Rate My Professor Diana Parno

Diana Parno, Falco-DeBenedetti Associate Professor of Physics at Carnegie Mellon University, was appointed Associate Head of the Department of Physics effective September 1, 2025. A Carnegie Mellon alumna, she received her Ph.D. in Physics from the university in 2011, focusing her dissertation on the spin structure of the neutron as measured at Jefferson Lab. After graduation, Parno joined the Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics (CENPA) at the University of Washington as a postdoctoral researcher (2011-2014). She advanced to Acting Assistant Professor of Physics and Associate Director of CENPA (2014-2016), and served as Research Assistant Professor there in 2016. Returning to Carnegie Mellon in 2017, she held positions as Assistant Research Professor (2017-2018), Assistant Professor (2018-2022), and Associate Professor (2022-2024) before her current endowed associate professorship.

Parno's research centers on experimental neutrino physics within nuclear and particle physics. Her primary interests include determining the absolute neutrino mass scale through tritium beta decay spectroscopy with the KATRIN experiment in Germany, where she serves as Analysis Co-Coordinator and U.S. spokesperson. She also investigates coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) with the COHERENT experiment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, acting as Analysis Co-Coordinator. As co-Principal Investigator of the TRIMS experiment, she studies molecular effects pertinent to KATRIN analyses, and her group recently joined Project 8 for cyclotron-radiation-based neutrino mass measurements. Notable contributions include upper limits on neutrino mass (e.g., less than 0.45 eV/c² at 90% confidence level from KATRIN data) and advancements in detector technology. Key publications encompass "Observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering" (Science, 2017), "Direct neutrino-mass measurement with sub-electronvolt sensitivity" (Nature Physics, 2022), "Improved upper limit on the neutrino mass from a direct kinematic method by KATRIN" (Physical Review Letters, 2019), and "First measurement of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering on argon" (Physical Review Letters, 2021). In 2021, she was awarded the U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Research Award to develop a heavy-water detector module for COHERENT. Parno is committed to equity in science, co-authoring "LGBT+ Inclusivity in Physics and Astronomy."