PHOTO: Neeti Parashar

 Purdue University Northwest (PNW) has designated a new Center for High Energy Physics (CHEP) that will include the university’s particle and high energy physics research and community outreach programs.

High energy physics is a subfield of physics that seeks to better understand the fundamental particles and forces of nature. The center will leverage its existing programs and promote PNW’s unique status as a member in several circles of world-class physics research.

The center will operate under the leadership of Dr. Neeti Parashar, professor of Physics and the center’s founder and director. Joining her will be Dr. James Dolen, associate professor of Physics, and PNW students to observe and participate in research funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois, and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland. High school students participating with PNW’s QuarkNet Center are also able to analyze research from these laboratories using external sources.

“Research conducted under the auspices of the center is at the forefront of the high energy physics community world-wide,” says Parashar. “It places PNW on a global map of fundamental discoveries. We are also in a very unique situation, since PNW is the only high energy physics institution in Northwest Indiana. The creation of the center will provide more leverage for funding opportunities, inviting researchers of recognition and relevance, and aggressively recruiting Physics students into our program.”

Parashar was a part of the research team, comprised of several thousand scientists, who in 2012 discovered the Higgs boson particle, at CERN. The Higgs boson responsible for the origin of mass is dubbed as “the God particle” for the non-scientific audience, in an attempt to explain the genesis of our existence. The scientists’ discovery helped Peter Higgs and Francois Englert earn the 2013 Nobel prize for their predictions of the existence of the Higgs boson particle.

“Research opportunities for undergraduate students at PNW and master class sessions for local high school students will foster exposure to cutting-edge scientific discovery typically only available to post-graduate and doctoral students and other well-established researchers and scientists,” says Parashar.

“High energy physics helps us better understand the very nature of life by focusing on the smallest fundamental building blocks,” says Kenneth C. Holford, provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs. “Purdue Northwest is home to two nationally recognized scientists that work in this area. In addition to identifying this as a priority research area, the launch of the Center for High Energy Physics will make these topics accessible and relevant to our community. As a premier metropolitan institution, our goal is to provide cutting edge educational outreach and training for high school students and instructors in the region.”  

“The Center for High Energy Physics at PNW will allow us to highlight the world-class research our faculty are doing in this field, and provide a framework to reach out and train students and teachers at the leading edge of science,” says Dietmar Rempfer, interim dean of the College of Engineering and Sciences. “By offering opportunities for students and teachers in Northwest Indiana to study at international laboratory facilities such as Fermilab and CERN, CHEP will expose our students and communities to modern science and facilitate knowledge transfer via several impactful modes of experiential learning.”

Others joining Parashar and Dolen as inaugural faculty members in research, outreach, and teaching through CHEP include Aaron Warren, associate professor of Physics, Gokarna Aryal, professor of Statistics, and Atanu Pathak, postdoctoral researcher of the high energy physics group.

For more information, visit pnw.edu/chep.

Research at Fermilab and CERN

The CHEP’s core research program involves collaboration on particle physics experiments at CERN and Fermilab.

Parashar is the principal investigator while Dr. Dolen serves as the co-principal investigator on their federally funded research via NSF. Parashar’s group is responsible for contributing to the discovery of new particles in proton-proton collisions at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The LHC is a 27-kilometer ring accelerating protons to higher energies producing colliding data in the search for new particles, and what might have happened at the origin of the universe.

One of PNW’s specific tasks and responsibilities is building new silicon-based particle detectors with other collaborators. Since 2005, the group has contributed to a silicon pixel detector currently operating at the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at CERN. PNW students have also analyzed data collected by CMS and contributed to particle property measurements and searches.

CHEP collaborates with other experiments at Fermilab and collaborates with scientists, researchers, and academics.

QuarkNet Program

QuarkNet is a nonprofit, federally funded program that addresses the education and outreach element nationally, internationally, and of CHEP. The program, which has centers at several universities in the U.S., offers classes and programming by college faculty for high school students and teachers in high energy physics. PNW, the University of Notre Dame, and Purdue West Lafayette are home to the state’s three QuarkNet Centers.

Parashar leads PNW’s QuarkNet program, which hosts a CMS Masterclass each year for local Northwest Indiana high school students. The students participate in hands-on activities analyzing data from the CMS experiment at CERN, and present their results to CERN and Fermilab scientists via videoconferencing.

PNW’s QuarkNet program also hosts a workshop for local high school teachers dedicated to concepts of modern research and particle physics in the classroom.

In December 2021, Parashar was appointed to the U.S. QuarkNet advisory board for a five-year term, which oversees particle physics education and dissemination. Parashar is one of the ten professors appointed to the advisory board. 

Purdue University Northwest

Purdue University Northwest (PNW) is a premier metropolitan university dedicated to empowering transformational change in our students and in our community. Located in Northwest Indiana, near Chicago, PNW values academic excellence, supports growth, and celebrates diversity. For more information about PNW, visit www.pnw.edu.

CUTLINE: Neeti Parashar, professor of Physics at PNW, has been a longtime researcher in high energy and particle physics in domestic and international circles. Parashar is the director of PNW’s Center for High Energy Physics, which participates in particle physics research and exposes students at the college and high school level to those research opportunities.

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