Partnership in EPP and STEM Ed Research: Particle Tracking at the HL-LHC and in STEM Education

本研究项目旨在通过探索自然界的基本对称性及其与质量起源的关系，在最小尺度上更好地理解宇宙，同时研究如何将这些研究概念和实践带给课堂和研究小组的本科物理学生。它支持实验粒子物理（EPP）小组和物理教育研究（PER）小组的合作，以实现这一目标。大型强子对撞机（LHC）的科学是早期宇宙的物理学，基本粒子和它们的相互作用。希格斯玻色子的发现是理解宇宙早期历史的一个重要里程碑，物理学家们现在正在为发现潜力的下一个重大飞跃做准备：高亮度LHC升级（HL-LHC）。参与这项研究的物理学家相对较少，而且这个研究团体的多样性并不能反映美国人口的多样性。为了扩大研究的影响，研究人员将开发和评估各种方法，同时增加EPP的多样性，并利用PER工具和方法扩大学生在这一前沿研究领域的参与。作为这项工作的一部分，该团队将设计和评估用于实验课程和本科生研究人员的教学材料。该项目涉及实验粒子物理（EPP）小组和物理教育研究（PER）小组的合作，开展前沿粒子物理研究，并将相同的前沿研究理念和实践带给物理学本科学生。对于HL-LHC，研究人员将在许多方面应对CMS升级的挑战——模拟、工程和设计、硬件测试以及设备的最终构建。一个主要的重点将是跟踪固件的开发。这些努力将使CMS能够从HL-LHC升级中提取最大的物理特性。在CMS硬件触发器中添加跟踪将提高CMS实验对诸如寻找标准模型之外的物理和测量已知粒子的精确性质等各种主题的灵敏度。在这个领域，研究人员将面对基本的对称性、质量的本质、空间的维度和宇宙的宇宙学起源。同时，研究人员将进行教育干预的对照研究和观察研究，将EPP研究概念和实践引入到课堂和研究小组的本科物理学生中。以课程为基础的本科研究经验（CUREs）模型为基础，该模型已特别用于生物学和其他一些STEM领域，以重新设计课程和课程，研究小组将评估CURE框架应用于物理学的有效性，将EPP研究概念和技能引入本科课程，并扩大EPP研究的参与。这项工作将需要PER和EPP专家之间的创新合作，以设计和评估特定学科的、真实的、教育上合理的教学材料，这些材料将直接使课堂和大型强子对撞机受益。本项目响应国家科学基金22-097“致同事信：实验基本粒子物理与STEM教育研究合作促进研究参与”。该奖项由STEM教育理事会（EDU）物理部（PHY）和本科教育部（DUE）共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This research project aims to better understand the universe at the smallest scales by probing nature's basic symmetries and their relation to the origin of mass and to simultaneously study how to bring these research concepts and practices to undergraduate physics students in classrooms and research groups. It supports the collaboration of an experimental particle physics (EPP) group and a physics education research (PER) group to achieve this goal. The science of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the physics of the early universe, of the elementary particles and their interactions. The discovery of the Higgs Boson was a major milestone toward understanding the early history of the universe, and physicists are now preparing for the next big leap in discovery potential: the High-Luminosity LHC upgrades (HL-LHC). A relatively small number of physicists are involved in this research, and the diversity of this research community does not reflect the diversity of the U.S. population. To broaden the impact of the research, the investigators will develop and evaluate ways to simultaneously increase the diversity of EPP and broaden participation of students in this cutting-edge research area using PER tools and approaches. As part of this effort, the team will design and evaluate instructional materials to be used both in laboratory courses and with undergraduate researchers. This project involves the collaboration of an experimental particle physics (EPP) group and a physics education research (PER) group to conduct cutting-edge particle physics research and to bring the same cutting-edge research concepts and practices to the population of undergraduate physics students. For the HL-LHC, researchers will attack the CMS upgrade challenge on many fronts -- simulation, engineering and design, testing of hardware, and final construction of devices. A major emphasis will be the development of the track finding firmware. These efforts will make it possible for CMS to extract the maximum physics from the HL-LHC upgrade. Adding tracking to the CMS hardware trigger will improve the sensitivity of the CMS experiment to such diverse topics as searching for physics beyond the Standard Model and measuring precise properties of known particles. In this realm, the researchers will confront fundamental symmetries, the nature of mass, the dimensionality of space, and the cosmological origins of the universe. Simultaneously, the investigators will conduct a controlled and an observational study of educational interventions to bring the EPP research concepts and practices to undergraduate physics students in classrooms and research groups. Building on models of Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs), which have been especially used in biology and some other STEM fields to redesign courses and curricula, the research team will evaluate the efficacy of the CURE framework as applied to physics as a way to bring EPP research concepts and skills to the undergraduate curriculum and to broaden participation in EPP research. This effort will require innovative collaboration between PER and EPP experts to design and evaluate discipline-specific, authentic, educationally sound instructional materials that will directly benefit both the classroom and the LHC. This project is in response to NSF 22-097, "Dear Colleague Letter: Partnership in Experimental Elementary Particle Physics and STEM Education Research to Promote Broadening Research Participation." This award is jointly funded by the Physics Division (PHY) and the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) in the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.