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1. Project Summary

1.1. Project Elements:

• New REU Site

• Title: Physics and Mathematics Summer Research Institute at SMU

• Principle Investigator: Prof. Robert Kehoe

• Co-Principle Investigator: Dr. Randall Scalise

• Submitting Organization: Southern Methodist University

• Other Organizations Involved: Columbia University, Brookhaven National Laboratory

• Locations: Southern Methodist University, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, European Orga-

nization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Soudan Underground Laboratory

• Main Fields: Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Sub-fields: Physics, Math

• Number of Undergraduates Supported per Year: 10

• Summer REU Site

• Number of Weeks per Year: 10

• Point-of-contact: Robert Kehoe, kehoe@physics.smu.edu, 214-768-1793

• Web Address: http://www.physics.smu.edu/web/research/

1.2. Project Summary

We propose to create an NSF REU site at Southern Methodist University (SMU) to provide research expe-

riences in physics and mathematics to ten students per year for 3 years. A research Institute will be created

structured to encourage development of capable, confident and creative researchers in the sciences.

We will provide undergraduate students with unique research opportunities working with 14 faculty men-

tors in particle physics, computational math and cosmology. Students will engage in a complete spectrum

of science, from theoretical prediction and detector design, to modeling and data taking, and analysis and

conclusion. Their research will be supported by program elements designed to nurture an interest in scientific

endeavors, and build skills necessary for a career in science research. These include targeted mini-courses,

a weekly lunch and discussion, a local topical field trip, and the students’ presentation at a final sympo-

sium. Students will be recruited primarily from two-year and higher institutions in four states of Arkansas,

Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas centered on our location. We will identify students among underrepresented

groups for which our program may provide an encouragement to further pursue research.

The combination of topical and regional emphasis is unique among NSF’s funded 2010-2011 REU Sites.

We have substantial experience successfully mentoring SMU undergraduates in research. Our program will

encourage the exchange of ideas and experiences between the students working in the areas of math, theory

and experiment. An institute-like atmosphere will foster creativity, broaden the research experience and

expose students to the interdisciplinary nature of fundamental research.

Intellectual Merit: The faculty mentors in this proposal conribute to solving some of the deepest

problems in science. This includes a search for the origin of particle mass, efforts to connect gravity to

the physics of the subatomic world, identification of the constituents of dark matter, and state of the art

electronics and other hardware to study this physics. We engage in well-recognized collaborations in the field,

including the ATLAS, DØ, and SuperCDMS experiments, and the CTEQ collaboration. In mathematics, we

are engaged in new computational approaches that address a wide range of prominent problems in physics

and biology. These include questions of fusion, ionization in the early universe, simulation of light propagation

in optical fibers, and biological processes. The undergraduates supported by this proposal will be integral

colleagues in these efforts.

Broader Impacts: The chief broader impact will be to facilitate the growth of ten students into re-

searchers. They will be more able to consider a research career and may make further contributions to math,

physics or biology. We also expect a large fraction of these projects to contribute to the research of our

groups, and possibly software or hardware of use to the wider research community. These results have the

possibility to be included in publications or further research.

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2. Project Description

2.1. Overview

Objectives: University education provides a critical time of formation and finalization of career choices for

most students. As a preparation for a professional career, it is now well-recognized that out-of-classroom

research experiences hold many benefits for students. Directly, they provide knowledge and skills needed

in specific scientific fields. More broadly, the research endeavor provides an important exercise of students’

analytical and creative abilities. It also allows the students to explore and develop their interests and strengths

so they can gain a sense of themselves as a researcher or other professional.

This Site proposal aims to provide such a research experience in physics and mathematics to ten under-

graduates per year. We will focus on a ten week program encouraging the development of the ”3 C’s” in

our students: Competence, Confidence and Creativity. Competence will be developed through mini-courses

and training exercises within each research opportunity. Confidence will be nurtured via a widening scope

of exercises and problems that steadily increases the extent of a student’s accomplishments. Creativity is

fostered by presenting research questions to the student as they go about this process, encouraging them

to develop their own approaches. In all of this, we allow the abilities and interests of the student to set the

scale of accomplishment in the expectation this will maximize their learning in the time allotted.

More specific goals for this program involve development of several skills that are important for a re-

searcher. In many scientific fields, a knowledge of programming and/or computational techniques are essen-

tial. Experience working on electronics is valuable in physics and engineering. We anticipate each student will

learn a specific topic well in physics or mathematics. We have also designed our REU Site to give valuable

instruction and experience in speaking and presentation on a technical subject, as well as in scientific writing.

Students will also learn that science is often a collaborative effort within which they can make meaningful

contributions to the overall goals.

Targeted Students: We will be interested in students at two and four year institutions with an expressed

interest in physics and mathematics. Students from other related fields will also be welcome, and several

faculty mentors have experience with such cross-disciplinary undergraduates. These students are expected to

primarily come from the four-state region (TX, OK, LA, AR) centered on the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex,

although we will pursue contacts with institutions across the U.S. as well. One of the difficulties faced by

our national economy is the lack of sufficient science and engineering graduates. These lost opportunities

are even more evident with respect to minority groups and women. As a result, our Site will make a strong

effort to identify good candidates from within these groups.

Intellectual Focus: We envision our REU Site as a Summer Research Institute (SRI) focusing on

the physics of fundamental interactions and on computational mathematics. We pursue this with a strong

research program combined with pedagogical elements. Students will be immersed not only with the REU

program for the general content of the Institute, but with the individual research groups of their mentors.

The research program will dominate the student activities.

The topics themselves are grouped into four related categories: experimental particle physics, theoretical

particle physics, computational math, and cosmology. Experimental particle physics projects will range

from detector development to data analysis. Professors Robert Kehoe, Stephen Sekula and Jingbo Ye lead

groups at SMU in the proton collider experiments ATLAS at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and DØ at

the Tevatron, and the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE). Three research faculty (Tiankuan Liu,

Annie Xiang and Datao Gong) join them as faculty mentors for the SRI. Theoretical investigations will focus

on strong interactions and gravitons with Professors Pavel Nadolsky and Roberto Vega, and Drs. Randall

Scalise and Simon Dalley. Nadolsky leads a group working with the Coordinated Theoretical-Experimental

Study of QCD (CTEQ) collaboration. The theoretical program connects well with the experimental program

in top quark and graviton physics.

The emphasis of computational math research will be in modeling and simulation of phenomena in wave

propagation, the early universe and biology. Mathematics Professors Alejandro Aceves, Daniel Reynolds and

Brandilyn Stigler lead groups in these directions. While there are obvious connections to theory research,

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these topics also connect with the experimental program. For instance, wave propagation studies are relevant

to understanding optical fiber elements of DØ and ATLAS. Cosmology projects will include early universe

ionization, dark matter and standard candle variable stars. Professor Jodi Cooley leads a group on the Super

Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) experiment. Reynolds and Kehoe lead research in the early

universe and variable stars. These efforts connect with the experimental ones via gravity and dark matter

particles, and with computational ones via modeling techniques.

We will take advantage of the interconnectedness of the topics the students will be working on by em-

phasizing two broad themes during the SRI. Students will consider the macroscopic world dominated by

gravity and its relation to the microscopic world of quantum mechanics. This integrates the studies of dark

matter and variable stars on the one hand and gravitons and detectable Weakly Interacting Massive Particles

(WIMPs) on the other. Computation ties together several elements of our program, as well. Students will

experience and discuss modeling in physics and biology near the beginning of the scientific method, and

analysis techniques in experimental physics and astrophysics near its end.

Organizational Structure: Responsibilities on the organization of our Site will involve primarily the

PI Kehoe and Co-PI Scalise. The PI will perform budgeting, proposal submission and reporting. Scalise and

Kehoe will share the responsibilities of administering the Site and all its activities. This is described in more

detail below. A total of 14 faculty will act as students’ mentors and contribute to individual project elements,

such as teaching in a mini-course or recruiting.

We expect this proposal to support an REU effort in 2012-2014. Substantial recruiting will take place in

the fall and early winter preceding each summer. Modifications to the structure and pedagogy of the next

summer’s program will be reviewed and decided early each fall. Applications will be reviewed each winter

and acceptances transmitted in time for students to make summer arrangements. SMU has demonstrated a

commitment to funding undergraduate research and for this REU will provide office and computing facilities.

2.2. Nature of Student Activities

2.2.1. Pedagogical Approach:

The presence of a well-trained and representative corps of scientifically minded university graduates is a

major requirement of a healthy modern society. Evidence suggests that in the U.S. we are not succeeding in

filling this need in the numbers required, particularly in underrepresented populations. The reasons for this

shortcoming are manifold, but include items that can be addressed at the college or university level.

At its heart, research relies on the ability to develop new ideas, techniques or practices in a field of

endeavor. It is the new thing we contribute in building the professional world. The key ingredient is creativ-

ity, something not teachable in many traditional classroom contexts. A primary goal of an undergraduate

research program must be to inculcate an effective exercise of creativity in students such that they can

either participate capably in a professional context right out of SMU, or they can skillfully transition to the

more extensive world of graduate research. Achievement of an effective creativity rests on a foundation with

two parts: competence and confidence. Both must be present, and, at the beginning of a young researcher’s

career, both are lacking in the research context. Building the knowledge base, skills and patterns of thought

provides competence. Exercising those skills with sufficient chances for success along the way, while also

allowing setbacks and the resulting lessons learned, provides a path to confidence in research. By reaching a

final result of their research program, each student will conclude with a sense of pride and accomplishment,

and the sense that they have made a meaningful contribution to the research efforts of the group. Our SRI

is designed around achieving all three of these goals: competence, confidence and creativity.

Each project, group and faculty mentor will operate differently, but there are general strategies that

will usually be in common. Students’ relevant skills will be engaged starting early in the SRI, first through

instruction and then quickly to activities in the research context. At the close of the initial instruction

period, mentors will help students define focused projects anchored into the overall research of that mentor.

We will ask the students to write a brief description, or discuss at the weekly lunch, this project early in

the SRI. This will assist the student in integrating their understanding, and it marks the beginning of the

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development of the capstone report and presentation. Starting in the second week, initial tasks will be used

to gain confidence in executing technical work, and to develop new thoughts on next steps. This helps place

the student’s work on a technical line of reasoning. The student will attempt more substantial studies as

they become more capable and confident.

Aside from the common activities described above, the rest of the SRI will consist of frequent interaction of

the undergraduate with faculty, postdocs and graduate students. Informal meetings of student and mentor

are very important and will be held frequently during the week and sometimes include lunches to break

down barriers. Students will be integrated into a research group similarly to a graduate student, and they

will develop a sense of the collaborative effort involved in research. These individuals will also provide an

important peer group that will help validate the student’s involvement. Each group will arrange weekly

meetings to allow the student to establish goals and priorities, communicate their progress and receive

feedback. As the SRI progresses, students will be asked to provide occasional updates during the SRI weekly

lunches, perhaps as a brief presentation. To complete the research experience, capstone experiences are key

to intellectually tying the breadth of their work together and communicating it effectively and professionally.

2.2.2. Structural Elements:

The SMU SRI will be conducted with structural elements that reinforce the overall themes in physics and

math described above. The pedagogical philosophy will be one that inculcates the 3 C’s in student researchers.

Before describing the specific student research project activities, we describe these more general activities

below.

For undergraduates to feel capable and make positive contributions to the research effort, they need a

baseline of knowledge and skill. As a result, we will provide several instructional elements to the SRI. This

will include informal, elective mini-courses in math and physics, as well as weekly seminars and a field trip to

a local research institution. We also include a short training in ethics in research. The structure will be such

that the first week, the students will receive a general orientation about the program, the university facilities,

housing and the general Dallas area. They will be introduced to the program directors and mentors and given

emergency contact information, other administrative requirements will also be completed. The ethics training

and basic computing workshop will also be the first week. The particle physics and computation mini-courses

will start the second week. An suggested schedule for the first two weeks is given in Figure 1.

Fig. 1. Weight distributions with different numbers of pseudorapidity choices: (a) 10 (b) 30 (c) 70 (d) 200

Computers 101 Workshop: A basic facility with computers has become a mainstay of the sciences.

We will provide a brief workshop at the beginning of the SRI dedicated to teaching the students the basics

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of Linux and its shell, basic programming via Python and C++. The workshop will occupy half of each day

for the opening week of the SRI and involve exercises and instruction relevant to physics and math research.

We have already implemented a prototype of this workshop for our SMU summer research students this year

and have obtained valuable feedback to ensure a successful workshop in 2012.

Computational Mini-course: Sophisticated familiarity with computational methods is very useful in

the sciences, whether it be in simulation, numerical analysis or data mining techniques. We will provide a

mini-course starting the second week of the SRI, after the Computers 101 workshop, that will provide to

students daily instruction in using Matlab for numerical programming, benefiting from Reynolds’ experience

teaching undergraduate courses in introductory scientific computing with Matlab. Sample topics may include:

(1) Polynomial interpolation and regression

(2) Numerical differentiation and integration

(3) Explicit methods for ordinary differential equations

(4) Monte Carlo methods

(5) Discrete Fourier transform

(6) Poisson and Bayesian statistics

Each topic will be presented by a faculty mentor participating in the REU program. Given the limited time

available, lectures will aim to cover the basics that are essential for successful accomplishment of the REU

projects rather than on in-depth learning, and will focus on individual and group problem-solving activities.

