the keys to successful teaching: enthusiasm, patience, and creativity. I'm passionate about physics and passionate for my students to do well. I'm more than willing to go over the same "stubborn" concept. I'm always looking for a new creative way to inspire learning.

I’m interested in underground rare event searches most notably direct detection of dark matter in the form of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) as well as developing and prototyping novel detector designs for next generation searches.

I currently am a member of SuperCDMS, a collaboration attempting to observe as-yet undetected WIMP interactions in Ge and Si crystals. SuperCDMS attempts to detect WIMP interactions by observing the phonon (sound) and ionization signals resulting when a WIMP scatters off a nucleus in a detector. A WIMP scatter is expected to deposit energy similar to that of a single x-ray. The primary challenge is WIMP detection is the "needle in a haystack" challenge of distinguishing a WIMP interaction from the millions of times larger background.

Citations listed below are presented in a standardized, modified format for display purposes only. They do not necessarily reflect the preferred style and conventions of the faculty member or discipline.

Sander, Joel. Light dark matter constraints from SuperCDMS HVeV detectors operated underground with an anticoincidence event selection. Vol. 111, Iss. 012006 Physical Review D, 2025. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.111.012006)
Liu, Jing, Sander, Joel, Bock, Conan, Ding, Ding, COHERENT Collaboration, and . Measurement of Electron-Neutrino Charged-Current Cross Sections on I-127 with the COHERENT NaIνE Detector. Vol. 130, Iss. 051803 Phys. Rev. Lett, 2023. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.051803)
Liu, Jing, Sander, Joel, Bock, Conan, Chernyak D., Ding, Ding, COHERENT Collaboration, and . First Probe of Sub-GeV Dark Matter beyond the Cosmological Expectation with the COHERENT CsI Detector at the SNS. Vol. 130, Iss. 051803 Phys. Rev. Lett, 2023. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.051803)
Adari, Prakruth, Aguilar-Arevalo, Alexis A., Amidei, Dante, Angloher, G., Armengaud, Eric, Augier, C., Balogh, Levente, Banik, S., Baxter, David, Beaufort, C., Beaulieu, G., Belov, V., Ben Gal, Y., Benato, Giovanni, Benoît, Alain, Bento, Antonio, Bergé, Laurent, Bertolini, Andrea, Bhattacharyya, R., Billard, J., Bloch, Itay M., Botti, A., Breier, Robert, Bres, G., Bret, J-.L., Broniatowski, A., Brossard, Alexis, Bucci, Carlo, Bunker, Raymond, Cababie, M., Calvo, M., Camus, P., Cancelo, G., Canonica, Lucia, Cappella, Fabio, Cardani, Laura, Caron, Jean-François, Casali, N., del Castello, G., Cazes, Aurélie, Cerulli, Riccardo, Cervantes Vergara, B.A., Chaize, D., Chapellier, M., Chaplinsky, L., Charlieux, F., Chaudhuri, M., Chavarria, Alvaro E., Chemin, G., Chen, Ran, Chen, Hao, Chierchie, F., Colantoni, I., Colas, J., Cooley, Jodi, Coquillat, Jean-Marie, Corcoran, Emily, Crawford, S., Crisler, Michael, Cruciani, Angelo, Cushman, Priscilla, D'Addabbo, Antonio, D'Olivo, Juan C., Dastgheibi-Fard, A., De Jésus, Maria, Deng, Y., Dent, James, Depaoli, Eliana, Dering, Koby, Dharani, Sukeerthi, Di Lorenzo, S., Drlica-Wagner, Alex, Dumoulin, Louis, Durnford, Daniel, Dutta, Bhaskar, Einfalt, L., Erb, Anna, Erhart, A., Essig, Rouven, Estrada, Juan, Etzion, Erez, Exshaw, O., Favela-Perez, F., von Feilitzsch, F., Fernandez Moroni, Guillermo, Ferreiro Iachellini, Nahuel, Ferriol, S., Fichtinger, S., Figueroa-Feliciano, Enectalí, Filippini, J.