Background 

Kay Kolos received a BS in physics from the Warsaw University of Technology, and a MS in physics from University of Jyvaskyla and Warsaw University of Technology. She completed her graduate research on beta-decay studies of short-lived fission products at the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Orsay (University of Paris South). After obtaining her PhD, Kay spent two and a half years as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where she studied beta-decay properties and nuclear structure of neutron-rich isotopes. She joined the Nuclear and Particle Physics Group at LLNL in 2015, where she has been working since. 

At LLNL, Kay has been continuing her work on innovative techniques that take advantage of radioactive beams and state-of-the-art radiation detectors to perform detailed measurements of nuclear decays and reactions. Most of her experimental programs take place at Argonne National Laboratory, Texas A&M University, and Michigan State University/National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. She is an elected Member of the FRIB Decay Station Users Executive Committee.

Kay also works on sensitivity studies for critical assemblies, nuclear data uncertainty quantifications, and machine learning for nuclear data.

Research Interests

• Nuclear fission, nuclear decays, and reactions studies
• Particle spectroscopy
• Nuclear structures
• Nuclear astrophysics
• Study of rare and exotic isotopes
• Neutron transport codes
• Nuclear data evaluations and machine learning

Ph.D., Institute of Nuclear Physics in Orsay, University Paris Sud, France, 2012

M.S., University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, 2009

M.S., University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland, 2009

B.S., University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland, 2007

• K. Kolos, A. M. Hennessy, N. D. Scielzo, V. E. Iacob, J. C. Hardy, M. A. Stoyer, A. P. Tonchev, W.-J. Ong, M. T. Burkey, B. Champine, J. A. Clark, P. Copp, A. Gallant, E. B. Norman, R. Orford, J. I. Park, J. Rohrer, D. Santiago-Gonzalez, G. Savard, A. J. Shaka, B. S. Wang, S. Zhu "New approach to precisely measure gamma-ray intensities for long-lived fission products, with results for the decay of 95Zr" Nucl. Inst. and Met. in Physics Research, A 1000 165240 (2021)
• B. S. Wang, J. T. Harke, O. A. Akindele, R. J. Casperson, R. O. Hughes, J. D. Koglin, K. Kolos, E. B. Norman, S. Ota, and A. Saastamoinen "Determining the average prompt-fission-neutron multiplicity for 239Pu(n, f) via a 240Pu(a,a’f) surrogate reaction" Phys. Rev. C 100, 064609 (2019)
• O. A. Akindele, B. S. Alan, J. T. Burke, R. J. Casperson, R. O. Hughes, J. D. Koglin, K. Kolos, E. B. Norman, S. Ota, and A. Saastamoinen "Expansion of the surrogate method to measure the prompt fission neutron multiplicity for 241Pu" Phys. Rev. C 99, 054601 (2019)
• K. Siegl, K. Kolos, N. D. Scielzo, A. Aprahamian, G. Savard, M. T. Burkey, M. P. Carpenter, P. Chowdhury, J. A. Clark, P. Copp, G. J. Lane, C. J. Lister, S. T. Marley, E. A. McCutchan, A. J. Mitchell, J. Rohrer, M. L. Smith, and S. Zhu “Beta-decay half-lives of 134,134mSb and their isomeric yield ratio produced by the spontaneous fission of  52Cf”, Phys. Rev. C 98, 054307 (2018)
• K. Kolos, D. Miller,R. Grzywacz, H. Iwasaki, M. Al-Shudifat, D. Bazin, C.R. Bingham, T. Braunroth, G. Cerizza, A. Gade, A. Lemasson, S.N. Liddick, M. Madurga, C. Morse, M. Portillo, M.M. Rajabali, F. Recchia, L.L. Riedinger, P. Voss, W.B.Walters, D.Weisshaar, K. Whitmore, K. Wimmer and J.A. Tostevin. “Direct Lifetime Measurements of the Excited States in 72Ni” Phys. Rev. Lett 116, 122502 (2016)
• K. Kolos, D. Verney, F. Ibrahim, F. Le Blanc, S. Franchoo, K. Sieja, F. Nowacki, C. Bonnin, M. Cheikh Mhamed, P. V. Cuong, F. Didierjean, G. Duchene, S. Essabaa, G. Germogli, L. H. Khiem, C. Lau, I. Matea, M. Niikura, B. Roussiere, I. Stefan, D. Testov, and J.-C. Thomas, "Probing nuclear structures in the vicinity of 78Ni with beta- and beta n-decay spectroscopy of 84Ga", Phys. Rev. C 88, 047301 (2013)
• K. Sieja, T. R. Rodriguez, K. Kolos and D. Verney, "Laboratory vs intrinsic description of nonaxial nuclei above doubly magic 78Ni", Phys. Rev. C 88, 034327 (2013)
• D. Verney, B. Tastet, K. Kolos, F. Le Blanc, F. Ibrahim, M. Cheikh Mhamed, E. Cottereau, P. V. Cuong, F. Didierjean, G. Duchene, S. Essabaa, M. Ferraton, S. Franchoo, L. H. Khiem, C. Lau, J.-F. Le Du, I. Matea, B. Mouginot, M. Niikura, B. Roussi_ere, I. Stefan, D. Testov, and J.-C. Thomas, "Structure of 80Ge revealed by the beta-decay of isomeric states in 80Ga: Triaxiality in the vicinity of 78Ni", Phys. Rev. C87, 054307 (2013).
• G. Lhersonneau, T. Malkiewicz, K. Kolos, M. Fadil, H. Kettunen, M.G. Saint- Laurent, A. Pichard, W.H. Trzaska, G. Tyurin, L. Cousin “Neutron yield from carbon, light- and heavy-water thick targets irradiated by 40MeV deuterons”, Nucl. Instr. and Met. in Ph. Res. Sec. A:Volume 603, Issue 3, 21 May 2009, Pages 228-235

• Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division Spot Award "for doing an outstanding job organizing and executing the WANDA nuclear data conference", Physical and Life Sciences, LLNL (2021)
• Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division Spot Award "for the elaborate organization and passionate promotion of the NACS seminar series", Physical and Life Sciences, LLNL (2020)
• Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division Spot Award "for outstanding organization of the NACS seminar series", Physical and Life Sciences, LLNL (2019)
• Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division Spot Award "for the significant effort devoted to collect the highest-quality nuclear-decay data for key fission products for stockpile science", Physical and Life Sciences, LLNL (2018)
• CNRS Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (National Center for Scientific Research) grant for a PhD fellow at the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Orsay, France (2009–2012)
• Graduated Eximia Cum Laude Approbatur (approved with exceptional praise), University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, 2009