Congratulations to Navin McGinnis: CoS Galileo Circle Postdoc Award
Congratulations to Physics postdoc Navin McGinnis (particle theory, working with Professor Shufang Su), who just won the College of Science Galileo Circle Postdoc Award!
This award recognizes a postdoc who has made substantial and invaluable contributions to the research, mentoring, and outreach missions of both the College of Science and the University of Arizona. This is the highest award in the College of Science for postdocs, and only one awardee is selected each year.
Navin joined the physics department in Fall 2023 after his first postdoc at TRIUMF (Canada’s particle accelerator center). Navin’s research area is beyond the Standard Model particle phenomenology and quantum information. He has made broad and important contributions to the phenomenology of Higgs bosons, dark matter, and other BSM physics. More recently, he has done important work on quantum information and symmetry. His work includes connecting quantum information and particle physics, pioneering collider quantum information observables, advancing our understanding of the Higgs boson and new physics, as well as proposing new frontiers for discovery (he co-authored the first scientific proposal to search for dark matter on the Moon, in response to NASA’s open call for novel scientific experiments for the Artemis mission).
Beyond particle physics, his research has influenced neighboring fields through publications in Physical Review Research and conference proceedings at the intersection of effective field theory and condensed matter physics. In 2025 alone, his recent research on quantum information and particle physics has gained international recognition, with 11 invited seminars at top research institutions across Asia, Canada, Europe, and the United States.
Navin also stands out in his accomplishments in teaching and mentoring. In Spring 2025, Navin participated in the College of Science Research Exploration Course Program to bring research experience to undergraduate students. He designed and taught a research seminar course for undergraduates on particle physics and data analysis, the first of its kind ever offered at UA. Attendees were mostly first- and second-year students majoring in Physics, Astronomy, and Mathematics. In this course, students learned the fundamentals of Einstein’s special relativity and its application to particle collisions, applying these principles to real data from the Large Hadron Collider. Students worked through the same analysis techniques used in the discovery of the Higgs boson, gaining hands-on experience in modern data analysis and scientific reasoning. The course successfully bridged classroom learning and research, helping early undergraduates gain skills and confidence typically developed much later in their studies.
“Navin McGinnis’ course was a success last spring with a healthy enrollment of students from various majors at the university”, said Rebecca Gomez, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Student Success in College of Science.
An unsolicited email from a student in Navin’s class who later was admitted in the TIMESTEP Apprenticeship program stated that “I’m convinced that a big reason I was prepared is the experience I gained in your Higgs class last semester—both the way you pushed us to think like researchers and the practical analysis skills we built. That foundation has already paid off. Thank you again for your mentorship and for opening doors for me.”
Navin is also an active participator in outreach and community service. In Spring 2024, Navin appeared as a guest speaker on the STEM Field of Dreams podcast, an outreach initiative organized by UA instructor Gates Matthew Stoner. Navin was invited to share his journey as a professional physicist and to promote the visibility of underrepresented groups in physics, offering advice to students pursuing STEM careers.
Congratulations to Navin for this well deserved award!