-B., Filosofov, Dmitry, Formaggio, Joseph A., Friedl, Markus, Fuard, S., Fuchs, Dominik, Fuss, Alexander, Gaïor, R., Garai, Abhijit, Garrah, Carter, Gascon, J., Gerbier, Gilles, Ghaith, Muad, Ghete, V. M., Gift, Daniel, Giomataris, I., Giroux, Guillaume, Giuliani, A., Gorel, Pierre, Gorla, Paolo, Goupy, C., Goupy, J., Goy, C., Gros, M., Gros, Philippe, Guardincerri, Yann, Guerin, C., Guidi, Vincenzo, Guillaudin, O., Gupta, S., Guy, E., Harrington, Patrick, Hauff, D., Heine, S. T., Hertel, Scott A., Holland, Stephen, Hong, Z., Hoppe, Eric W., Hossbach, Todd W., Ianigro, J.-C., Iyer, Vivek, Jastram, Andrew, Ješkovský, Miroslav, Jin, Y., Jochum, Josef, Johnston, J. P., Juillard, A., Karaivanov, Dimitar, Kashyap, V., Katsioulas, Ioannis, Kazarcev, S., Kaznacheeva, Margarita, Kelly, Fiona, Kilminster, B., Kinast, Angelina, Klinkenberg, L., Kluck, Holger, Knights, Patrick, Korn, Yaron, Kraus, Hans, von Krosigk, Belina, Kubik, Andrew, Kurinsky, Noah, Lamblin, Jacob, Langenkämper, Alexander, Langrock, S., Lasserre, Thierry, Lattaud, H., Lautridou, P., Lawson, Ian, Lee, S.-J., Lee, M., Letessier-Selvon, Antoine, Lhuillier, D., Li, M., Lin, Y.-T., Lubashevskiy, Alexey, Mahaparta, Rupak, Maludze, Sandro, Mancuso, Michele, Manthos, Ioannis, Marini, Laura, Marnieros, S., Martin, Ryan D., Matalon, Ariel, Matthews, J., Mauri, B., Mayer, D. W., Mazzolari, Andrea, Mazzucato, E., Meyer zu Theenhausen, Hanno, Michielin, E., Minet, J., Mirabolfathi, Nader, v. Mirbach, K., Misiak, Dimitri, Mitra, P., Mocellin, J.-L., Mohanty, Bedangadas, Mokina, Valentyna, Mols, J.-P., Monfardini, Alessandro, Mounier, F., Munagavalasa, Sravan, Muraz, Jean-François, Navick, X.-F., Neep, Thomas, Neog, Himangshu, Neyrial, H., Nikolopoulos, Kostas, Nilima, Athoy, Nones, C., Novati, Valentina, O'Brien, Paul, Oberauer, L., Olivieri, E., Olmi, Alessandro, Onillon, A., Oriol, C., Orly, A., Orrell, John L., Ortmann, T., Overman, C. T., Pagliarone, Carmine E., Palušová, Veronika, Pari, P., Patel, P. K., Pattavina, Luca, Petricca, Federica, Piers, Alexander, Pinckney, Harold D., Piro, Marie-Cécile, Platt, Mark, Poda, D., Ponomarev, Dmitry, Potzel, Walter, Povinec, Pavel, Pröbst, F., Privitera, P., Pucci, F., Ramanathan, K., Real, J.-S., Redon, T., Reindl, Florian, Ren, R., Robert, Adeline, Da Rocha, Julia, Rodrigues, D., Rogly, R., Rothe, Johannes, Rowe, Noah, Rozov, Sergey, Rozova, I., Saab, Tarek, Saffold, Nathan, Salagnac, T., Sander, Joel, Sanglard, Veronique, Santos, D., Sarkis, Youssef, Savu, V., Savvidis, G., Savvidis, I., Schönert, S., Schäffner, Karoline, Schermer, Nicole, Schieck, Jochen, Schmidt, Benjamin, Schmiedmayer, D., Schwertner, C., Scola, L., Settimo, Mariangela, Shevchik, Ye., Sibille, Valérian, Sidelnik, Ivan, Singal, Aman, Smida, Radomir, Sofo Haro, Miguel, Soldner, Torsten, Stachurska, Juliana, Stahlberg, Martin, Stefanazzi, Leandro, Stodolsky, Leo, Strandhagen, Christian, Strauss, R., Stutz, A., Thomas, R., Thompson, A., Tiffenberg, Javier, Tomei, Claudia, Traina, M., Uemura, Sho, Usherov, I., Vagneron, L., Van De Pontseele, Wouter, Vázquez de Sola Fernández, Francisco A., Vidal, M., Vignati, M., Virto, A. L., Vivier, M., Volansky, Tomer, Wagner, V., Wagner, Felix, Walker, Joel, Ward, R., Watkins, Samuel L., Wex, A., Willers, Michael, Wilson, M. J., Winslow, Lindley, Yakushev, Evgeny, Yu, T.-T., Zampaolo, M., Zaytsev, Alexander, Zema, Vanessa, Zinatulina, Daniya, and Zolotarova, A.. EXCESS workshop: Descriptions of rising low-energy spectra. Iss. 9 SciPost Physics Proceedings, 2022. (DOI: 10.21468/scipostphysproc.9.001)
Sander, Joel. The level-1 trigger for the SuperCDMS experiment at SNOLAB. Vol. 17, Iss. P07010 Journal of Instrumentation, 2022. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/17/07/P07010)
SuperCDMS Collaboration, Joel. The level-1 trigger for the SuperCDMS experiment at SNOLAB. Vol. 17, Iss. P07010 Trieste: Journal of Instrumentation (JINST), 2022. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/17/07/P07010)