Particle Mini-course: The purpose of the mini HEP course is to introduce students to the most basic

ideas necessary for the analysis and interpretation of experimental data. This will allow them to appreciate,

and successfully participate in, the group research efforts. A list of topics we plan to cover include,

(1) What is a Fundamental Particle, what is not, and How to tell the difference.

(2) Introduction to the Standard Model and the major questions in HEP research

(3) Kinematics and their use in Particle Identification

(4) Conservation Laws and the Analysis of Particle Interactions

(5) Basic detector design and operation

(6) Introduction to statistical concepts use in data analysis

(7) The use of Monte Carlo Methods in HEP

This will be team taught by the faculty mentors, with the emphasis on hands-on activities. It will be aimed

at giving students a rough idea of the “big picture” of key physics concepts in particle physics and enabling

them to quickly begin their individual research. It will also accentuate the collaborative nature of research

by showing them the importance of their individual projects in the overall research efforts of the SMU group.

Weekly Seminar: With 14 faculty mentors in the SRI, we have the opportunity to provide a colloquium

style presentation of research in each week. These talks will connect with the research of one or more students

in the SRI, but will constitute a topic central to the faculty member. As such, it will inform beyond both

the mini-courses and their direct research experience. One goal of the SRI is to foster an environment of

discussion of research among the students and between the students and SMU personnel. We believe this

will substantially improve the students’ experience by allowing them to make connections, exercise their own

ability to discuss research topics, and think freely with their peers in informal discussions away from the

’work in the lab’.

Field Trip: Another way in which we will foster the student’s involvement in research is via a field trip to

at least one relevant research institution. There are several technology companies in the Dallas- Fort Worth

area that could serve this role, including Texas Instruments or Honeywell. The Comanche Peak nuclear power

plant near Dallas, TX or the LIGO detector in Livingston, LA would make a very interesting trip.

Ethics Training: Any research career requires a reasonable underpinning of ethical conduct. Some

important questions center around intellectual property, acknowledgement or co-authorship of results, and

proper treatment of data and uncertainties. We will coordinate a concise pair of lectures reviewing these

topics. This will involve advisors from SMU Research Administration, and we will ask students to take the

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standard ethics training test at the end of this segment.

Weekly Lunch and Social Outings: Students benefit strongly when the research environment also

includes collegial and extra-laboratory activities that are shared with other professional staff such as faculty

mentors, postdocs and graduate students. In fact, a study of the impact of research experience as judged by

students pointed to a very high value of an overall benefit that is not confined to learning the mechanics of

learning how to do research [Ref.]. This involved a personal benefit of the experience.

In conducting the SRI, we will focus on creating a nurturing environment for the students, at the same

time as one that places a high premium on learning to stand on one’s own. Regular contact horizontally

across REU students and vertically between all persons associated with the involved projects will allow

students to familiarize with their peers and their more senior colleagues so they can increase their confident

and habitual ability to communicate in the research setting. We will therefore arrange regular weekly lunches

where research news, and non-research news can be shard across members of the SRI. This may be a brownbag

or catered scenario, depending on whether the department will support it. We will also have at least two

social outings arranged for the students, one of which will be held at a professor’s home.

Summer Research Symposium: To cement the SRI experience for students, it is important to aim

for a capstone event where final results can be revealed and a discussion can ensue. This event should tie all

elements of the SRI pedagogy together. We will conduct a final research symposium in which students prepare

20 minute presentations of their work. We will organize the event along the lines of a typical conference in the

sciences. We already have significant experience in the direction of such a symposium. We have developed in

the physics department a curricular element of our mid-level undergraduate classes where students give a 20

minute presentation. We instruct in good presentation practices and conduct a multi-step preparation that

brings students to a final product. The steps include topic choice, outlining, drafting of the presentation,

and a partial practice talk before the final. All steps are reviewed thoroughly. In general, our students like

this project and even those that have presentation experience indicate it has helped them in preparation.

We have also performed a first symposium for our in-house summer researchers last Fall. In October, Kehoe,

Sekula and Cooley organized a small conference with posters and a review panel. SMU’s Dean of Research

and other dignitaries came, as well as various undergraduate and graduate students. It was very successful

and led directly to subsequent presentations given at conferences and SMU’s winter research symposium

that includes graduate students.

Initial Proposal and Final Report: To ensure that they have a clear understanding of their assigned

projects and what they are expected to accomplish, students will be required to turn-in to the program

director a brief description of their projects including what they hope to accomplish. This brief description

should be completed no later than the end of the second week of the internship. This document will serve

as the first step toward a final paper at the end of the SRI. We will ask students for a paper of moderate

length to discuss their research. One aspect of the paper drafting will involve one other student serving as

a referee for one paper. In this way, the students will see the paper writing project from the vantage of the

reader.

2.2.3. Student Research Activities

While the general activities will provide important unifying and developmental services to the students, their

main endeavor will be their research projects. These projects will be in the four categories of experimen-

tal particle physics, theoretical particle physics, computational mathematics, and cosmology. Two or more

students will engage in each category. In the following subsections, we describe these research groups and

example projects for the SRI students. We emphasize showing what the students will be doing and how they

will interact with others doing research. We attempt to illustrate how students are treated as colleagues in

research and mentored toward becoming effective researchers. Because individual projects are often difficult

to predict one or more years in advance, we will describe a mix of recently finished projects, projects in

progress and planned projects in an attempt to give a more complete picture of what the experience will

look like to students. Not all currently potential projects are listed or covered uniformly, and projects will

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change in subsequent years.

2.2.4. Experimental Particle Physics:

Undergraduates researching with the experimental particle physics group will have the opportunity to work on

detector development, and a variety of data analysis projects. Studies in top quark physics, search strategies

for Higgs bosons and gravitons, and neutrino physics are all possible. Students will work as an integral part of

research teams on major experiments. Here we describe some previous or proposed undergraduate projects.

More detail on the environment of this research group, and others described in this proposal, is given in

Section 2.3.

Measuring the Top Quark Mass: The top quark is the heaviest of all known fundamental particles

in nature. Its high mass means that, in the standard model, the top quark provides the single most sensitive

indication of the Higgs boson mass. The top quark mass may also signal a unique connection to the origin

of mass and to new laws of physics that take over at the highest energy scales. Kehoe’s research is the

measurement of the top quark mass using events with two final state leptons [41, 42]. To reconstruct the top

quark mass, our group integrates over unmeasured neutrinos to solve otherwise underconstrained events.

Several important questions can be researched by an REU student. A typical process of working with

undergraduates can be gained from an example study performed by SMU student Jason South who modelled

the unmeasured neutrinos in top quark events. Through instruction and simple exercises, he initially became

familiar with the kinematic constraints of top quark events and the role of numerical integration in solving

the relevant constraint equations. He also learned the nature of simulated events and how to analyze them

to extract kinematic information. He performed fits to example distributions, giving some experience in

the statistical issues involved. South was asked to generate a statistically valid model of the neutrino by

fitting the simulated events for many different top quark masses. This was an early, modest creative leap

chosen to have a high probability of success. Next steps involved parametrizing the model as a function

of unknown top quark mass. By this point, he was able to perform this step largely unaided. He created

several models, presented them to the group and proposed one to be included in the default mass analysis.

The other models were the basis of a test of the analysis systematic sensitivity to model. Via presentation

and debate he resolved a statistical concern of the postdoc in our group. The student was doing their own

research and making their own research decisions, proposals and arguments. This student was co-author on

a preprint reviewed and made public by DØ [3], as well as the student giving a poster at a regional APS

conference. An earlier student, now graduated, worked on a related topic and is now employed at Lockheed

Martin. One possible new project involves extending the above effort into a third dimension by exploiting

the correlation of neutrino and lepton from the same W boson decay. Such an approach may improve the

statistical precision of the analysis, and is an appropriate project for a student with modest programming

and/or statistical knowledge.

Because the correct assignment of leptons, neutrinos and jets is unknown, all possible combinations must

be averaged over, resulting in loss of sensitivity. A student could pursue a project considering the use of the

proton structure, which constrains the dynamics of the initial collision, to provide a method of calculating

the probability that certain solutions are correct. If significant differentiation exists, the student can propose

a method of using the constraint to improve precision. If their software skills warrant, they will have the

opportunity to modify the very specific integration code. Such a project could lead to participation in a

publication.

Top Quarks as Probes of New Physics: The LHC is currently the highest-energy particle collider

on earth, and it provides an excellent opportunity to probe top quark production and decay at previously

inaccessible energies. Sekula pursues a search for new physics with ATLAS using tt events decaying to one τ

lepton plus multiple jets and missing transverse energy. By studying such events where the τ lepton can be

identified as a jet-like object via its hadronic decays, he works toward sensitivity to new, heavy particles in

the top quark decay chain not expected in the Standard Model. The study of particles produced in association

with the top quarks will aide in this search.

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The challenges of this analysis involve 1) the difficulty of properly assigning the correct jets to the correct

top quark (based on total electric charge), 2) a significant contribution from background processes containing

large numbers of jets, and 3) the optimal use of available information to identify new particles. A number

of important research projects arise where an engaged, enthusiastic student can make a significant impact.

One example follows that since the electric charge of the quarks produced in LHC collisions is not directly

accessible, we must develop approximate methods to estimate the charge of the underlying quarks. Such “jet

charge” algorithms typically use kinematic and track reconstruction information to perform this estimate.

Such algorithms have been developed by the Tevatron experiments, and our goal would be to try to press

these algorithms harder, or add more information, to improve performance. Students will have opportunities

to explore advanced computational methods, such as the development and use of Genetic Algorithms to

evolve a better jet charge algorithm, or Boosted Decision Trees to try to improve the use and weighting

of input information. A second example involves development of new variables (e.g. through advanced sta-

tistical methods) for the separation of signal (e.g. new heavy particles) from background processes, either

in the decay of the top quark or in association with top quark production. This again is an opportunity

to employ advanced statistical and data analysis techniques to the final purpose of discovering previously

unseen physical phenomena.

The student will be responsible for deciding which approaches to the project are most feasible, and again

will be expected to ask questions and learn to seek resources (web, library, colleagues, and collaborators

within the larger experimental collaboration). They will develop the software for their research in Python

and C++, and will learn to implement physics principles in software. They will learn to use, develop, and

deploy advanced computational methods and statistical techniques (neural networks, genetic algorithms,

decision trees, etc.) with the goal of evaluating their performance in advancing their project. These activities

will be reinforced by the mini-course on particle physics by applying the principles of those courses to the

analysis and exploration of real data from the ATLAS experiment.

Search for Randall-Sundrum Gravitons: Recent theoretical results [46] postulate that there might

be extra dimensions involved in the unification of fundamental interactions, and predict a spin 2 resonant

graviton. This Randall-Sundrum graviton can decay substantially to two photons, which distinguishes it from

other hypothesized high mass resonances which decay to lepton pairs. Kehoe’s team has been researching

search methods for this particle and there are several opportunities for REU students to get involved. For

space reasons, we refer to the previous for examples of students in particle physics research. Example topics

include the measurement of photon at high pT , or a study of kinematic shapes of diphoton backgrounds that

will assist in background modeling.

Development of Opto-electronics for High Energy Physics Experiments: In the optoelectronics

lab we are pursuing three research directions: radiation tolerant optical link system and ASIC development

for ultra-high data transmission rate. This is needed in many future experiments, particularly in the ATLAS

Liquid Argon Calorimeter readout system upgrade for the High Luminosity LHC. The third direction is data

links in a deep cryogenic environment, like the one needed in the LBNE/LArTPC.

In these R&D efforts we always have well defined projects for undergraduate students to get hand-on

experience in instrumentation and hardware, and to contribute to research. Recently two SMU undergraduate

students have accomplished two projects in the lab, published or presented the results at NCUR2011. The

first project was to calibrate a pico-ammeter using an innovative way that involves the Ohm’s Law of

resistance and careful data analyses. The student, guided by Professor Liu, understood the idea, learned the

LabView language and adapted a program to control the measurement. He constructed the calibration setup

and performed the measurements. We guided him all the way through publication. The student is now a

graduate student at UT Austin majoring in Nuclear Engineering with a full scholarship support.

The second project is an irradiation measurement on optical fibers at -25 C temperature, a collaboration

we have with Oxford UK. The student started with test setup design and construction (a multi-channel optical

power meter) mentored by Prof. Liu. The student then participated in the irradiation test at the Brookhaven

National Lab, took shifts, analyzed the data. Again we guided the student from the very beginning all the

way through conference submission, presentation, and allocated resources for attending the conference. The

August 22, 2011 11:44 9

student presented his work at NCUR2011. Projects like these are numerous in the lab. We have the capacity

to guide four REU students through a summer. We can provide training in instrumentation and the related

software (mainly LabVIEW). For ambitious students we also have the capability to train them in hardware

designs involving modern FPGA coding, and even circuit designs if that is the interest of the students.

With this lab we can train students with hands-on projects, expose them to state-of-the-art equipment and

software, so that the students can move on to higher level of research projects, either in universities, or in

national labs.

2.2.5. Theoretical Particle Physics

Theoretically inclined students can engage in research with one of our faculty working on proton structure,

graviton modeling, Higgs phenomenology or QCD calculations. Potential projects are described below.

Undergraduate theory associates. With modern automated tools for data analysis, some tasks of

particle theory become simple enough to be performed by advanced undergraduate students. Some tasks

have a multi-disciplinary component and can attract non-physics (math, computer science) majors. Our

program especially hopes to attract mathematically inclined students who are looking for opportunities to

be introduced to modern theoretical and computational methods.

