There have been recent advances in understanding various ways of imbedding our universe in the 10 dimensional space where a consistent unified theory of particles which have extension (rather than being point-like) exists. The time is thus now ripe for bringing systematic methods to bear on the construction and analysis of compactifications of string theory as models of realistic particle physics. The String Vacuum Project aims to pursue a systematic study of the space of string compactifications leading to four-dimensional physics. The PIs will accomplish this with a two pronged approach. Using a bottom-up strategy the members of the collaboration will search for patches of string vacua which are as close as possible to low energy, phenomenologically acceptable theories. These can hopefully be tested at the Large Hadron Collider . On the other hand, using a top-down strategy the collaboration will pursue a general search of the string landscape of vacua in search of more general correlations. In order to accomplish their goals the PIs are proposing a String Vacuum Project (SVP) network with eight geographic nodes. They are asking for funds to support students who will work in the proposed area and funds to support travel to bi-annual network workshops. This project has many broader implications. The explicit work on interpreting LHC data and on approaches to finding a theory underlying the signals will help realize the full potential of LHC, a project strongly supported by U.S. physics goals. This project is strongly interdisciplinary, involving particle physics, astrophysics, cosmology, string theory, mathematics, and information frontier analysis. The results will be disseminated via publication at all possible levels. There will be significant training of graduate students and postdocs, and the project will involve female and minority scientists to provide role model. The Pis anticipate that the results of this project will stimulate significant public interest, and they will systematically communicate results through public talks and articles.
