Postdoc With The Atlas Collaboration
New York, Ny, Us
When the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was turned on for the first time in 2008, the data taken were really, truly Big Data. The machine is 20 miles in circumference, 100 meters underground. The ATLAS detector is very finely instrumented, but bigger than a house. Proton beams crossed 40 million times a second, collecting > 3 PB of data per year. There were 3000 authors on each scientific paper, 12 pages of authors and institutes. The questions were big, as well: what is the universe made of? How does it work?I worked as an experimental physicist with the ATLAS Collaboration on data analysis and operation of the one of the key subsystems, the Liquid Argon Calorimeter. - Lead a group of over 80 researchers from 30 institutes performing the first ATLAS searches for di-electron and di-muon resonances (Z' particles). Our work was published in PLB (2011).- Lead the ATLAS Exotics subgroup studying very high energy electrons used in searches for W’ and Z’ bosons. In addition to the Z’, a paper documenting the search for the W’ with 2010 data was published in PLB (2011).- Lead-authored a paper summarizing the Liquid Argon (LAr) calorimeter electronics performance, published by JINST (2010).- Co-lead the ATLAS LAr calorimeter Detector Operations team (2008-2009). Defined control room procedures, trained and organizing shifters, and ensured that the LAr systems were ready for the first LHC data.- Coordinated of a team of engineers and technicians responsible for the removal, repair, testing and re-installation of Front End Boards for the LAr Calorimeter (2007-2008).- Spoke about research at Harvard, Caltech, University of Chicago, University of Washington, Penn, NYU, and more, often along with a talk to undergraduates on how to get involved with research.- Guided tours for the public on CERN Open Day, gave talks to high school students in Rochester, NY, and middle school students in Queens, NY about LHC science and careers in research.