The LHC is publishing a wealth of experimental data about physics processes at the smallest distances

ever explored. Theorists are now in an unprecedented situation when the surge of interesting collider data

about fundamental natural laws outpaces our ability to analyze it. Many interesting measurements can be

compared to already existing theoretical computations, but the danger is that they may be neglected because

of the rapid pace of LHC analyses.

With this in mind, we wish to involve the REU students in the analysis of LHC processes, focusing

on simpler comparisons of theoretical predictions with various LHC data. Most students will not initially

possess all needed analytical skills. The difficulty of their tasks will be ramped up very gradually, beginning

with a one-week introductory course about interpretation of collider detector signals described in Sec. 2.2.2,

and following up with more specialized hands-on exercises and an individualized final project.

In the introductory course taught upon their arrival, students will be presented with examples of typical

events registered in the detector and taught simple techniques for their analysis. They will then proceed

to writing simple programs for the analysis of select LHC processes, and they will use existing automated

tools (MadGraph, CompHep, MCFM, etc.) to obtain theoretical predictions. They will then apply these

calculations to address a specific physics question (which will be the subject of their report), for example,

to discuss if the data agree with the theoretical prediction, and what potential consequences their findings

might have.

One particular research topic involves the study of the structure of the proton. Under the mentorship

of Nadolsky students will have the opportunity to apply the knowledge gained in mini-courses to study the

parton distribution functions (PDFs) of quarks and gluons in the proton. Their work will not involve expert-

level calculations. Rather, automated programs will take care of tedious details. Students will be introduced to

the basics of modern particle theory, but also to other experiences relevant for numerous areas of science and

technology (Python/C++/Unix/WWW programming, statistical analysis of data, Monte-Carlo simulations,

etc.). While all students will begin by taking introductory courses, the contents and difficulty of their final

tasks will be diversified depending on their preferences and abilities. Based on our past experience with

summer students, we anticipate that the strongest ones will be able to accomplish quite challenging studies.

Below, we list two examples of recent studies that were completed by advanced undergraduate students

under the guidance of SMU faculty.

Monte-Carlo methods for statistical analysis. In summer 2010, Nadolsky completed a research

study with a senior student Bridget Bertoni from the University of Pittsburgh that can serve as a model for

related REU activities. Nadolsky developed a new method for the statistical analysis of collider data based on

stochastic sampling of theoretical parameters. This method will lead to better understanding of the structure

of the nucleon [25, 26]. More generally, Monte-Carlo methods are now ubiquitously applied in science and

August 22, 2011 11:4410

technology to study probability distributions that are dependent on many parameters. Participation in these

studies introduces students both to basic particle theory and promising directions in modern statistical

applications.

Bertoni designed several algorithms and computer programs for the stochastic sampling approach. She

determined which Monte-Carlo algorithms available in a multi-dimensional integration library CUBA [27] are

most suitable for the integration of the probability function e−χ2/2 dependent on 20-40 free PDF parameters.

She also designed an algorithm for finding a boundary of the region of the allowed PDF parameters (at a

given confidence level) from a sample of discrete data points provided by Monte-Carlo integration.

Bertoni documented her results in two SMU preprints [30, 31]. They will be implemented in the CTEQ

fitting program, and she also plans to publish them in an undergraduate research journal. This research

experience provided Bertoni with first-hand experience on current research in particle physics and a range

of topics in statistics, machine pattern recognition, and programming in Fortran, C, and Mathematica.

Her contributions to these self-contained studies will help to (a) advance understanding of the structure

of nucleons in a broad range of processes; and (b) provide theoretical calculations that meet the accuracy

of key collider measurements. They will be used to better understand theoretical uncertainties in CTEQ

parton distribution functions, which will be essential for calibration of LHC detectors, “standard candle”

measurements, and searches for new physics phenomena.

Production of extra dimensional gravitons. Standard Model production of photon pairs has been

studied theoretically at hadron colliders by Nadolsky et al. by developing the program RESBOS [34–37] that

computes the fully differential cross section for production of photon pairs and similar processes, typically in

NLO QCD and at NLL resummation of initial state radiation. Dalley and Nadolsky are adding to RESBOS

the effect of an intermediate massive spin 2 particle B (a “graviton” from higher dimensions), coupling to the

energy momentum tensor, produced via the Drell-Yan process in pp → (B → γγ)X . This will help provide

a model-independent spin determination of any new boson discovered at the LHC. During the summer of

2010, Cotty Kerridge, a recent high school graduate, collaborated with Dalley in the initial developement of

this project. He derived identities for the angular decomposition of the pp → (B → γγ)X cross-section.

A future REU participant may complete a simple, guided, graviton cross-section calculation, write a

Fortran subroutine of the kind used in RESBOS, and produce a variety of graphical output from raw data

using standard library packages. Depending on progress the results can then be incorporated into RESBOS

to study angular variation of diphotons at the LHC, or study the transverse momentum dependence of the

cross-section. The student will acquire skills in generating data and presenting it in suitable form for analysis.

They will learn how new particles are identified in practice and how to assess confidence level. Kehoe and

his students have studied diphoton production for ATLAS, and there will be some collaboration between the

two groups.

2.2.6. Computational Applied Mathematics

Computational applied math projects will involve the development of techniques to model the early universe,

fusion and optical wave propagation. Students will have a unique and exciting opportunity of working closely

with faculty members and graduate students in Applied Mathematics on physics based research, including

areas covered in this REU. Specific projects include the following.

Early Universe Ionization: REU students will explore the use of different functional approximation

spaces for accurately interpolating the frequency spectrum of ionizing radiation in the early universe. Here,

the accuracy with which we can capture the spatial transport and interaction of radiation emanating from

early stars with the primordial gases prevalent soon after the Big Bang is critical. We have developed highly

robust, efficient and optimally scalable solvers for radiation transport and primordial chemical ionization;

however, these solvers utilize a very simple approximation of a smooth background radiation frequency

spectrum [54–58]. In actuality, this spectrum is only piecewise continuous, with jumps at the ionization

thresholds of chemical elements, and that spectrum varies dramatically over space and time. Historically,

simulation codes have approximated this inhomogeneity through using a piecewise constant binning of the

August 22, 2011 11:44 11

spectrum in frequency space which requires a large number of bins. In other words, while simple to implement,

such approaches are highly non-optimal, since each interpolation point in frequency space requires a separate

transport solve over the full spatial domain.

The participants in this REU project will investigate alternate interpolation spaces for the radiation

spectrum, with the goals of (a) using as few interpolation points in frequency space as possible, and (b)

achieving a highly accurate approximation of the radiation spectrum, as measured by photo-ionization and

photo-heating rates that are computed using frequency-space integrals of the radiation. We already have a

number of candidate approximation spaces in mind, and students will consider alternate spaces of their own

choosing as well. Each investigation will require the students to learn a small amount of numerical analysis –

polynomial interpolation and numerical integration, as well as a moderate amount of programming expertise

in Matlab, a common tool for scientific simulation in science and engineering.

The students’ activities in this REU project will change during the course of the summer. While they

receive basic numerical programming instruction in the mini-course, students will begin reading about the

relevant physics of radiation propagation and radiation-matter interaction [8], as well as the relevant numer-

ical analysis of polynomial interpolation and numerical integration [9]. After this brief introduction to the

tools and relevant science ideas, the students will be provided a sample Matlab code that performs a basic

piecewise constant interpolation, which they will begin to modify for their research experience. Throughout

this process, the students will work closely with Reynolds, and will have a desk and workstation co-located

in a shared office with Reynolds’ group of graduate students. Students will be required to meet a few key

milestones throughout the summer project: two short presentations on the status of their work to other REU

students, as well as a final written technical report detailing their findings.

Pulse propagation in fiber optics The most effective way of streaming and communicating large

amounts of data is through the transmission of optical signals in fibers. This is indeed the case of the optical

link system developed by Ye and utilized for data streaming in the ATLAS project, or the fiber tracker

detector of DØ. Specific to the problem of data transmission, it is important to understand and exploit the

different types of bit forms as well as the dynamics of information bits in the form of optical pulses as they

propagate in a fiber. As part of this REU, a student will work under the supervision of Aceves in the modeling

of light propagation in optical fibers. Research will start with the derivation of the equation(s) describing light

propagation in an optical fiber followed by producing a Matlab code for simulations. To accomplish these

tasks, first on the derivation, the student will do some reading [10] and one on one regular discussions with

Aceves. In parallel, she/he will join other students in doing some Matlab training (see previous discussion).

It is expected that the student will then be given a basic code that she/he will modify to answer questions

they will have a hand in choosing. From the simulations, the student will plot and interpret relevant data

and give a briefing to Aceves for assessment and followp up tasks.

With different degrees of sophistication, topics to be addressed include: Propagation of different pulse

formats, analysis of how different physical effects (dispersion, losses, noise), filtering modify the pulse shape,

and nonlinear effects including optical soliton dynamics. Throughout this research period the student will

keep a notebook of all activities.

2.2.7. Cosmology and Astrophysics:

For students who choose to pursue research in cosmology, possible projects will address ionization in the

early universe, search for dark matter particles, and studies of rapidly varying variable stars. The first is

described in Section 2.2.6, while example projects of the latter follow here.

Direct Search for Dark Matter: One strong candidate for the constituents of dark matter is a WIMP,

which should have a small interaction cross-section with atomic nuclei. Efforts are underway across the world

to construct and operate sensitive experiments, deep underground, that might be the first to directly observe

a dark matter particle scattering off of an atomic nucleus. Cooley led the analysis of the final data sample

for the CDMS II collaboration. This result not only set an unprecedented sensitivity in searching for WIMPs

with masses above 44 GeV/c2, but also constrained the parameter space of several favored supersymmetric

August 22, 2011 11:4412

models. It also placed the stringent limit of < 3.8 × 10−44 cm2 on the WIMP-nucleon cross section for a

WIMP with mass 70 GeV/c2.

A critical component to the success of the next phase SuperCDMS experiment is to maintain a background

environment of less than one event. The SMU SuperCDMS group will take a lead role in improving analysis

techniques used to discriminate electromagnetic background from dark matter signals using a new germanium

detector technology that will be deployed both at the Soudan Laboratory, and at the SNOLAB Laboratory

in Sudbury, Canada. We also plan to lead an effort to build an active neutron veto for the SuperCDMS

SNOLAB experiment to identify an otherwise irreducible internal neutron background from α-n and fission

interactions in materials immediately surrounding the SuperCDMS detectors.

Undergraduate research is currently a component of the SMU SuperCDMS program. One student, Hay-

den Craig, has already contributed to the study of “detector histories” - the record of detector handling

and location - to better understand the exposure to radon and thus the expected intrinsic radioactive back-

ground. In addition to this project, there are other opportunities in the SMU SuperCDMS effort ideal for

undergraduate involvement: comparison of intrinsic background predictions to measured in situ background

rates from the existing SuperCDMS detector, as a test of the reliability of detector history-based predictions;

use of the intrinsic background expectations to optimize the layout of the expanded SuperCDMS detector;

and data analysis contributions to other background-related studies.

Variable Stars Search: The study of variable stars, particularly regularly pulsating variable stars,

was critical to the discovery and study of the expansion of the universe. The ROTSE telescopes were built

to study the most sudden of cataclysmic variable stars, the gamma-ray bursts, but have also contributed

substantially to the identification and classification of a broad range of variables over the last decade. SMU

students have worked with Kehoe’s guidance to develop approaches to analyzing a specific subset of archival

ROTSE data [Ref] uniquely sensitive to very short time-scale variation. One of the important contributions

of projects like this is to ensure a complete coverage of variable stars in a spatial or luminosity range.

There are many opportunities for interesting research for undergraduates using the ROTSE data. For

instance, a student lacking programming experience pursued an analysis of lightcurves using existing soft-

ware that produced basic statistical assessments of the lightcurve, such as the moments of the magnitude

distribution of a lightcurve. Kehoe worked with her to learn the basic statistical principles involved, and

to learn the distinguishing characteristics of the non-variable instrumental backgrounds. She was able to

identify a clear set of criteria to optimize the efficiency to identify rapidly pulsating and eclipsing systems

and minimize background. Fortuitously, her result was somewhat unexpected, giving her the opportunity to

successfully demonstrate and argue in its favor.

Once the variable candidates have been selected, a method of classification had to be devised. This would

normally include an extraction of the variable period and amplitude, and the objects magnitude in more

than one visible light bands. The ROTSE1 data, however, utilize a single, very wide visible light band with

poor correlation to standard bands. In addition, the observations are contiguous thru a night, but do not

always give complete coverage of a full period. Another student attempted to solve these problems by using

the extensive lightcurve information available to quantify the shape of the lightcurve. She developed a set

of five parameters, measured from the lightcurve, to give the shape. Her work was staged such that she

repeated, in new data, the analysis developed earlier to gain understanding and confidence in the analysis

issues needed. Her method has been used by subsequent students.

Currently, a computer science major is working with the data to apply data mining techniques to improve

the selection and classification schemes. This student has learned the analysis procedures of earlier students

and is pursuing an independent study of his own design. In it, he anticipates to code existing parameters as

well as new ones to quantify the lightcurve. A two-step process is envisioned by which multivariate methods

are devised first for selection beyond the preselection developed above, and then for classification. To develop

competence in the material, the student must learn about the instrumentation to accomodate instrumental

effects. He must learn a new programming language (IDL) to encode the variables of interest.

