This proposal from the Center for the Origin and Structure of Matter (COSM) at Hampton University requests funding to support the group's participation in the investigations of the physics of multi-TeV collisions with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) under construction at CERN, Geneva. Coupled to this is the objective to integrate this activity with education, with a particular focus on underrepresented groups. The long-term goals of the investigators are to advance our understanding of particle physics and to increase the number of underrepresented minorities (particularly African Americans) entering careers in science and engineering. The COSM will help build, install and operate the barrel region of the Transition Radiation Tracker (TRT), a drift-tube detector. In the physics analysis area, the group will establish simulation capabilities and trigger schemes and analysis approaches will be developed. The broader impact of this activity will consist of the promotion of teaching, training and learning; the participation of students, mostly African American, in the research activities; and the development of infrastructure for research and education. Through the COSM QuarkNet Center, local high-school physics teachers will have research experience, access to teaching materials and connections to colleagues. The COSM's network of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) is designed to involve faculty and students from these universities in this work.
