Dr Elizabeth Williams is a Research Fellow at the 3A Institute and an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the ANU Department of Nuclear Physics. She completed her PhD in experimental nuclear structure at Yale University in December 2009, did postdoctoral work in fundamental and applied nuclear physics at Yale and CSIRO, and joined the ANU in 2012, where she held an ARC DECRA fellowship. She has always had a fascination with how complex systems come together in a human context.  Her passion for research impact and the responsibilities that researchers have to imagine the context in which their research will be used led her to the 3A Institute, where she is currently working on creating a new applied science in the management of data, artificial intelligence, and cyber-physical systems.

B.S. (Intensive), Physics, Yale University, May 2004

Ph.D., Experimental nuclear structure, Yale University, December 2009.

A. E. Stuchbery, A. Wallner, D. J. Hinde, E. Williams, G. J. Lane; Enhanced Data Acquisition for the Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility; ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities Grant 2015 (LE150100064), $250k

E. Williams; Breaking through the barrier: a new approach to understanding quantum tunneling in nuclear fusion; ARC Discovery Early Career Award 2014 (DE140100784), $395k

D.J. Hinde, J.A. Tostevin, M. Freer, K. Hagino, E. Williams; Dissipation in isolated quantum systems: a new approach to nuclear interactions; ARC Discovery Projects 2013 R1 (DP130101569), $405k

Selected popular science writing:

"Modern-day alchemy: a recipe for a new superheavy element", Elizabeth Williams, The Conversation, 11 September 2013

"Explainer: what is an isotope?", Elizabeth Williams, The Conversation, 11 January 2013 (Edited version republished in The Explainer: From Déjà Vu to Why the Sky is Blue, and Other Conundrums)

Selected recent journal articles

Observation of mass-asymmetric fission of mercury nuclei in heavy ion fusionE. Prasad, D. J. Hinde, K. Ramachandran, E. Williams et al. Phys. Rev. C 91 (2015) 064605.

Reduced quasifission competition in fusion reactions forming neutron-rich heavy elements
K. Hammerton, Z. Kohley, D. J. Hinde, M. Dasgupta, A. Wakhle, E. Williams et al. Phys. Rev. C 91 (2015) 041602(R)

Experimental study of quasifission, fusion-fission, and de-excitation of Cf compound nucleiJ. Khuyagbaatar, D. J. Hinde, I. P. Carter, M. Dasgupta, C. E. Duellman, M. Evers, D. H. Luong, R. du Rietz, A. Wakhle, E. Williams, Phys. Rev. C 91 (2015) 054608

Consequences of fractal grade distribution for bulk sorting of a copper porphyry deposit
Peter Coghill, David Miljak, Elizabeth Williams, Geoscience Frontiers, 6 (2015) 477.

Interplay between Quantum Shells and Orientation in Quasifission
A. Wakhle, C. Simenel, D.J. Hinde, M. Dasgupta, M. Evers, D.H. Luong, R. du Rietz, and E. Williams Phys. Rev. Lett. 113 (2014) 182502 

Microscopic approach to coupled-channels effects on fusion
C. Simenel, M. Dasgupta, D.J. Hinde, and E. Williams Phys. Rev. C 88 (2013) 064604

Mapping quasifission characteristics and timescales in heavy element formation reac­tions
R. du Rietz, E. Williams et al., Phys. Rev. C 88 (2013) 054618

Evolution of signatures of quasifission in reactions forming curium
E. Williams et al., Phys. Rev. C 88 (2013) 034611

Beta decay spectroscopy of light Nd isotopes
E. A. McCutchan, R. F. Casten, V. Werner, R. J. Casperson, A. Heinz, J. Qian, B. Shoraka, J. R. Terry, E. Williams, and R.Winkler, Phys. Rev.C 87 (2013) 057306

Efficient Monte Carlo simulation of coincidence effects in radioisotope decays including γ-γ angular correlations
E. Williams and J. Tickner, Comp. Phys. Comm. 183 (2012) 1869

Simultaneous deorientation and lifetime measurement in ⁹⁸Ru using the recoil distance Doppler shift method in inverse Coulomb excitation
D. Radeck, V. Werner, G. Ilie, N. Cooper, V. Anagnostatou, T. Ahn, L. Bettermann, R.J. Casperson, R. Chevrier, A. Heinz, J. Jolie, D. McCarthy, M.K. Smith, and E. Williams, Phys. Rev. C 85 (2012) 014301

Shape coexistence in ⁷²Se investigated following the β decay of ⁷²Br
E.A. McCutchan, C.J. Lister, T. Ahn, R.J. Casperson, A. Heinz, G. Ilie, J. Qian, E. Williams, R. Winkler, and V. Werner, Phys. Rev. C 83 (2011) 024310

New signature of a first order phase transition at the O(6) limit of the IBM
L. Bettermann, V. Werner, E. Williams, and R. J. Casperson, Phys. Rev. C 81 (2010) 021303(R)

Effective critical points in finite quantum phase transitional systems
E. Williams et al., Phys. Rev. C 82 (2010) 054308

Scaling properties of quantum shape phase transitions in the interacting boson model-1
E.Williams et al., Phys. Rev. C 81 (2010) 054306

Candidates for low-lying mixed-symmetry states in ¹⁴⁰Nd
E.Williams et al., Phys. Rev. C 80 (2009) 054309

For a full publication list, please see my profile on the ANU Researcher website.

• Nuclear reactions (near-barrier fusion, quasifission, superheavy elements)
• Nuclear structure (collective structure, Interacting Boson Model-1)