The following projects are clearly on the horizon. The lightcurves of pulsating stars are complex, often

with several different oscillation modes. A Fourier analysis of the stars lightcurve is a logical step to take.

August 22, 2011 11:44 13

In addition, it is possible using the lightcurve parameters to extract information about relative brightness

of stars in contact systems, angle of orbit, and the relative size of the two stars. Also, the methodology for

the multivariate discrimination may be established soon, but the optimal choice of variables, particularly for

classification, will take time.

2.2.8. Broader Impacts:

The primary broader impacts from this proposal will be the knowledge and skill set imparted to students

that will enhance their ability and probability to pursue a science career. These range from experience with

analysis techniques, to familiarity with powerful computing software (e.g. MatLab, Mathematic, IDL) and

hardware. The ability to program and work with world-class electronics will serve students well in a very wide

array of industry settings in science and engineering, or will benefit them in graduate schol. Students will

also acquire abilities to work in collaborations and communicate effectively in a scientific setting. Not least

of the broader impacts is expected to be the inspiration we hope will come to students from working on some

of the most interesting topics in modern science, which we hope will also propel them to a research career.

The program will also potentially result in development of new techniques and tools for physics analysis,

and can make improvements to software tools used by subsequent researchers (e.g. RESBOS).

2.3. Research Environment

The environment in which the REU students will be conducting research is founded on a broad, diverse array

of faculty mentors with substantial experience in mentoring undergraduates in research. We describe here

the research groups involved in this proposal, and the involvement of SMU undergraduates to date. We will

then describe special experience of the faculty that will be very useful when constructing the SRI.

Experimental Particle Physics: The experimental particle physics group includes Kehoe, Ye, Sekula,

Liu, Gong and Xiang. Kehoe leads a group on DØ consisting of one postdoc, two graduate students and

an undergraduate that has focused on providing the most precise measurement of the top quark mass

in events having two leptons [1, 2]. On ATLAS, he works with a postdoc and one graduate student to

develop search strategies for hypothesized Randall-Sundrum gravitons decaying to two photons [6, 7]. State-

of-the-art technology in the Physics Department’s optoelectronics laboratory provides a valuable window

for undergraduates on research practices, and the technology surrounding radiation tolerant circuits. The

laboratory, led by Ye, has three research professors (Liu, Gong, Xiang), one research associate and one visiting

research scholar. It produces electronics for the ATLAS calorimeter readout as well as record-breaking devices

for new applications [4, 5], including LBNE. Students will have an opportunity to work with a skilled and

experienced team on these devices. Sekula leads a group on the ATLAS Experiment consisting of a post-

doctoral researcher, a graduate student, and an undergraduate student. His current contributions to ATLAS

are to the study of trigger rates as a function of increasing collider luminosity and the search for new heavy

particles produced from, or in coincidence with, top quarks.

The PI Kehoe has worked with 10 undergraduates in particle physics and astrophysics research projects

since 2006. Five of these students did not major in physics: 1 of math, chemistry and biology each, and 2 in

engineering, giving some experience with working with students with very different interests and approaches

to research. Four of the students were women. Two have won Hamilton Scholar’s awards. This research

contributed to two papers [Refs] and a senior thesis. The students have presented results within SMU

research groups, at three public SMU research fairs, and at a professional-level physics conference. At least

two of the women have gone on to graduate school in the field of their major, and one student obtained a

job in industry at Lockheed Martin.

Theoretical Particle Physics: The theorists involved in this proposal are Professors Nadolsky and

Vega, and Senior Lecturers Scalise and Dalley. They are joined by two postdocs and 3 graduate students.

Nadolsky leads a research group dedicated to the theory of strong interactions of elementary particles in

collider experiments. He is a member of CTEQ, a nationwide effort to understand properties of strong

interactions. Nadolsky’s group provides predictions for specific collider processes and participates in the

August 22, 2011 11:4414

determination of widely used CTEQ parton distribution functions (PDFs) [13–18, 20? –22]. His articles

dedicated to these PDFs, notably CTEQ6 [13] and CTEQ6.6 [14], consistently receive highest numbers of

citations in world publications in particle phenomenology collected in the Stanford SPIRES database [23].

Vega has published a number of well-known papers on theory of neutrinos, Higgs bosons and supersymmetry,

and is currently exploring Higgs phenomenology. Scalise has expertise in QCD factorization methods. Dalley

has extensive research experience and remains active in light-front QCD and transverse lattice gauge theory.

By participating in the REU program, Dalley, Scalise, and Vega will contribute to the latest research in

particle theory during summer months, when they are not as occupied by teaching and activities related to

QuarkNet, Science Fair, and outreach which take most of their time during fall and spring semesters. The

theory faculty have mentored several undergraduates in research topics ranging from calculations relevant

to strong interactions to chaos simulation.

Computational Applied Math: The computational Applied Mathematics group includes faculty mem-

bers Daniel Reynolds, Alejandro Aceves and Brandilyn Stigler. The group of Reynolds is currently comprised

of one faculty member and two graduate students. Our research focuses on the mathematical modeling and

numerical solution of coupled systems of partial differential equations that arise in the study of complex

multi-physics systems. The project led by Aceves in conjunction with one graduate student deals with com-

putational modeling in optical communications systems. Aceves has mentored undergraduates in applied

mathematics. Two have gone on as Ph.D. students at the University of Arizona and Yale University, respec-

tively.

Cosmology: Research in cosmology is pursued at SMU by Cooley, Reynolds and Kehoe. Cooley leads an

effort to search for dark matter constituents using direct-detection techniques in the SuperCDMS experiment.

While Analysis Coordinator for the final data from the preceding CDMS II phase, two candidate dark matter

events were observed consistent with background expectations. She is joined by one postdoc, two graduate

students and one undergraduate student. Reynold’s research includes studies into early universe ionization, as

described in Section 2.2.6. Kehoe coordinates a program with one graduate student several undergraduates

to search for and classify rapidly pulsating variable stars, one element of the cosmological distance ladder.

Experience and Training of the PI and Co-PI: The PI Kehoe serves as Director of Undergraduate

Research in the Physics department. This includes coordination of student’s access to research opportuni-

ties, annual application to a local donor’s grant to Physics for a portion toward undergraduate research, and

web-page and other marketing elements. He serves the last year also as Director of SMU’s university-wide Un-

dergraduate Research Assistantships (URA) program, which in 2010-2011 has supported 120 undergraduates,

a 30% increase from the previous year. In this role, he has attended the AACU conference on Undergraduate

Research in Nov. 2010. In addition, Kehoe has been a member of SMU’s committee drafting our Quality

Enhancement Plan (QEP) in engaged learning (Unbridled Learning). A major element of this plan is a major

expansion of undergraduate research at SMU. Kehoe contributed strongly to the relevant elements of the

report. He is currently a member of the search committee for SMU’s Engaged Learning Director, as well as

chair of the transition subcommittee for communications of Engaged Learning. Perhaps not least among his

training, Kehoe was an REU student in particle physics himself and it was that experience that

Scalise is Co-PI for the SMU Quarknet Project, and has several responsibilities in connecting teachers

with university researchers. He has substantial experience in the pedagogical aspects of introducing research

in this context. He has coordinated many aspects including recruiting and field trips. He also co-directs the

Dallas Regional Science & Engineering Fair, one of the largest student fairs in the nation, comprised of 900

students from 20 Dallas-area cities. Scalise serves as faculty advisor to SMU’s Society of Physics Students

chapter.

Additional Relevant Experience: We are fortunate that one of our volunteer mentors, Vega, has prior

experience with an REU-like program at SLAC. He was the Program Director of the DOE Science Under-

graduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program at SLAC during the summers of 2001 to 2004. Part of his

duties included planning the lecture series and recruitment of lecturers, lecturer, coordinating with research

mentors and students, planning, coordinating and supervising field trips, and advising and supervision of

the summer interns.

August 22, 2011 11:44 15

Dalley has substantial roles coordinating outreach and other programs such that he will have an impact

on the general aspects put into this proposal.

2.4. Student Recruitment and Selection

Recruitment: Recruiting students for the SRI will have several elements. Because we are a new Site, we

will need to increase contacts with local two year and four year institutions promptly. We already know some

of our colleagues at these institutions. Our goal will be, however, to recruit from all such institutions in the

region centered on the DFW metroplex. Several materials will be necessary. We will generate posters and

application pads for each mailing, as well as a brochure. We will develop a new REU web-site to host the

activities, nature and procedures of the REU Site. We expect to conduct recruitment trips to local and other

institutions, and have already spoken with a handful of colleagues who would be interested in encouraging

their students to apply to an SMU SRI.

Because part of the motivation of the SMU SRI is to improve the inadequate number of young people

going into science and mathematics careers, our focus must include the large number of underrepresented

minorities in our locale. Our regional focus will aide us in this, particularly if we take as a goal to aim for a

student breakdown roughly in line with the population breakdown in the metroplex community as a whole.

We can achieve this in part by visiting colleges that are demographically more diverse. For instance, Prof.

Aceves in 2010 established a recruitment connection with the mathematics department of the U. of Texas,

Pan American. This university has one of the highest percentages of Hispanic students. Aceves also plans

to attend the annual SACNAS conference where he would advertise the REU Site and recruit on a national

basis. We can also visit institutions that are dedicated to women.

Selection: Our selection procedure will start in the Fall with sending out posters with application

pads. We will post a full application template on the REU Site web-site with a deadline in late Fall. As

applications come in, we will review them promptly to a long list of viable candidates. Faculty mentors will

have an opportunity to review this long list and contribute to identifying the best candiates for the program.

Colleagues inform us that some communication with the students during this process may be necessary, as

they do not always have sufficient information to make accurate choices of exactly what they are interested

in working on. We expect to complete the process to acceptance of the final set of students by late winter.

While we will have a good idea of what students will be working with which mentors, we anticipate leaving

some flexibility for when the students actually arrive in case a small number of changes are in order.

2.5. Project Evaluation and Reporting

Monitoring the SRI will require several evaluation and reporting elements. In the core emphases of the

Institute (computation, particle physics and cosmology) we will define a set of learning objectives. This is

common practice in SMU courses and provides one way to objectively define the goal. An example learning

objective in particle physics might be that a student demonstrate knowledge of what properties does a quark

have, or how to perform a statistical test of data. We will apply our common practice of testing the students

at the beginning and end of summer for the same specific objectives.

During the semester, the PI will periodically seek feedback from the faculty mentors on the progress of

the students. In tandem with the weekly lunches and other more social elements of the Institute, this will

be the source of somewhat informal evaluation of the program, and it will provide a means to evaluate in

situ the experience and potentially assist in case of difficulty.

The final presentations and reports given by the students at the end of the summer will provide an

important gauge of their success and the quality of their experience. The reports will be evaluated by the

respective faculty mentors. The presentations will be judged similarly to our departmental research fair last

October. The evaluations from the faculty mentors of these two components will be gathered and summarized

in our report back to NSF.

To ensure a quality experience and to improve it, we will institute two surveys at the end of the Institute.

A student survey will focus on three categories of concern. We would like to know from them how the

August 22, 2011 11:4416

execution of the SRI went, including the more social aspects that contribute to a sense of inclusion and

collegiality. We will ask them how the SRI impacted their views of going into a research career, and whether

it helped see how to do this. We will also ask them about the intellectual merit and interest of the material

in the SRI.

Surveying the faculty mentors will also focus on two themes. We want to know how they view the

implementation of the Institute. They should provide feedback specifically that will assist in recruitment

and in orientation of subsequent years. They are best in a position to evaluate the intellectual merit and

performance of their student researcher.

The understand the full impact of the SRI on students, we will attempt to remain in contact with them

through and after graduation. A survey at graduation, and perhaps one year later will allow us to ask where

these students went and how successful they are being in research, if that is their chosen area.

From this collective information, we should be well able to identify improvements to be made in subsequent

iterations of the Institute. A final report will be transmitted to NSF each year summarizing our findings.

2.6. Results from Prior NSF Support

Nadolsky was awarded the NSF LHC Theory Initiative Travel and Computing Fellowship in 2008 under grant

PHY-0705862. This fellowship supported Nadolsky’s research on Refs. [14, 19–22], purchase of books and

computer equipment, as well as travel to collaborative meetings at Michigan State University and the Aspen

Center for Physics, and presentation of his group’s results at DIS International Workshops in 2008-2010,

2008 KITP workshop, 2008 HERA-LHC Workshop at CERN, Milan 2009 W boson physics workshop, 2009

Spin Physics Workshop at LBNL, and 2009 LHC Theory Initiative meeting at Fermilab.

Since 2008, Reynolds has received NSF support under the grants AST-0808184 (co-PI, with M. Norman

at UCSD), OCI-0832662 (supporting, with B. O’Shea at MSU), and AST-1109008 (co-PI; with M. Norman).

This collaboration between Reynolds at SMU, M. Norman at UC San Diego, B. O’Shea at Michigan State, and

others, has focused on development of new physical modules, advanced numerical solvers, and improvements

for large-scale parallelism within the Enzo community cosmology code [58, 60–62, 64–67].

In addition to these funds, the Physics Department has an active Quarknet program for high-school

science teachers which is supported by NSF (˜$20K/year).

