Abstract: Accurate neutrino-nucleus interaction modeling is an essential requirement for the success of the accelerator-based neutrino program. As no satisfactory description of cross sections exists, experiments tune neutrino-nucleus interactions to data to mitigate mis-modeling.  

In this talk, I will discuss how the interplay between near detector tuning and cross section mis-modeling affects new physics searches. I will present two illustrative new physics scenarios, light sterile neutrinos and neutrinophilic scalars, present the relevant experimental signatures with and without tuning, and discuss the prospects of identifying new physics.