This CAREER award funds the research activities of Professor Patrick Meade from the C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics at Stony Brook University.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has finally started to deliver large amounts of data, probing the universe at energies that have never been directly explored before now. During the next few years, the mechanism responsible for the origin of all mass for fundamental particles in the universe will be discovered. Professor Meade's research will be focused on the interplay of theoretical physics, phenomenology and experiment. This interplay is key to either discovering the "new" Standard Model (SM) or completing the last missing ingredients from the existing SM of particle physics. Part of his work will be based on studying the ramifications of existing ideas such as Supersymmetry, while other aspects of his research will focus on more exotic models motivated by experimental results. Professor Meade's research will also investigate the connections between astrophysics, cosmology and our continually evolving understanding of particle physics.
This project also plans to have significant broader impacts. Professor Meade plans to participate in the MARIACHI program, an existing program for high school students that provides research opportunities in high energy/astroparticle physics through cosmic ray research. He will also participate in the "adopt-a-physicist" program designed to share the experiences of active physicists with high school students, to promote the benefits of studying physics. Professor Meade also plans to engage local magnet schools via curriculum development or lectures, designed to bring our current understanding of particle physics from the LHC to future scientists more directly.