August 22, 2011 11:44 17

3. Biographical Sketches

Robert L. KehoeAssociate Professor

Department of Physics

Southern Methodist University

Dallas, TX 75275, USA

Phone: (214) 768-1793

Fax: (214) 768-4095

E-mail: kehoe@physics.smu.edu

Web page: http://www.physics.smu.edu/kehoe

Education and training

Michigan State University High energy physics Postdoc 2001-2004

University of Michigan Astrophysics Postdoc 1997-2001

University of Notre Dame High energy physics Ph. D. 1989-1996

Earlham College Physics B. A. 1985-1989

Appointments

Southern Methodist University Associate Professor in experimental physics 2004-present

Southern Methodist University Chair, QEP Communications subcommittee 2011

Southern Methodist University member, Quality Enhancement Plan committee 2010-present

Southern Methodist University Chair, SMU Undergraduate Research

Assistantships (URA) steering committee

2010-present

ATLAS Experiment Chair, Hadronic Calibration Review Panel 2009

ATLAS Experiment Convenor, LAr Calorimeter Monitoring and

Data Quality

2005-2008

DØ Experiment co-Chair, Lifetime and CP phase in the Bs

system editorial board

2006-present

DØ Experiment Convenor, Top Quark Pair Production 2002-2004

DØ Experiment Convenor, Jet Energy Scale 2001-2002

Washtenaw Comm. College Adjunct Faculty 2000

GLCA at Oak Ridge (ORNL) Research Assistant 1988

NSF REU Research Assistant 1988

Publications

(1) Measurement of the Top Quark Mass in Final States with Two Leptons, V. Abazov et al. (D0 Collab.)

Phys. Rev. D80, 092006 (2009).

(2) Expected Performance of the ATLAS Experiment - Detector, Trigger and Physics. ATLAS Collaboration

(G. Aad et al.), CERN-OPEN-2008-020, arXiv:0901.0512 (2009).

(3) Review of Top Quark Physics Results, R. Kehoe, M. Narain, and A. Kumar, Int. Journ. Of Mod. Physics

A Vol. 23, Nos. 3&4, 353-470 (2008).

(4) Measurement of the top quark mass in the dilepton channel, V. Abazov, et al. (D0 Collab.), Phys. Lett.

B. 655, 7 (2007).

(5) Measurement of the ttbar production cross section in ppbar collisions at√

s = 1.96 TeV in dilepton final

states, V. Abazov, et al., Phys. Lett. B 626 :55 (2005).

(6) An Untriggered Search for Optical Bursts, R. Kehoe, et al., Astrophys. Journ. 5 77:845 (2002)

(7) A Search for Early Optical Emission from Short and Long Duration Gamma-ray Bursts, R. Kehoe, et

al., Astrophys. Journ. Lett. 554:159 (2001)

(8) Observation of Contemporaneous Optical Radiation from a Gamma-Ray Burst, C. Akerlof, et al., Nature.

398:400 (1999).

(9) Determination of the Absolute Jet Energy Scale in the DØ Calorimeters , B. Abbott, et al., Nucl. Instr.

and Meth. A424:352 (1999).

August 22, 2011 11:4418

(10) Observation of the Top Quark, S. Abachi, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 74:263 2 (1995).

Synergistic Activities

• Member of D0 Experiment, Fermilab Tevatron (www-d0.fnal.gov)

• Member of ATLAS Experiment, CERN LHC (http://atlas.web.cern.ch)

• Coordinator, SMU Undergraduate Research Assistantships program (URA)

(http://www.smu.edu/ugradresearch/ura.asp)

• member, SMU QEP Committee (http://www.smu.edu/unbridledlearning)

Past and present collaborators

DØ Collaboration (http://www-d0.fnal.gov/author/authorlist/run2)

ATLAS Collaboration (http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/Management/Institutions.html), either including:

Kevin Black (Harvard)

Tancredi Carli (CERN)

Haleh Hadavand (SMU)

Ulrich Heintz (Brown)

Sami Kama (SMU)

Serguei Kolos (UC, Riverside)

Ashish Kumar (SUNY, Buffalo)

Hong Ma (BNL)

Sven Menke (Max-Planck, Munich)

Jingbo Ye (SMU)

Meenakshi Narain (Brown)

Jimmy Proudfoot (Argonne)

Helenka Przysiezniak (Toronto)

Peter Renkel (SMU)

Arnulf Quadt (Goettingen)

Christian Schwanenberger (Manchester)

Ryszard Stroynowski (SMU)

Sau Lan Wu (Wisonsin)

Jaehoon Yu (UT, Arlington)

Graduate and postdoctoral advisors

Professor Hendrik Weerts Michigan State University

Professor Carl Akerlof University of Michigan

Professor Randall Ruchti University of Notre Dame

Graduate students

Huanzhao Liu Southern Methodist University Ph. D. student present

Farley Ferrante Southern Methodist University M. S. student present

Yuriy Ilchenko Southern Methodist University Ph. D. student present

Kamile Dindar-Yagci Southern Methodist University Ph. D. student present

Azzedine Kasmi Southern Methodist University Ph. D. student 2009

Pavel Zarzhitsky Southern Methodist University Ph. D. student 2008

Ashish Kumar University of Delhi Ph. D. student 2006

Joseph Kozminski Michigan State University Ph. D. student 2005

August 22, 2011 11:44 19

Randall J. ScaliseSenior Lecturer

Department of Physics

Southern Methodist University

Dallas, TX 75275, USA

Phone: (214) 768-2504

Fax: (214) 768-4095

E-mail: scalise@smu.edu

Web page: http://www.physics.smu.edu/scalise

Education and training

The Pennsylvania State University Theoretical particle

physics

Ph. D. 1987-1994

Cornell University Physics B. A. magna cum

laude

1983-1987

Appointments

Southern Methodist University Senior Lecturer 2001-present

Southern Methodist University Lecturer 1999-2001

Southern Methodist University Visiting Assistant Professor 1995-1999

The Pennsylvania State University Lecturer 1995

The Pennsylvania State University Postdoctoral Research Assistant 1994-1996

The Pennsylvania State University Graduate Research Assistant 1992-1994

Publications

(1) “Predictions for Neutrino Structure Functions,” with Fredrick I. Olness et al., Physical Review D64

(2001) 033003

(2) “Heavy Quark Hadroproduction in Perturbative QCD,” with Fredrick I. Olness and Wu-Ki Tung,

Physical Review D59 (1999) 014506

(3) “Infra-red Kuiper Belt Constraints,” with Vigdor L. Teplitz et al., Astrophysical Journal 516 (1999)

425

(4) “Heavy Quark Parton Distributions: Mass-dependent or Mass-independent Evolution?,” with Fredrick I.

Olness, Physical Review D57 (1998) 241-244

(5) “Renormalization of Composite Operators in Yang-Mills Theories Using a General Covariant Gauge,”

with John C. Collins, Physical Review D50 (1994) 4117-36

(6) “Unitary Lowest Weight Representations of the Non-Compact Supergroup OSp(2M∗/2N),” with Murat

Gunaydin, Journal of Mathematical Physics 32 (1991) 599-606

(7) “Scintillating Fibers and Waveguides for Tracking Applications,” with B. Baumbaugh et al., IEEE

Transactions on Nuclear Science 38 (1991) 441-445

Synergistic Activities

• Co-PI SMU Quarknet project, 2002-present (http://www.physics.smu.edu/olness/quarknet/).

• Co-Director annual Dallas Regional Science and Engineering Fair, 2000-present.

• Mentor SMU Undergraduate Research Assistantships program (URA), 2008

(http://www.physics.smu.edu/ugradResearch/).

Past and present collaborators

John C. Collins (PSU)

Fredrick I. Olness (SMU)

Wu-Ki Tung (MSU) [deceased]

Vigdor L. Teplitz (SMU) [retired]

Murat Gunaydin (PSU)

August 22, 2011 11:4420

Graduate and postdoctoral advisors

Professor John C. Collins The Pennsylvania State University

Professor Emil Kazes The Pennsylvania State University

Graduate students

Jian Wang Southern Methodist University M. S. student 1998

Wanjun Yu Southern Methodist University M. S. student 1997

August 22, 2011 11:44 21

Pavel M. NadolskyAssistant Professor

Department of Physics

Southern Methodist University

Dallas, TX 75275, USA

Phone: (214) 768-1756

Fax: (214) 768-4095

E-mail: nadolsky@smu.edu

Web page: http://www.physics.smu.edu/nadolsky

Education and training

Michigan State University High energy physics Postdoc 2007-2008

Argonne National Laboratory High energy physics Postdoc 2004-2007

Southern Methodist University High energy physics Postdoc 2001-2004

Michigan State University Physics Ph. D. 1996-2001

Institute for HEP (Russia) Physics/Math Researcher 1992-1996

Moscow State University Physics M. Sc. 1986-1992

Appointments

Southern Methodist University Assistant Professor in theoretical physics 2008-present

Selected publications

(1) J. Pumplin, D. R. Stump, J. Huston, H.-L. Lai, P.M. Nadolsky, W.-K. Tung: New generation of parton

distribution with uncertainties from global QCD analysis, JHEP 0207, 012 (2002).

(2) P.M.Nadolsky, H.-L.Lai, Q.-H.Cao, J.Huston, J.Pumplin, D.Stump, W.-K.Tung,

and C.-P. Yuan, Implications of CTEQ global PDF analysis for collider observables,

Phys.Rev.D78, 013004 (2008).

(3) H.-L. Lai, M. Guzzi, J. Huston, Z. Li, P. M. Nadolsky, J. Pumplin, C.-P.˜Yuan, New parton distributions

for collider physics, Phys.Rev. D82, 074024 (2010).

(4) H.-L. Lai, J. Huston, Z. Li, P. Nadolsky, J. Pumplin, D. Stump, C.-P.˜Yuan, Uncertainty induced by

QCD coupling in the CTEQ global analysis of parton distributions,’ Phys.Rev. D82, 054021 (2010).

(5) C.Balazs, E.Berger, P.M.Nadolsky, C.-P.Yuan: Calculation of prompt diphoton production cross sections

at Tevatron and LHC energies, Phys.Rev.D76, 013009 (2007).

(6) F. Landry, R. Brock, P.M. Nadolsky, and C.-P. Yuan: Tevatron Run-1 Z boson data and Collins-Soper-

Sterman resummation formalism, Phys. Rev. D67, 073016 (2003).

(7) A.Konychev, P.M.Nadolsky: Universality of Collins-Soper-Sterman nonperturbative function in gauge

boson production, Phys. Lett. B633, 710 (2006).

(8) S.Berge, P.M.Nadolsky, F.I.Olness, and C.-P. Yuan: Transverse momentum resummation at small x for

the Tevatron and LHC, Phys. Rev. D72, 033015 (2005).

(9) P. M. Nadolsky, N. Kidonakis, F. I. Olness, and C.-P. Yuan: Resummation of transverse momentum and

mass logarithms in DIS heavy-quark production, Phys. Rev. D67, 074015(2003).

(10) P. Nadolsky, D.R. Stump, and C.-P. Yuan: Semi-inclusive hadron production at HERA: the effect of

QCD gluon resummation, Phys. Rev. D61, 014003 (2000).

Synergistic Activities

• Member of the Coordinated Theoretical-Experimental Project on QCD

(CTEQ, http://www.cteq.org)

• LHC Theory Initiative Fellow, 2008

• Lecturer, CTEQ summer school on QCD Analysis and Phenomenology, Madison, WI, 2007, 2009, 2011

• Convener of the Hadronic Final States working group, XIII International Workshop on DIS and QCD

(DIS2005), Madison, WI, 2005

August 22, 2011 11:4422

• Referee for Journal of High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics B, Physics Letters B, and Physical Review

D

Past and present collaborators

Csaba Balazs (Monash University)

Alexander Belyaev (University of Southampton)

Stefan Berge (Aachen University)

Edmond Berger (Argonne National Laboratory)

Gerry Bunce (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

Qing-Hong Cao (Argonne National Laboratory)

Jun Gao (Beijing University/SMU)

Claudia Glasman (Autonoma University, Spain)

Marco Guzzi (Southern Methodist University)

Joey Huston (Michigan State University)

Nikolaos Kidonakis (Kennesaw State University)

Anton Konychev (Indiana University Southeast)

Hung-Liang Lai (Natl. University of Taiwan)

Zhao Li (Michigan State University)

Steven Maxfield (Liverpool University)

Stephen Mrenna (Fermilab)

Fredrick Olness (Southern Methodist University)

Frank Petriello (University of Wisconsin)

Matthias Grosse-Perdekamp (UIUC)

Jon Pumplin (Michigan State University)

Stephen Mrenna (Fermilab)

Mark Strikman (Penn State University)

Ralf Seidl (UIUC)

Bernd Surrow (MIT)

Daniel Stump (Michigan State University)

Wu-Ki Tung (University of Washington)

Doreen Wackeroth (SUNY Buffalo)

C.-P. Yuan (Michigan State University)

Graduate and postdoctoral advisors

Professor C.-P. Yuan Michigan State University

Professor Wu-Ki Tung University of Washington

Professor Edmond Berger Argonne National Laboratory

Professor Fredrick Olness Southern Methodist University

Graduate students

Zhihua Liang Southern Methodist University Ph. D. student present

Sophia Chabysheva Southern Methodist University Ph. D. 2009

Anton Konychev Indiana University Southeast Ph. D. 2006

August 22, 2011 11:44 23

Jodi A. CooleyAssistant Professor

Department of Physics

Southern Methodist University

Dallas, TX 75275, USA

Phone: (214) 768-4687

Fax: (214) 768-4095

E-mail: cooley@physics.smu.edu

Web page: http://www.physics.smu.edu/cooley

Education and training

Stanford University Physics Department Postdoc 2004-2009

Massachusetts Institute of

Technology

Laboratory for Nuclear

Physics

Postdoc 2003-2004

University of Wisconsin - Madison Physics Department Ph. D. 2003

University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Physics/Math Researcher 1997

Appointments

Southern Methodist University Assistant Professor 2009-present

CDMS II Analysis Coordinator 2008-2009

CDMS II Moderator, Data Quality, DAQ and Computing

Group

2005-2008

KTI (NSF GK-12 Program) Fellowship 2001

KTI (NSF GK-12 Program) Fellowship 2000

Publications

(1) CDMS II Collab. (Z. Ahmed et al.), Results from a Low-Energy Analysis of the CDMS II Germanium

Data, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106:131302 (2011).

