Chris Ruiz

604-222-7666
Research Scientist - TRIUMF
Group Member

Chris Ruiz is the DRAGON Group Leader at TRIUMF.

He started out life as a 'wannabe' astronomer, studying a BSc(hons) in Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Edinburgh, taking classes up on Blackford Hill at the Edinburgh Royal Observatory. At the end of his undergraduate degree, Chris got his first taste of experimental nuclear physics through a laboratory project studying Bell's inequality and its ramifications for quantum physics, via a really neat experiment using radioactive sodium-22. From then on he was hooked, then taking a PhD with the Edinburgh Nuclear Physics Group, studying prospective indirect methods of obtaining the important ¹⁵O(a,g)¹⁹Ne stellar reaction rate at Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium, and also the first post-accelerated radioactive beam experiment at ISAC: the resonant elastic scattering of sodium-22 on protons - requiring development of a multi-channel R-matrix code.

Chris then joined the DRAGON group as a Post-Doc in 2003, eventually leading the ²⁶Al(p,g)²⁷Si measurement. After a short stint as a Post-Doc with the University of York Nuclear Physics Group, heading the TRIUMF side of the development of the SHARC silicon barrel array, Chris was hired as a TRIUMF Board-Appointed Research Scientist in order to head the DRAGON Group in 2007. Since then, Chris has been actively involved in shaping nuclear astrophysics research at the lab along with his colleagues. In addition to the DRAGON project, Chris currently spends time also on the NEURAL project, as well as the TUDA facility. Chris is the project leader for the ISAC Implantation Station, a facility that will allow the preparation of high-quality long-lived radioactive targets for use in charged-particle induced and neutron induced reaction experiments.

Chris is currently the Past Chair of the TRIUMF Users Group Executive Committee, as well as head of the TRIUMF Undergraduate Student Scholarship program.

Chris enjoys snowboarding, playing classical, folk and rock guitar, rock climbing, scuba diving, and attempting to cultivate an organic garden. He is also a motorcycle enthusiast and enjoys long rides deep into B.C. on his Yamaha FZ6.