This renewal proposal presents a request for five years of funding to support CHEPREO: An Inter-Regional Grid Enabled Center for High Energy Physics Research, Education and Outreach at Florida International University. This Center is a research, education, and outreach program that has, in its first five years, established a durable and vibrant learning community of high school teachers, high school students, university students, scientists, faculty, and associated stake-holders that continues to attract science and math students, using the project?s cutting-edge science and advanced cyberinfrastructure as compelling elements of study. An education and research partnership derived from basic research in particle physics (based on the CMS experiment at CERN), grid computing, and advanced networking- transforming the undergraduate experience through modeling-based, guided-inquiry introductory physics classes, a fellowship program, and the establishment of the Physics Learning Center (PLC), CHEPREO is proposed to continue and expand its research, education and outreach for another five years through NSF support, thereby extending the impact of this national resource even further.
A. Project Outcomes Overview: Funded by the NSF since 2003, the Center for High Energy Physics Research, Education and Outreach (CHEPREO) has created an innovative education and outreach program while supporting basic research in particle physics, distributed computing, and networking. The project is based in the Florida International University (FIU) Department of Physics’ Experimental Particle Physics group. The CHEPREO work included personnel from the Physics Education Research group and the FIU College of Education. In the Physics Department it included: S. Hewamanage (Research Assoc.) S. Linn (Research Faculty), P. Markowitz (Faculty), J. Martinez (Research Assoc.), J. Rodriguez (Faculty). Intellectual Merit: CHEPREO provides collaborative research and learning programs based on three key elements: (i) high-energy physics research at the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, (ii) a broad STEM based education and outreach program where learning models are developed and implemented, (iii) distributed computing infrastructure that aids student participation in world-class research. These programs were established from the ground up at the largest Hispanic Serving Institution and the eighth largest university in the country. As part of the CMS collaboration, FIU is a member of the Hadron Calorimeter (HCAL) detector collaboration as well as a vital part of the CMS computing efforts. Within HCAL, FIU is responsible for work on the laser calibration system and the detector controls system (DCS) used by HCAL. As part of the computing efforts, FIU has contributed to the development of distributed storage systems/architecture for CMS data analysis and research on dynamically allocated file systems. We have also studied increasing network bandwidth through Supercomputing Challenge demonstrations. Broader Impacts: CHEPREO’s physics program provides FIU students, faculty and staff with opportunities to participate in experiments at CERN the world’s highest energy particle accelerator. CHEPREO faculty have also played a lead role in establishing connections between local FIU communities, beyond High Energy physics, and national and international efforts involved in research at the forefront in .CHEPREO faculty and students have been featured in state, national and international initiatives and have been mentioned in FIU media events. CHEPREO is also working with local museums (the Miami Science Museum and through artist Xavier Cortada, the Miami Art Museum) to disseminate the results of CMS to broader, non-traditional audiences. The Miami Science Museum is looking at a 7,000 square foot exhibit centered around CERN, which the museum’s Board of Directors has asked CHEPREO to help plan and organize. The art museum is looking at displaying future works by Xavier Cortada on the importance of the Higgs boson to our world view, and the place of man and science in our lives.