(2) CDMS II Collab. (D.S. Akerib et al.), Low-Threshold Analysis of CDMS Shallow-Site Data,

Phys.Rev.D83:122004 (2010).

(3) D. Bauer, S. Burke, J. Cooley, et al., The CDMS II Data Acquisition System, Nucl. Instrum. Meth.

A638:127 (2011).

(4) CDMS II collaboration (Z. Ahmed et al.), Dark Matter Search Results from the CDMS II Experiment,

Science 327:1619-1621,2010.

(5) CDMS Collaboration (Z. Ahmed et al.), Analysis of the low-energy electron-recoil spectrum of the CDMS

experiment, Phys.Rev.D81:042002,2010.

(6) CDMS Collaboration (Z. Ahmed et al.), Search for Axions with the CDMS Experiment,

Phys.Rev.Lett.103:141802,2009.

(7) CDMS Collaboration (Z. Ahmed et al.), Search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles with the

First Five-Tower Data from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search at the Soudan Underground Laboratory,

Phys.Rev.Lett.102:011301,2009.

(8) P.L. Brink et al, First test runs of a dark-matter detector with interleaved ionization electrodes and

phonon sensors for surface-event rejection, Nucl.Instrum.Meth.A559:414-416,2006.

(9) SuperCDMS Collaboration (D.S. Akerib et al.), The SuperCDMS proposal for dark matter detection,

Nucl.Instrum.Meth.A559:411-413,2006.

(10) M. Pyle, P.L. Brink, B. Cabrera, J.P. Castle, P. Colling, C.L. Chang, J. Cooley, T. Lipus, R.W. Ogburn,

B.A. Young, Quasiparticle propagation in aluminum fins and tungsten TES dynamics in the CDMS ZIP

detector, Nucl.Instrum.Meth.A559:405-407,2006.

Synergistic Activities

• Guest Speaker, ”QuarkNet”, SMU, Summer 2011.

• Speaker, ”Collegium da Vinci” lecture series, SMU, Fall 2010.

August 22, 2011 11:4424

• Guest Speaker, What Do Physicist Do lecture series, Sonoma State University, Spring 2009

• Newsletter Editor, APS Forum on Graduate Student Affairs, 2006

• Elected Member-at-Large, APS Forum on Graduate Student Affairs, 2003-2005

• KTI (Kindergarten through Infinity) Program Fellow, part of NSF GK-12 program. 2000 & 2001

• Presenter, UW-Madison Speakers Bureau, University of Wisconsin-Madison, office of the Chancellor.

Past and present collaborators

CDMS II Collaboration

(http://cdms.berkeley.edu/cdms collab.html)

Graduate and postdoctoral advisors

Professor Albrecht Karle University of Wisconsin - Madison

Professor Kate Scholberg Duke University

Professor Blas Cabrera Stanford University

Postdoctoral Advisees

Dr. Silvia Scorza Southern Methodist University (current)

Graduate students

Bedile Karabuga Southern Methodist University Ph. D. student present

Hang Qiu Southern Methodist University Ph. D. present

August 22, 2011 11:44 25

Stephen J. SekulaAssistant Professor

Department of Physics

Southern Methodist University

Dallas, TX 75275, USA

Phone: (214) 768-7832

Fax: (214) 768-4095

E-mail: sekula@physics.smu.edu

Web page: http://www.physics.smu.edu/sekula

Education and training

The Ohio State University High Energy Physics Postdoc 2007-2009

The Massachusetts Institute of

Technology

Postdoc 2004-2007

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Physics Ph. D. 1998-2004

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Physics M.A. 1998-2000

Yale University B.S. 1994-1998

Appointments

Southern Methodist University Assistant Professor in Experimental Physics 2009-present

Publications

(1) B. Aubert et al. [BABAR Collaboration], A Search for B+ → ℓ+νℓ Recoiling Against B− → D0ℓ−νX ,

Phys. Rev. D 81, 051101 (2010).

(2) J. P. Lees et al. [The BABAR Collaboration], Search for Charged Lepton Flavor Violation in Narrow

Upsilon Decays, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 151802 (2010).

(3) B. Aubert et al. [BABAR Collaboration], Search for a low-mass Higgs boson in Υ(3S) → γA0, A0 →

τ+τ− at BABAR, Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 181801 (2009)

(4) B. Aubert et al. [BABAR Collaboration], Evidence for the ηb(1S) Meson in Radiative Upsilon(2S)

Decay, Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 161801 (2009).

(5) B. Aubert et al. [BABAR Collaboration], A Search for Invisible Decays of the Upsilon(1S), Phys. Rev.

Lett. 103, 251801 (2009).

(6) B. Aubert et al. [BABAR Collaboration], Observation of the bottomonium ground state in the decay

Υ(3S) → γηb, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 071801 (2008).

(7) B. Aubert et al. [BABAR Collaboration], A Measurement of CP Asymmetry in b → sγ using a Sum of

Exclusive Final States, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 171804 (2008).

(8) B. Aubert et al. [BABAR Collaboration], A Search for B+ → τ+ν, Phys. Rev. D 76, 052002 (2007).

(9) B. Aubert et al. [BABAR Collaboration], Search for the Rare Radiative Penguin Decays B+ → ρ+γ,

B0 → ρ0γ, and B0 → ωγ, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 011801,(2005).

(10) B. Aubert et al. [BABAR Collaboration], Observation of CP violation in the B0 meson system, Phys.

Rev. Lett. 87, 091801 (2001).

Synergistic Activities

• Creator and Host of the “Mustang Physics” podcast on physicists and physics research (2010-present)

• Faculty Leader of SMU Society of Physics Students Annual Trip to SLAC, Google, Lick Observatory,

and the Exploratorium (2010)

• Elected member of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory User’s Organization Executive Committee

(2008-2010)

• Member of the BaBar Collaboration Publication Board (2009-present)

• Co-chair of the BaBar Task Force on the Upsilon(3S,2S) Data (2008-2009)

• Co-convener of the BaBar Leptonic Bottom and Charm Working Group (2004-2008)

• SLAC Public Lecture Series. The Matter with Anti-matter (2004)

August 22, 2011 11:4426

Past and present collaborators

The BaBar Collaboration:

http://www.slac.stanford.edu/cgi-wrap/colli

The ATLAS Collaboration:

http://graybook.cern.ch/programmes/experiments/lhc/ATLAS.html

More specific collaborators with whom I have worked closely:Brandt, Andrew (University of Texas - Arlington)

Corwin, Luke (Indiana University)

Eisner, Alan (University of California - Santa Cruz)

Flechl, Martin (Universitat Freiburg)

Godang, Romulus (University of Mississippi)

Jackson, Paul (SLAC National Accelerator

Laboratory)

Kehoe, Robert (Southern Methodist University)

Kolomensky, Yury (University of California -

Berkeley)

Lipeles, Elliot (University of Pennsylania)

Long, Owen (University of California - Riverside)

Patrignani, Claudia (INFN Sezione di Genova)

Potter, Christopher (McGill University)

Randle-Conde, Aidan (Southern Methodist

University)

Robertson, Steven (McGill University)

Rotondo, Marcello (INFN Seziona di Padova)

Stroynowski, Ryszard (Southern Methodist

University)

Schram, Malachi (McGill University)

Winstrom, Lucas (Cornell University)

Vickey, Trevor (University of Witwatersrand)

Ye, Jingbo (Southern Methodist University)

Graduate and postdoctoral advisors

Fisher, Peter (Massachusetts Institute of

Technology)

Gan, K. K. (The Ohio State University)

Honscheid, Klaus (The Ohio State

University)

Kagan, Harris (The Ohio State University)

Kass, Richard (The Ohio State University)

Pan, Yibin (University of

Wisconsin-Madison)

Sciolla, Gabriella (Massachusetts Institute

of Technology)

Wu, Sau Lan (University of

Wisconsin-Madison)

Yamamoto, Richard (Massachusetts

Institute of Technology)

Graduate students

Cao, Tinting Southern Methodist University Ph. D. student present

Ferdousi, Banafsheh Southern Methodist University M.S. student present

August 22, 2011 11:44 27

Daniel R. ReynoldsDept. of Mathematics, Southern Methodist University, PO Box 750156, Dallas, TX, 75275-0156

http://faculty.smu.edu/reynolds ; reynolds@smu.edu

Education and Training

• Southwestern University, Mathematics, B.A., 1998.

• Rice University, Computational and Applied Mathematics, M.A., 2001.

• Rice University, Computational and Applied Mathematics, Ph.D., 2003.

Research and Professional Experience

• Southern Methodist University, Mathematics, Assistant Professor, Aug 2008 – present.

• University of California at San Diego, Mathematics and Astrophysics, Postdoctoral scholar, Aug 2005

– Aug 2008.

• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Center for Applied Scientific Computing, Postdoctoral re-

searcher, Jul 2003 – Aug 2005.

Publications

(1) D.R. Reynolds, R. Samtaney and C.S. Woodward, Operator-based preconditoning of stiff hyperbolic

systems,, SIAM J. Sci. Comput., 32 (2010), pp. 150-170.

(2) D.R. Reynolds, J.C. Hayes, P. Paschos and M.L. Norman, Self-consistent solution of cosmological radi-

ation hydrodynamics and chemical ionization,, J. Comput. Phys., 228 (2009), pp. 6833-6854.

(3) I.T. Iliev, D. Whalen, K. Ahn, S. Baek, N.Y. Gnedin, A.V. Kravtsov, G. Mellema, M. Norman, M.

Raicevic, D.R. Reynolds, D. Sato, P.R. Shapiro, B. Semelin, J. Smidt, H. Susa, T. Theuns and M.

Umemura, Cosmological radiative transfer codes comparison project II: the radiation-hydrodynamic

tests,, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 400 (2009), pp. 1283-1316.

(4) M.L. Norman, D.R. Reynolds and G.C. So, Cosmological Radiation Hydrodynamics with Enzo,, Recent

Directions in Astrophysical Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiation Hydrodynamics., AIP, (2009).

(5) D.R. Reynolds, F.D. Swesty and C.S. Woodward, A Newton-Krylov solver for implicit solution of

hydrodynamics in core collapse supernovae,, J. Phys.: Conf. Ser., (2008), pp. 125.

(6) M.L. Norman, G.L. Bryan, R. Harkness, J. Bordner, D. Reynolds, B. O’Shea and R. Wagner Simulating

cosmological evolution with Enzo,, in Petascale Computing: Algorithms and Applications (D. Bader,

ed.), CRC Press (2007).

(7) D.R. Reynolds, R. Samtaney and C.S. Woodward, A fully implicit numerical method for single-fluid

resistive magnetohydrodynamics,, J. Comput. Phys., 219 (2006), pp. 144-162.

(8) D.E. Keyes, D.R. Reynolds and C.S. Woodward, Implicit solvers for large-scale nonlinear problems,,

J. Phys.: Conf. Ser., 46 (2006), pp. 433-442.

(9) P. Kloucek and D.R. Reynolds, On the modeling of nonlinear thermodynamics in SMA wires,, Com-

put. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engrg., 196 (2006), pp. 180-191.

(10) P. Kloucek, D.R. Reynolds and T.I. Seidman, Computational modeling of vibration damping in SMA

wires,, Continuum Mechanics and Thermodynamics, 16 (2004), pp. 495-514.

Synergistic Activities

• Organizer, invited mini-symposium on “Applications of nonlinear solvers”, 2005 SIAM annual meeting.

• Co-organizer, Finite Element Rodeo, 2010.

• Organizer, plenary panel discussion on “Research directions and enabling technologies for the future of

Computational Science & Engineering,” SIAM Conference on CS&E, 2007.

• Reviewer: Appl. Math. Lett., Astrophys J., Cambridge Univ. Press., Comp. Phys. Comm.,

J. Comp. Phys., J. Intel. Mat. Syst. Str., New Astron., NSF GEM program, SIAM J. Num. Anal.,

SIAM J. Sci. Comput., SIAM Review, DOE Applied Math program, DOE ASCR program, DOE BER

program, DOE SCGF program, DOE SciDAC program, Neterlands Organization for Scientific Research.

August 22, 2011 11:4428

Collaborators (48 months) and Co-Editors (24 months)

James Bordner (UC San Diego), Robert Harkness (SDSC), John C. Hayes (LLNL), Michael Holst (UC San

Diego), David E. Keyes (Columbia Univ.), Michael L. Norman (UC San Diego), Brian O’Shea (Michigan

State Univ.), Pascal Paschos (UC San Diego), Ravi Samtaney (KAUST), Geoffrey C. So (UC San Diego),

F. Douglas Swesty (SUNY-SB), Ryan Szypowski (UC San Diego), Dan Whalen (Carnegie Mellon Univ.),

Carol S. Woodward (LLNL).

Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Associates (5 years)

Postdoctoral Sponsors: Michael Holst (UC San Diego), Michael Norman (UC San Diego),

Current students: Hilari Tiedeman, David Gardner.

August 22, 2011 11:44 29

Simon DalleySenior Lecturer

Physics Department

Southern Methodist University

Dallas TX 75275-0175, USA

Phone: (214) 768-2109

Fax: (214) 768-4095

E-mail: sdalley@physics.smu.edu

Web page: http://www.physics.smu.edu/dalley

Education and training

University of Wales Swansea Institute Post-Graduate Certificate

in Education

2004

CERN Theory Division Research Fellow 1997-1999

Oxford University Research Associate 1993-1995

Princeton University Visiting Research Fellow 1991-1993

Southampton University Theoretical Physics Ph.D. 1998-1991

Cambridge University Theoretical Physics M.Sc. 1987-1988

Oxford University Physics B.A. 1984-1987

Appointments

Southern Methodist University Senior Lecturer 2006 ??? present

Swansea University Lecturer 2002-2006

Cambridge University Advanced Research Fellow 1995-2002

International Light Cone Advisory

Committee

Director 1995-present

Southern Methodist University Member, Dept. of Teaching Advisory Board 2009-present

Publications

(1) FINITE TEMPERATURE GAUGE THEORY FROM THE TRANSVERSE LATTICE, S. Dalley and

B. van de Sande, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95:162001 (2005).

(2) TRANSVERSE LATTICE CALCULATION OF THE PION LIGHT CONE WAVEFUNCTIONS, S.

Dalley and B. van de Sande, Phys. Rev. D67:114507 (2003).

(3) THE RELATIVISTIC BOUND STATE PROBLEM IN QCD: TRANSVERSE LATTICE METHODS,

M. Burkardt and S. Dalley, Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys. 48:317-362 (2002).

(4) GLUEBALL CALCULATIONS IN LARGE N(C) GAUGE THEORY, S. Dalley and B. van de Sande,

Phys. Rev. Lett. 82:1088-1091 (1999).

(5) TRANSVERSE LATTICE APPROACH TO LIGHT FRONT HAMILTONIAN QCD, S. Dalley and

B. van de Sande, Phys. Rev. D59:065008 (1999).

(6) LIGHT CONE WAVE FUNCTIONS AT SMALL X, F. Antonuccio, S.J. Brodsky and S. Dalley, Phys.

Lett. B412:104-110 (1997).

(7) A (1+1)-DIMENSIONAL REDUCED MODEL OF MESONS, F. Antonuccio and S. Dalley, Phys. Lett.

B376:154-162 (1996).

(8) GLUEBALLS FROM (1+1)-DIMENSIONAL GAUGE THEORIES WITH TRANSVERSE DEGREES

OF FREEDOM, F. Antonuccio and S. Dalley, Nucl. Phys. B461:275-304 (1996).

(9) STRING SPECTRUM OF (1+1)-DIMENSIONAL LARGE N QCD WITH ADJOINT MATTER, S.

Dalley and I.R. Klebanov, Phys. Rev. D47:2517-2527 (1993).

(10) MULTICRITICAL COMPLEX MATRIX MODELS AND NONPERTURBATIVE 2-D QUANTUM

GRAVITY, S. Dalley, C.V.Johnson and T.R.Morris, Nucl. Phys. B368:625-654 (1992).

Synergistic Activities

• Coordinator, SMU QuarkNet center (www.physics.smu.edu)

August 22, 2011 11:4430

• President, Dallas Regional Science and Engineering Fair (www.drsef.org)

Past and present collaborators

Stanley Brodsky (SLAC)???

Matthias Burkardt (New Mexico State)

Igor Klebanov (Princeton)???

Clifford Johnson (UCLA)???

Tim Morris (Southampton)???

Pavel Nadolsky (SMU) ???

Brett van de Sande (Arizona State)

Gary McCartor (deceased)

Graduate and postdoctoral advisors

Professor Tim Morris Southampton University

Graduate students

F. Antonuccio Oxford University Ph. D. student 1996

August 22, 2011 11:44 31

Biographical Sketch : Alejandro Aceves

Education:

• Ph.D. University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, Applied Mathematics, 1988: M.Sc., California

Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, Applied Mathematics, 1983

Current and Prior Professional Positions:

• Professor (8/08-) Department of Mathematics, Southern Methodist University, Dallas Texas

• Department Chair (8/04-7/08), Professor (8/01-), Associate Prof. (7/95-8/01), Assistant Prof. (8/89-

7/95). Department of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of New Mexico

• Visiting Associate Professor (9/96-5/97), Brown University, Applied Mathematics.

• Visiting Research Associate (1/90-6/90), Heriot-Watt University, Scotland.

Research Interests:

• Nonlinear optics, laser physics

• Nonlinear wave propagation, soliton theory

Awards and Honors:

• University of New Mexico Regents Lecturer (1998-2001).

• “David Alcaraz” Annual Lecture, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico, November 2001.

• Senior Member, Optical Society of America 2010-

Selected Publications (of a total of over 65 with around 1,500 citations):

• E. J. Bochove, A. B. Aceves, Y. Braiman, P. Colet, R. Deiterding, A. Jacobo, C. A. Miller, C. Rhodes

and S. A. Shakir (2011) “Model of the Self Q-Switching Instability of Passively Phased Fiber Laser

Arrays” IEEE Journal ofQuantum Electronics 47 777-785.

• A. Tonello, M. Szpulak, J. Olszewski, S. Wabnitz, A. B. Aceves and W.Urbanczyk (2009) “Non- linear

control of soliton pulse delay with asymmetric dual-core photonic crystal bers” Optics Letters 34 920-

922.

• Olivier Chalus, Alexey Sukhinin, Alejandro Aceves and Jean-Claude Diels (2008) “Propagation of non-

diffracting intense ultraviolet beams” Optics Communications 281 3356-3360.

• G. Srinivasan, A. B. Aceves, D. M. Tartakovsky (2008) “Nonlinear localization of light in disordered

ber arrays” Phys Rev A 77, 063806.

• G. Srinivasan, D. M. Tartakovsky, B. A. Robinson and A. B. Aceves (2007) “Quantification of uncer-

tainty in geochemical reactions” Water Resources Research 43 W12415.

• A. Aceves, R. Chen, Y. Chung, T. Hagstrom and M. Hummel (2011), “Modeling supercontinuum

generation in bers with general dispersion characteristics” Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems-

Series S 4 957-973.

• L. A. Cisneros, A. B. Aceves and A. A. Minzoni (2011) “Asymptotics for supersonic traveling waves in

the Morse lattice” Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems- Series S 4 975-994.

• A. Aceves, C.M. deSterke and M. Weinstein (2003), Book chapter: “Theory of nonlinear pulse propa-

gation periodic structures” Nonlinear Photonic Crystals, B. Eggleton and R.E. Slusher. Springer series

in Photonics, Vol 10. Springer Eds.

• Aceves A. B., De Angelis C., Luther G. G., Rubenchik A. M. and Turitsyn S.K. (1995), “Energy

Localization in nonlinear fiber arrays: Collapse effect compressor”. Physical Review Letters 75, 73-76.

August 22, 2011 11:4432

• Aceves, A. B. and Wabnitz, S. (1989) “Self Induced Transparency Solitons in Nonlinear Refractive

Periodic Media” Phys. Lett. A 141, 37-42.

Synergistic Activities:

• Affiliate scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (since 2003).

• Chair of the Nonlinear Waves and Coherent Structures of the Society for Industrial and Applied Math-

ematics (SIAM), 2005-06.

• Member of the Editorial Board the Book series on Mathematical Modeling and Computation, the

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), 2005-08.

• Symposium co-organizer, SACNAS National Conference 2010, 2011.

Former PhD students:

Prof. Anjan Biswas (PhD 1998, Associate Prof., Delaware Sate U.)

Dr. Paul Bennett (PhD 2000, Computer Scientist, Computer Science Corporation, Vicksburg Mississippi)

Dr. Tomas Dohnal (PhD 2005, Postdoctoral fellow ETH, Zurich Switzerland 05-07. Currently research Fellow,

Department of Mathematics, University of Karlsruhe, Germany).

Gowri Srinivasan (PhD 2008, Postdoctoral fellow Los Alamos National Laboratory)

Former MS Students

Mr. Christopher Donahue (MS 2007. Currently in the Neuroscience PhD program, Yale University).

Ignacio Rozada (MS 2006, currently PhD student U. British Columbia, Canada)

BS Honors Thesis

Jordan Allen-Flowers (currently PhD student, Applied Mathematics, at the University of Arizona)

Current PhD students:

Alexey Sukhinin (PhD expected, 08/2011), Alyssa Pampell (PhD expected, 06/2013).

Postdoctoral Fellows:

Dr. Gregory Luther (Adaptive Optics); Prof. Gustavo Cruz-Pacheco (University of Mexico); Prof. Costantino

De Angelis (University of Brescia, Italy); Dr. Marco Santagiustina (University of Padova, Italy).

Most recent collaborators:

Prof Jean Claude Diels (University of New Mexico); Profs. Stefan Wabnitz, Costantino De Angelis (University

of Brescia, Italy); Dr. Erik Bochove (Air Force Research Laboratory, New Mexico); Prof. Yeojin Chung

(Southern Methodist University).

August 22, 2011 11:44 33

Roberto VegaAssociate Professor

Department of Physics

Southern Methodist University

Dallas, TX 75275, USA

Phone: (214) 768-2498

Fax: (214) 768-4095

E-mail: rvega@smu.edu

Web page: http://www.physics.smu.edu/vega

Education and training

University of Texas High energy physics Ph.D. 1983-1988

Goergia Institute of Technology Mathematical Physics MS 1982-1983

Appointments

Southern Methodist University Associate Professor of Physics (1998-Present)

Southern Methodist University Assistant Professor of Physics (1993-1995)

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center Research Associate (1991-1993)

University of California at Davis Postdoctoral Research Associate (1988-1990)

Indiana University Visiting Summer Faculty (Summer 1989)

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center Program Director SULI (Summers 2001-2004)

Publications

(1) “The Drell-Hearn sum rule at order alpha**3”

D. A. Dicus and R. Vega

Phys. Lett. B 501, 44 (2001) [arXiv:hep-ph/0011212]

(2) “Measuring the neutrino mass using intense photon and neutrino beams”

D. A. Dicus, W. W. Repko and R. Vega

Phys. Rev. D 62, 093027 (2000) [arXiv:hep-ph/0006264]

(3) “Detection of neutral MSSM Higgs bosons in four-b final states at the Tevatron and the

LHC: An update”

J. Dai, J. F. Gunion and R. Vega

Phys. Lett. B 387, 801 (1996) [arXiv:hep-ph/9607379]

(4) “Detection of the Minimal Supersymmetric Model Higgs Boson H0 in its h0h0 → 4b and

A0A0 → 4b Decay Channels”

J. Dai, J. F. Gunion and R. Vega

Phys. Lett. B 371, 71 (1996) [arXiv:hep-ph/9511319]

(5) “A Covariant Method for Calculating Helicity Amplitudes”

R. Vega and J. Wudka

Phys. Rev. D 53, 5286 (1996) [Erratum-ibid. D 56, 6037 (1997)] [arXiv:hep-ph/9511318]

(6) “LHC detection of neutral MSSM Higgs bosons via gg → bbh → bb bb”

J. Dai, J. F. Gunion and R. Vega

Phys. Lett. B 345, 29 (1995) [arXiv:hep-ph/9403362]

(7) “Standard Model Decays Of Tau Into Three Charged Leptons”

D. A. Dicus and R. Vega

Phys. Lett. B 338, 341 (1994) [arXiv:hep-ph/9402262]

(8) “Using b tagging to detect t anti-t Higgs production with Higgs → b anti-b”

J. Dai, J. F. Gunion and R. Vega

Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 2699 (1993) [arXiv:hep-ph/9306271]

(9) “Guaranteed detection of a minimal supersymmetric model Higgs boson at hadron su-

percolliders”

J. Dai, J. F. Gunion and R. Vega

Phys. Lett. B 315, 355 (1993) [arXiv:hep-ph/9306319]

August 22, 2011 11:4434

(10) “Constraints on CP violation in the Higgs sector from the rho parameter”

A. Pomarol and R. Vega

Nucl. Phys. B 413, 3 (1994) [arXiv:hep-ph/9305272]

Synergistic Activities

• Reviewer for International Journal of Theoretical Physics

• Reviewer for Physical Review Journals and Reviews of Modern Physics

Past and present collaborators

Duane A. Dicus (U. Texas)

John F. Gunion (UC Davis)

Jose Wudka (UC Riverside)

Bohdan Grzadkowski (Warsaw U.)

Alex Pomarol (U. Barcelona)

Graduate and postdoctoral advisors

Professor Michael Peskin (Postdoc) Stanford Linear Accelerator

Professor John Gunion (Postdoc) University of California at Davis

Professor Duane Dicus (Ph.D.) University of Texas at Austin

August 22, 2011 11:44 35

Tiankuan LiuResearch Associate Professor

Department of Physics

Southern Methodist University

Dallas, TX 75275, USA

Phone: (214) 768-1472

Fax: (214) 768-4095

E-mail: liu@physics.smu.edu

Education and training

University of Science and Technology

of China

nuclear physics PH.D. 1995-1998

University of Science and Technology

of China

nuclear physics M.Sc. 1993-1994

University of Science and Technology

of China

nuclear physics B.Sc. 1987-1992

Appointments

Southern Methodist University Research Associate Professor in experimental

physics

2010-present

Publications

(1) L. Amaral et al, The versatile link, a common project for super-LHC., JINST 4:P12003, Dec 2009.