SuperCDMS Collaboration, Joel. Investigating the sources of low-energy events in a SuperCDMS-HVeV detector. Vol. 105, Iss. 112006 Phys. Rev. D, 2022. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.105.112006)
SuperCDMS Collaboration, Joel. Ionization yield measurement in a germanium CDMSlite detector using photo-neutron sources. Vol. 105, Iss. 122002 Phys. Rev. D, 2022. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.105.122002)
Sander, Joel. Constraints on Lightly Ionizing Particles from CDMSlite. Vol. 127, Iss. 081802 Phys Rev. Lett, 2021. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.081802)
SuperCDMS Collaboration. Light Dark Matter Search with a High-Resolution Athermal Phonon Detector Operated Above Ground. Vol. 127, Iss. 061801 Phys. Rev. Lett., 2021.
SuperCDMS Collaboration. Constraints on low-mass, relic dark matter candidates from a surface-operated SuperCDMS single-charge sensitive detector. Vol. 102, Iss. 091101(R) Phys. Rev. D, 2020. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.102.091101)
SuperCDMS Collaboration. Constraints on dark photons and axionlike particles from the SuperCDMS Soudan experiment. Vol. 101, Iss. 052008 Phys. Rev. D, 2020. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.101.052008)
SuperCDMS Collaboration. Search for Low-Mass Dark Matter with CDMSlite Using a Profile Likelihood Fit. Vol. 99, Iss. 062001 Physical Review D, 2019. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.99.062001)
SuperCDMS Collaboration. Production Rate Measurement of Tritium and Other Cosmogenic Isotopes in Germanium with CDMSlite , 1-12. Vol. 104 Astroparticle Physics, 2019. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.astropartphys.2018.08.006)
SuperCDMS Collaboration. Nuclear-recoil energy scale in CDMS II silicon dark-matter detectors, 71-81. Vol. 905 Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 2018. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2018.07.028)
SuperCDMS Collaboration. Energy loss due to defect formation from 206Pb recoils in SuperCDMS germanium detectors. Vol. 113, Iss. 092101 App. Phys. Lett., 2018. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5041457)
SuperCDMS Collaboration. First Dark Matter Constraints from a SuperCDMS Single-Charge Sensitive Detector. Vol. 121, Iss. 051301 Phys. Rev. Lett., 2018. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.051301)
SuperCDMS Collaboration. Results from the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) experiment at Soudan. Vol. 120, Iss. 061802 Physical Review Letters, 2018. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.061802)
SuperCDMS Collaboration. Low-Mass Dark Matter Search with CDMSlite. Vol. 97, Iss. 022002 Phys Rev D, 2018. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.97.022002)
MINER Collaboration. Background Studies for the MINER Coherent Neutrino Scattering Experiment, 53-60. Vol. 853 Nuclear Instrumentation and Methods A, 2017. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2017.02.024)
SuperCDMS Collaboration. Projected Sensitivity of the SuperCDMS SNOLAB experiment, 1-17. Vol. 95, Iss. 082002 Phys. Rev. D, 2017. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.95.082002)
SuperCDMS Collaboration. WIMP-Search Results from the Second CDMSlite Run. Vol. 116, Iss. 071301 Phys. Rev. Lett., 2016. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.071301)
CDMS II Collaboration. Improved WIMP-search reach of the CDMS II germanium data. Vol. 92, Iss. 072003 Phys. Rev. D, 2015. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.92.072003)
SuperCDMS Collaboration. Dark matter effective field theory scattering in direct detection experiments, 13. Vol. 91, Iss. 092004 Phys. Rev. D, 2015. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.91.092004)
