For instance, there has been a vivid debate on whether one can understand the intrinsic angular momentum - the spin - of a nucleon as a sum of the spins of the quarks which are inside it. Several experiments have investigated this question in the past by scattering polarized (spin-oriented) high-energy electrons and muons from polarized nucleon targets. I have been actively involved in a large program of experiments at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC, in California). Five of these experiments have been completed and their data published. At the same time, I am leading a complementary program (the EG1 run group) at lower energies, at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) in nearby Newport News. The combined information of these experiments will allow us to understand the transition from the small-distance structure of nucleons (quasi-free quarks) to its static properties (magnetic moment and spin).

Another part of my research program will use the unique facilities of JLab (continuous electron beam combined with the large acceptance spectrometer CLAS) to study the differences of the quark structure of bound and free nucleons and the presence of exotic configurations (for instance, delta-resonances) in the nuclear wave function.

I am part of the Experimental Nuclear Physics group at ODU that has built six large detector components (drift chambers) for the CLAS in preparation for these and other experiments. The research of the Experimental Nuclear Physics Group at ODU is being sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and typically involves 6 faculty, 2 postdoctoral research associates, a dozen graduate students and several undergraduate students.

Here is a recent writeup in the "Courier" explaining my research "for the interested layperson".