The objectives of Purdue University Calumet's high energy physics program are to maintain its active participation in the Forward Pixel Detector subsystem for CMS and to continue its activities in important physics tasks undertaken by the group at the LHC Physics Center (LPC) at Fermilab. The program of effort includes coordination of the Forward Pixel detector operation and the establishment of stable mode data-taking and tracker validation for this subsystem at 8TeV beam energy at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, using the Remote Operations Center (ROC) also located at Fermilab. In parallel with this operations effort, the group, as part of the upgrade effort, will continue to develop the forward pixel geometry for the CMS Forward Pixel Upgrade and, as the details are finalized, will incorporate the new geometry into the framework of CMS tracking software. In the area of physics analysis, the group is working on essential aspects of simulation studies in the b-tagging group at LPC and CMS, and on physics analyses in W decays and W production.
The Group has a very strong commitment to undergraduate education and research, and the campus is strategically located in northwest Indiana, thereby impacting a broad range of students, particularly from underserved communities. The Principal investigator serves as outreach coordinator for the Purdue University Calumet Physics Department. Hers is the largest research group in the Department and, correspondingly, has the largest number of students working on research projects. Additionally the group has built strong connections with teachers in northwest Indiana region and is in the process of starting at QuarkNet Center.