SuperCDMS Collaboration. Maximum likelihood analysis of low energy CDMS II germanium data, 13. Vol. 91, Iss. 052021 Phys. Rev. D, 2015. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.91.052021)
CDMS II Collaboration. First direct limits on Lightly Ionizing Particles with electric charge less than e/6, 5. Vol. 114, Iss. 111302 Phys. Rev. Lett., 2015. (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.111302)
Sander, Joel, Harris, Harlan R., Phllips, James, Platt, Mark, Prasad, Kunj, Upadhyayula, sriteja, and Jastram, Andrew. Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Detector Fabrication Process and Recent Improvements , 12. Vol. A772, Iss. 0168-9002 Nucl.Instrum.Meth., 2015. (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2014.10.043)
SuperCDMS Collaboration. Search for Low-Mass WIMPs with SuperCDMS., 6. Vol. 112, Iss. 241302 Phys. Rev. Lett., 2014. (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.241302)
SuperCDMS Collaboration. Search for low-mass weakly interacting massive particles using voltage-assisted calorimetric ionization detection in the SuperCDMS experiment, 6. Phys. Rev. Lett., 2014.
Sander, Joel. Silicon Detector Dark Matter Results from the Final Exposure of CDMS II, 6. Vol. 111, Iss. 25 Physical Review Letters, 2013. (DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.251301)
CDMS II Collaboration. Silicon detector results from the frst five-tower run of CDMS II, 5. Vol. 88, Iss. 3 Phys. Rev. D, 2013. (DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.88.031104 )

Sander, Joel, Presented at the SuperCDMS DOE Review, SNOLAB, Canada. (July 2024)
Sander, Joel, Presented at the SuperCDMS DOE Review, SNOLAB, Canada. (April 2023)
Sander, Joel, SuperCDMS Status and Rare Event Searches. Presented at the Seminar, Kolkata, India. (November 03, 2020)
Sander, Joel, Shedding Light on Dark Matter using SuperCDMS Cryogenic Detectors. Presented at the Butler Univ. Seminar, Indianapolis, IN. (October 2019)
Sander, Joel, Shedding Light on Dark Matter using SuperCDMS Cryogenic Detectors. Presented at the SPS Zone 11 Meeting, University of South Dakota. (October 2019)
Sander, Joel, A Question of Dark Matter. Presented at the Colloquium, Sioux Center, IA. (November 30, 2018)
Sander, Joel, Shedding Light on Dark Matter using Cryogenic Detectors. Presented at the Dark Matter Day, NISER, India. (October 31, 2017)
Sander, Joel, and Mei, Dongming, Is Dark Matter a Mirage. Presented at the Dark Matter Day, Vermillion, SD. (October 30, 2017)
Sander, Joel, Eclipse Viewing 2018., University of South Dakota. (August 21, 2017)
Sander, Joel, Sensitivity to Lightly Ionizing Particles (LIPs) at Surface and SNOLAB. Presented at the Coherent Neutrino Scattering Workshop, Texas A&M University. (November 12, 2015)
Sander, Joel, Shedding Light on Dark Matter using Cryogenic Detectors. Presented at the Colloquium, Brookings, South Dakota. (October 19, 2015)
Sander, Joel, Shedding Light on Dark Matter using Cryogenic Detectors. Presented at the Colloquium, Omaha, Nebraska. (January 22, 2015)
Sander, Joel, Shedding Light on Dark Matter using Cryogenic Detectors. Presented at the Seminar, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. (December 05, 2014)
Sander, Joel, Shedding Light on Dark Matter using Cryogenic Detectors. Presented at the Colloquium, Cedar Falls, Iowa. (November 19, 2014)
Sander, Joel, Shedding Light on Dark Matter using Cryogenic Detectors. Presented at the Seminar, Des Moines, Iowa. (October 28, 2014)
Sander, Joel, Shedding Light on Dark Matter using Cryogenic Detectors. Presented at the Colloquium, Mankato, MN. (October 16, 2014)
Sander, Joel, Shedding Light on Dark Matter using Cryogenic Detectors. Presented at the TAMU Workshop on Dark Matter, Texas A&M University. (March 09, 2013)

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