The primary purpose of this CAREER award is to enhance, strengthen and broaden the research program and the education and outreach activities of Professor Gershtein at Rutgers University. It will partially support the salary and the tuition of graduate students to work on the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. It will also support a part time staff (undergraduate student) for the new outreach program he has initiated at the University. His research at CMS is focused on the search for the Higgs boson through its decay into two photons, its most likely discovery mode at the LHC. He also proposes to use the techniques needed for the Higgs discovery to search for signs of new physics, including manifestations of hidden valleys, supersymmetry, and new strong dynamics. It is expected his experience at D0 should enable him to take a leading role in such searches. In coordination with the New Jersey Chapter of the American Association of Physics Teachers, he is initiating a "Saturday Morning Physics" program of lectures at Rutgers University on the cutting edge developments in science and technology. It will target high school students from under-represented urban areas such as Camden, Newark, New Brunswick, and Trenton, aiming to improve their perception of science and inspire some to pursue careers in engineering or science. Students who attend the lectures would be tracked in an attempt to understand whether this increases the fraction that pursue science in college. An undergraduate student will aid in this effort. In addition, he plans to hold seminars following these lectures targeted to high school teachers. In order to better evaluate and enhance the effectiveness of this program, and to help implement the material into the actual lesson plans, the PI plans to closely involve high school teachers and pre-service teachers. These lesson plans would be posted on a web site - creating a resource for teachers not able to attend the lecture/seminars. Working with the Graduate School of Education and the NJ Department of Education a further goal is for teachers to earn developmental credit for the lesson plans evolving from the lectures and other projects such as QuarkNet activities.