(2) Datao Gong et al, Development of A 16:1 serializer for data transmission at 5 Gbps, presented at the

topical workshop on electronics in particle physics (TWEPP), Paris, France, Sep. 21-25, 2009.

(3) Annie Xiang et al, High-Speed Serial Optical Link Test Bench Using FPGA with Embedded

Transceivers, presented at the topical workshop on electronics in particle physics (TWEPP), Paris,

France, Sep. 21-25, 2009.

(4) Tiankuan Liu et al, The Design of a High Speed Low Power Phase Locked Loop, presented at the

topical workshop on electronics in particle physics (TWEPP), Paris, France, Sep. 21-25, 2009.

(5) B. Arvidsson et al, The radiation tolerance of specific optical fibres exposed to 650 kGy(Si) of ionizing

radiation, JINST 4 P07010, Jul 2009

(6) NJ Buchanan et al , Radiation qualification of the front-end electronics for the readout of the ATLAS

liquid argon calorimeters, JINST 3 P10005, Volume 3, October 2008

(7) NJ Buchanan et al, ATLAS liquid argon calorimeter front end electronics, JINST 3 P09003, Volume 3,

September 2008

(8) G. Aad et al, The ATLAS Experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, JINST 3 S08003, Volume

3, August 2008

(9) N J Buchanan et al, Design and implementation of the Front End Board for the readout of the ATLAS

liquid argon calorimeters, JINST 3 P03004, March 2008

(10) A. Bazan et al, ATLAS liquid argon calorimeter back end electronics, JINST 2:P06002, Volume 2, June

2007

(11) Tiankuan Liu et al, Total Ionization Dose Effects and Single-Event Effects Studies Of a 0.25 um Silicon-

On-Sapphire CMOS Technology, the 9th European Conference Radiation and Its Effects on Components

and Systems (RADECS), September 10th to 14th, 2007, Deauville, France.

(12) Chu Xiang, Tiankuan Liu et al, Total Ionizing Dose and Single Event Effect Studies of a 0.25 micron

CMOS Serializer ASIC, 2007 IEEE Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii,

July 23-27, 2007

(13) Thomas Coan, Tiankuan Liu, and Jingbo Ye, Compact Apparatus for Muon Lifetime Measurement and

Time Dilation Demonstration in the Undergraduate Laboratory, American Journal of Physics 74(2),

February 2006.

August 22, 2011 11:4436

(14) Jingbo Ye, Tiankuan Liu et al, Radiation Resistance of Single Frequency 1310-nm AlGaInAs-InP

Grating-Out coupled Surface-Emitting Lasers, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters Vol. 18, No. 1,

January 2006.

Synergistic Activities

• Participated in developing high speed (5 Gbps), high reliable, radiation-tolerant optical interface as an

ATLAS-CMS common project C Versatile Link. Tested the radiation characteristics of optical fibers.

Developing a common test platform - an FPGA-based bit error ratio tester.

• Played a leading role in building high speed (100 Gbps per front-end board), high reliable, radiation-

tolerant optical links for the ATLAS Liquid Argon Calorimeter upgrade. Designed a 5 GHz LC-tank-

based phase-locked loop (PLL).

• Played a leading role in building high speed (1.6 Gbps per front-end board), high reliable, radiation-

tolerant optical links for the ATLAS Liquid Argon Calorimeter. Tested the serializer/deserializer HDMP

2022/1024. Led the quality control test of optical transmitters and receivers.

• Tested the radiation tolerance of the A/D converter AD9042 for ATLAS Liquid Argon Calorimeter.

Developed an evaluation system of AD9042. The major features measured using this evaluation system

are comparable or better than those measured using the chip manufacturers evaluation system.

• Built a stand-alone, low cost, compact data acquisition system for a teaching instrument of cosmic

muon physics study.

Past and present collaborators

Bruce Baller (FNAL)

Hucheng Chen (BNL)

Ming-Lee Chu (IPAS, Academia Sinica)

Bonnie Fleming (Yale University)

Raphael Galea (Columbia University)

Gianluigi De Geronimo (BNL)

Huen Hou (IPAS, Academia Sinica)

Todd Huffman (Oxford University)

Simon Kwan (FNAL)

Francisco Lanni (BNL)

David Lissauer (BNL)

John Parson (Columbia University)

Alan Prosser (FNAL)

Veljko Radeka (BNL)

Stefan Simion (Columbia University)

P. K. Teng (IPAS, Academia Sinica)

Craig Thorn (BNL)

Jan Troska (CERN)

Jon Urheim (Indiana Univ. Bloomington)

Francois Vasey (CERN)

Tony Weidberg (Oxford University)

William Willis (Columbia University)

Graduate and postdoctoral advisors

Professor Xiaoqi Yu University of Science and Technology of

China

August 22, 2011 11:44 37

Annie XiangResearch Associate Professor

Department of Physics

Southern Methodist University

Dallas, TX 75275, USA

Phone: (214) 768-1472

Fax: (214) 768-4095

E-mail: cxiang@smu.edu

Education and training

Rice University Electrical and Computer

Engineering

PH.D. 1997-2001

TsingHua University Physics B.Sc. 1992-1996

Appointments

Southern Methodist University Research Associate Professor 2009-present

Southern Methodist University Research Engineer 2005-2009

Photodigm Inc. Laser Compliance and Reliability Engineer 2002-2004

Latus Lightworks Inc. Long Haul Transport Engineer 2001-2002

Publications

(1) A. Xiang et al, Link model simulation and power penalty specification of the versatile link systems,

JINST 6:C01088, Jan 2011.

(2) A. Xiang et al, Design and verification of a bit error rate tester in Altera FPGA for optical link

developments, JINST 5:C12003, Dec 2010.

(3) L. Amaral et al, The versatile link, a common project for super-LHC., JINST 4:P12003, Dec 2009.

(4) A. Xiang et al, High-Speed Serial Optical Link Test Bench Using FPGA with Embedded Transceivers,

presented at the topical workshop on electronics in particle physics (TWEPP), Paris, France, Sep.

21-25, 2009.

(5) B. Arvidsson et al, The radiation tolerance of specific optical fibres exposed to 650 kGy(Si) of ionizing

radiation, JINST 4 P07010, Jul 2009

(6) A. Xiang et al, Total Ionizing Dose and Single Event Effect Studies of a 0.25 micron CMOS Serializer

ASIC, 2007 IEEE Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 23-27, 2007

(7) A. Xiang et al, Wavelength Shift Keying Technique to Reduce Four-Wave Mixing Crosstalk in WDM,

IEEE LEOS Annual Meeting Proceedings, pp.609-610, 1999

Synergistic Activities

• SMU coordinator, Versatile Link, an ATLAS-CMS common project

• Team member, Atlas upgrade R&D, on general read-out ASICs

• Team member, Atlas upgrade R&D, on inner-detector read-out optics

• Co-instructor, telecommunication courses to physics and EE graduate students

Past and present collaborators

Ming-Lee Chu (IPAS, Academia Sinica)

Huen Hou (IPAS, Academia Sinica)

Cigdem Issever (Oxford University)

Jason Nielson (SCIPP, UC Santa Cruz)

Stefan Simion (Columbia University)

Jan Troska (CERN)

Tony Weidberg (Oxford University)

Vitaliy Fadeyev (SCIPP, UC Santa Cruz)

Todd Huffman (Oxford University)

Simon Kwan (FNAL)

Alan Prosser (FNAL)

P. K. Teng (IPAS, Academia Sinica)

Francois Vasey (CERN)

August 22, 2011 11:4438

Graduate and postdoctoral advisors

James Young Rice University

August 22, 2011 11:44 39

Datao GongResearch Associate Professor

Department of Physics

Southern Methodist University

Dallas, TX 75275, USA

Phone: (214) 768-1472

Fax: (214) 768-4095

E-mail: dtgong@physics.smu.edu

Education and training

University of Minnesota Particle Physics Postdoc 2001-2007

University of Science and Technology

of China

Physics PH.D. 1996-1999

University of Science and Technology

of China

Physics M.Sc. 1994-1995

University of Science and Technology

of China

Physics B.Sc. 1988-1993

Appointments

Southern Methodist University Research Associate Professor 2009-present

Southern Methodist University Research Engineer 2007-2009

University of Science and

Technology of China

Lecture 2000-2001

Publications

(1) Datao Gong et al, Development of A 16:1 serializer for data transmission at 5 Gbps, presented at the

topical workshop on electronics in particle physics (TWEPP), Paris, France, Sep. 21-25, 2009.

(2) Tiankuan Liu et al, The Design of a High Speed Low Power Phase Locked Loop, presented at the topical

workshop on electronics in particle physics (TWEPP), Paris, France, Sep. 21-25, 2009.

(3) Observation of hc ((1)P(1)) state of charmonium J. L. Rosner et al. [CLEO Collaboration] Phys. Rev.

Lett. 95, 102003 (2005) [arXiv:hep-ex/0505073]

(4) Observation of η′

c production in gamma gamma fusion at CLEO D. M. Asner et al. [CLEO Collaboration]

Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 142001 (2004) [arXiv:hep-ex/0312058]

(5) A shift register track finding method for online trigger system Datao Gong et al., Nuclear electronics

and detector technology. 2000(3) p199 203

Synergistic Activities

• Designed a 5 Gbps 16:1 serializer based on a commercial 0.25 um Silicon-on-Sapphire (SOS) process for

ATLAS Liquid Argon Calorimeter upgrade.

• Tested the 2.5 Gbps 20:1 serializer which is the first version of serializer for ATLAS Liquid Argon

Calorimeter upgrade.

• Searching for singlet P-wave charmonium, hc, in Psi prime decays to 0 and c in exclusive mode. Made

a first observation of hc.

• Searched for the η′

c, a charm and anti-charm quarks bound state in CLEO III data and discovered it

exists in two-photon fusion.

Past and present collaborators

Huen Hou (IPAS, Academia Sinica)

Paulo Moreira (CERN)

Fukun Tang (University of Chicago)

Jonathan Rosner(University of Chicago)

Zaza Metreveli (Northwestern University)

Kamal Seth (Northwestern University)

August 22, 2011 11:4440

Graduate and postdoctoral advisors

Ronald Poling University of Minnesota

Yuichi Kubota University of Minnesota

Xiaoqi Yu University of Science and Technology of

China

August 22, 2011 11:44 41

4. Budget Description

This proposal requests funds to support a program for 10 undergraduates for each summer. The budget

includes support for 10 weeks of research. A stipend of $2100 per month is supplemented by $1250 per month

for housing and partial meals each day. A modest travel budget of $1000 per student is also requested.

We request $5000 for travel of faculty mentors for recruitment activities. For example, Aceves would like

to travel to UT Pan American, a substantially minority institution, for recruitment purposes. We also request

$1500 to purchase various supplies such as recruitment materials, folders, books and other materials for the

students’ use during the program. It is also for meals or food for the weekly meetings and final symposium.

Lastly, we request one month of faculty summer salary to support Co-PI Scalise in his administrative

roles. Kehoe already has summer salary support.

August 22, 2011 11:4442

5. Current and Pending SupportThe base experimental and theoretical research in the physics department at SMU is supported by DOE under

grant DE-FG02-04ER41299. Nadolsky is supported by a five-year DOE Early Career Research Award DE-

SC000387 and by LHC Theory Initiative Travel Fellowship awarded by the U.S. National Science Foundation

under grant PHY-0705862.

In addition to these funds, the Physics Department has an active Quarknet program for high-school

science teachers which is supported by DOE and NSF (˜$20K/year). The Department also operates the

Dallas Regional Science & Engineering Fair, sponsored by Beal Bank (˜$70K/year). The Lightner-Sams

Foundation funds a portion of the astrophysics research with ROTSE data. SMU operates an Undergraduate

Research Assistantships (URA) program, which provides matching funds to encourage SMU undergraduate

participation in campus research programs.

Aceves is currently supported by a MURI-ARO grant W911NF-11-0297 ($269K for the period 08/11-

07/16) to study Light filamentation science. His funds include 1 month summer support and support for one

graduate student. A second project currently recommended for funding is a 3 year NSF collaborative IDR

grant to begin 09/11. The topic the study of novel photonic materials and devices based on Non-Hermitian

optics.If awarded, funds will be soley committed to support one graduate student and travel.

Daniel Reynolds receives research funding primarily from DOE and NSF. DOE award DE-FC02-

06ER25785 (˜$80K/year), and a new award as part of the FASTMath SciDAC Institute (˜$70K/year),

support research into general parallel algorthms for nonlinear and linear equation solvers and time integra-

tion software. NSF awards OCI-0832662 (travel support) and AST-1109008 (˜$20K/year), along with a 2011

DOE INCITE award (35 million CPU-hours), support research on large-scale parallel solvers for cosmological

radiation transport. In addition, Reynolds and collaborators in the Math department have been selected to

receive a DOD DURIP award (˜$140K) to support parallel computing research and education at SMU. A

second award in support of parallel computing research and education at SMU is pending to the NSF MRI

program (˜$310K).

August 22, 2011 11:44 43

6. Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources

See information in the Project Description.

August 22, 2011 11:4444 REFERENCES

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