IRES: Science and Engineering at the World's Largest Accelerator Facility

George Mason University, Fairfax VA

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports a collaboration between George Mason University (GMU) and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Through this project, eighteen undergraduate students (six per year) will participate in a nine-week Summer research and training experience at CERN. CERN is among the most vibrant and international research centers in the world. Its scientific instruments - accelerators and detectors - are some of the largest and most technically complex ever built. All aspects of accelerator-focused research and design are carried out there. While fundamental particle physics is CERN's primary mission, active work is also undertaken in nuclear, molecular, and atomic physics, as well as detector and accelerator design and computing methods and infrastructure. Participating students will attend a one-week orientation and training workshop at GMU, and then spend eight weeks at CERN undertaking research projects related to CERN's particle accelerators and detectors. The students are guided in their research by internationally-trained, CERN-affiliated scientists, engineers, or computer specialists, and are co-supervised by the PI. Participants are part of CERN?s Summer Student Programme, which hosts nearly 300 undergraduates from around Europe and other countries. For participating students, this is an international learning and networking experience that may very well turn out to be among the highlights of their academic careers. Principal Investigator Rubin is a member of the NA62 collaboration, a group of about 200 physicists from Europe, Russia, and North America, which is investigating ultra-rare kaon decays in a fixed target experiment using beam from CERN?s Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). IRES participants may indicate preferences for work in any of the research areas available at CERN. In this project, participants will be advanced STEM students recruited from US academic institutions with a highly diverse student body. At the conclusion of their Summer experiences, the student researchers will complete a presentation and a technical note reporting their research results.