California State University (CSU) is the largest university system in the US with 23 campuses and ~490,000 students with very large minority and first generation college student populations. Among all the 23 CSU campuses, Fresno State joined ATLAS in 2007 as the only CSU campus on ATLAS or CMS, the two flagship LHC experiments designed to search for new physics. To provide the outstanding ATLAS/LHC research opportunities to a wider CSU community, we have been building up the CSU Nuclear and Particle Physics Consortium (NUPAC) since 2008. 19 other CSU campuses (Bakersfield, Channel Islands, Chico, Dominguez Hills, East Bay, Humboldt, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Northridge, Pomona, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, San Marcos, Sonoma, and Stanislaus) have joined the consortium. The 19 other CSU NUPAC campuses and the liaison faculty at these campuses are listed below.

     

    The total cost for a student to travel and work at CERN for 8 weeks during summer is ~$7.5K. In 2015, Prof. Yongsheng Gao received a 3-year $249,863 grant from NSF's International Research Experience for Students (IRES) (Award number: 1459240, from 8/1/2015 to 7/31/2018). This grant supported a total of 15 students from CSU NUPAC campuses to work at CERN on ATLAS research for 3 summers from 2016 to 2018 (5 students each summer). The students spent full 8 weeks at CERN working on ATLAS research projects. In addition, they spent another week or so visiting Europe after their work at CERN and before they return to the US. In 2019, Prof. Yongsheng Gao received another 3-year $300,000 grant from NSF's International Research Experience for Students (IRES) (Award number: 1854214, from 3/15/2019 to 2/28/2022). This grant supported a total of 18 students from CSU NUPAC campuses to work at CERN on ATLAS research for 3 summers from 2020 to 2022 (6 students each summer) and each student will receive $5,500 for traveling and working at CERN. A poster about the IRES award and our ATLAS program can be found here. CSU students will also have the option to work at SLAC on ATLAS research projects during summer of 2019 and beyond as members of the CSU ATLAS program with possible support from US ATLAS.

     

    To prepare students for working on ATLAS projects at CERN during summer, an online Phys 163 (Introduction to Particle Physics and ATLAS Experiment at the LHC of CERN) has been offered at Fresno State since fall of 2012 by Prof. Yongsheng Gao. This online course is open to students from CSU NUPAC campuses and offered on regular basis every fall semester to CSU NUPAC. Here is the detailed information about this online course for fall of 2018. If you are interested in working on ATLAS projects at CERN during summer, you are required to take this online course before working at CERN. Please contact the liaison faculty on your campus (or Prof. Yongsheng Gao if you are a Fresno State student) for more information if you are interested to take this course to prepare for working at CERN on ATLAS research.