What is your previous background? 

Most of what I had learned about the physics at CERN, the LHC in particular, was only from a project for a single class. My research back home focused on lower energy nuclear physics, since I work under the Nuclear Engineering department. Of course, I was very excited for the opportunity to expand my boundaries as well as visit the famous facilities at CERN for the first time.

Tell us a few words about your project.

My project was with CMS. The goal of my project was to compare different methods of jet reconstruction. I used jets of varying cone sizes and different grooming parameters to reconstruct a W boson decaying into two jets. The widths of the W peaks in the dijet mass spectra were compared with the purpose of identifying which jet characteristics gave the narrowest resonance. Any improvement in resolution would improve the mass measurement of any particles that decay into quark jets. The results would be used in talks between both CMS and ATLAS to agree on a common jet reconstruction algorithm for future runs.

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

Since the LHC is currently in shutdown, I had expected CERN to be a lot less active. I thought most of the projects would have been simply analyzing the data that had been collected in the previous run or working on upgrading the LHC. I certainly was not expecting so many new studies to be going on. It is starting to sink in that conditions experienced and expected here are very different from anything that can be achieved at any other facitilies, requiring extra preparation. I am still very impressed by the pace and amount of the activity here.I do hope to continue working on this project during my last year as an undergrad. There is a very good chance that I will attend graduate school for HEP, in which case I hope that I would have the opportunity to return to CERN.

Did you have time to visit/travel outside CERN? 

I had gone hiking on a couple of the weekends. The magnitude of the mountains in Switzerland was certainly an amazing experience for me. I live in the "mountains" on the East Coast of the United States, but now when I see pictures of home, the landscape looks like tiny hills. I certainly will miss the landscapes and the horizon here.

I also had the opportunity to spend a weekend in Paris. I was amazed with the amount of history I experienced there. Again, I compared the trip to what I have seen in the US. In this case, it is easy to understand just how young my country is.