In the next few years, the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN will for the first time probe the electroweak scale directly. The LHC data will certainly trigger dramatic progress in our understanding of physics at this scale. The main goal of the PI?s research in the LHC era will be to contribute to this progress by providing theoretical interpretation of the data. His research will be data-driven. The projects include understanding the ?space of possibilities? for new physics. Some of his immediate efforts will be focused on building and analyzing candidate models. His research will be involves in understanding which observables can be used to discriminate between various proposed models, and, once the correct model is established, to determine its parameters. The PI has investigated collider phenomenology related to a variety of new physics scenarios, including supersymmetry, models with extra dimensions, Little Higgs models, and Higgs-less models. His present proposal includes several new projects in this area, including a study of new observables that can provide unique measurements of s-top-sector parameters in supersymmetric models; a novel phenomenological framework for describing the Regge states in Randall-Sundrum models and analyzing their LHC signatures; and a test-case analysis of the power of the LHC to discriminate between models with similar signatures, such as supersymmetry and the Little Higgs with T parity. As far as broader impacts and outreach, the PI proposes to organize professional development workshops for science teachers in rural upstate New York areas which are adversely affected by economic and geographic factors. In collaboration with Lora Hine, the full-time outreach coordinator at the Cornell Laboratory for Elementary Particle Physics (LEPP), the PI intends to organize one-day professional development workshops that would bring K-12 science teachers from such districts to the Cornell campus. The workshops would include tours of CESR or other scientific facilities, presentations by Cornell scientists including the PI as well as sessions to help teachers develop lesson plans. This project would use the extensive outreach infrastructure that already exists at LEPP. In addition, the PI will perform follow-up visits to schools to observe and evaluate the use of the materials and lesson plans in the classroom, and to provide additional support for the teachers as necessary. The second area, which the PI is involved in is educating the public about the impact that particle physics is making on society through transfer of technologies originally developed for particle physics. The PI hopes to document the history of the known examples of technology transfer and hopes to explain how the unique environment of particle physics research made these advances possible The PI also participates in the Research Experience for undergraduates (REU) program at LEPP both as a mentor and as a lecturer. A significant fraction of the students in this program come from small liberal-arts colleges and other institutions with few research opportunities.
