Physicist and research developer. I build software on rigorous research: hypotheses first, uncertainties quantified, and results anyone can reproduce.
My PhD in experimental hadron physics at Florida State University measured the Ξ(1320)⁻ photoproduction cross section with the GlueX experiment at Jefferson Lab. I built the full analysis as a reusable framework: event selection, signal extraction, yield fits, detector efficiency corrections, Monte Carlo simulation, and systematic studies. Golden tests that reproduce the dissertation results from the preserved data. My MSc in nuclear theory solved second order Dirac equations with relativistic mean field potentials to predict how the nuclear structure models affect coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS), work published in Physical Review C.
Since then I've carried the same discipline into applied ML: pre-registered experiments, leakage-free validation, and production pipelines that turn research into working systems.
I'm looking for research scientist and applied research developer roles where research and engineering meet: industry research teams and national laboratories.
Research & technical focus
- Statistical inference: maximum-likelihood fitting, signal extraction, systematic uncertainties
- Monte Carlo simulation and numerical methods (ODE solvers, root-finding, Fourier transforms)
- ML research workflows: feature engineering, out-of-sample validation, experiment tracking
- Research software engineering: Python, C++/ROOT/RooFit, testing, CI/CD, reproducible pipelines
Research code
- phd-hadron-physics — Ξ(1320)⁻ photoproduction cross section at GlueX: reusable C++/ROOT + Python analysis framework (PhD, 2025)
- msc-nuclear-physics — CEvNS cross sections from relativistic mean-field nuclear structure (MSc, 2019)
Publications
- J. Yang, J. A. Hernandez, J. Piekarewicz, "Electroweak probes of ground state densities," Phys. Rev. C 100, 054301 (2019)
- J. A. Hernandez, Doubly-Strange Baryon Spectroscopy with the GlueX Experiment (PhD dissertation, FSU, 2025)
📫 LinkedIn · ORCID · jahphys@gmail.com