This award provides support for the University of Kansas Particle Physics group to conduct research with the CMS experiment at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland and to complete ongoing efforts in Particle Astrophysics at several locations worldwide. The group is making significant contributions to CMS both analytically and technically. In analysis, the group is focusing its efforts on studies of Higgs bosons, top quarks, electroweak processes and new phenomena. Technical contributions include responsibilities for supporting the existing CMS tracker and the building the new "Phase I" pixel detector. Toward a future high energy electron collider, the group is developing improved methods of jet energy reconstruction using particle-flow based techniques. In the area of particle astrophysics, the group is completing a number of technically challenging efforts based upon radio detection and located in Antarctica, Utah and Siberia. In the area of broader impacts, the group has an exceptionally strong outreach program including a QuarkNet Center, the Quarked! Project that engages young children in the excitement of science and scientific questions, and significant engagement of undergraduates at all levels of the program.
