How did you decide to apply for the summer student programme?

I first heard about the program from a fellow student in the year above me who had applied for the program last year. After discussing it with a few of his friends who were previous summer students, I decided to apply because it seemed the most applicable summer research for HEP.

What is your previous background? 

My research background is in lattice quantum chromodynamics (LQCD), which means that I've been involved with a small part of the entire HEP field research-wise. I've also been fascinated with CERN and the LHC physics programs for a long time, as I had an interest in the elementary components of matter from a young age. 

Tell us a few words about your project.

I was initially presented with two topics by my mentor (from CalTech, in the CMS collaboration) here at CERN, but I chose to work on the analysis pertinent to the Phase 2 upgrades (HL-LHC), specifically in Drell-Yan events and the Higgs to WW to 2L2Nu channel. My main objective is to see how well our current analysis techniques hold up at High Pile-up (~140) and to improve any techniques to boost our efficiencies. This project is important because the increase in pileup to this level may be seen in the next run of the LHC, depending on timing. These situations will also be the conditions for the continued study of the Higgs properties and the ongoing search for new physics. 

Is your experience so far close to what you were expecting?

My experience has been close to my expectations. I've been able to push analysis at the frontier of physics studies and being the first person to look at specific properties seen in Monte Carlo simulations. I've also been awed by the LHC experiments I've gotten to tour (CMS, ATLAS, ALICE) and the summer student lectures have been wonderful. I think I've been most impressed by my actual research, as it was the first time I've ever gotten to work on simulations dealing with the Higgs and specifically the continued development of analysis techniques that might provide the analysis baseline in the next decade.

Did you have time to travel in Switzerland? 

I've had plenty of time to travel and utilized most of it. I made trips to Vevey to visit some family members, went boating on Lake Geneva outside of Montreaux, went to Annecy, France to see a stage of the Tour de France, saw the beautiful city of Basel, and made friends along most of the way.

From my time as a summer student at CERN I will certainly remember...

I think the most memorable moments will be my time with friends, not only on awesome weekend trips, but also during lectures, our conversations over dinner, and the free downtime we sometimes had between our work on research.