Physics Modeling Workshop at FIU. |
High school, undergraduate and graduate students from South Florida to South America are learning about high energy physics and cyberinfrastructure through a model program based at Florida International University. CHEPREO, the Center for High Energy Physics Research and Education Outreach, is a collaboration of four universities that integrates high energy physics research, network and grid infrastructure development, and education and outreach efforts at FIU, one of the largest minority-serving schools in the United States.
"Many interesting elements came together to create CHEPREO," said Heidi Alvarez from FIU, one of the Center's principal investigators. "Efforts for the CMS particle physics experiment were taking off in the U.S.; AMericasPATH, a major international exchange point for research and education networks, was operational; the Network Access Point of the Americas, the fifth Tier 1 NAP in the world, had just come online in Miami; and there was strong interest in fostering relationship with the Brazilian high-energy physics community."
CHEPREO brings together Florida State University, the University of Florida, Caltech and FIU in a unique three-component project funded by four directorates at the NSF. The physics research component focuses on the CMS high energy physics experiment. With 2,000 collaborators worldwide and a 20 to 30 year lifetime, the experiment will be in need of a next generation of physicists, which CHEPREO aims to train through the education and outreach component.
"CHEPREO runs an UltraLight cyberinfrastructure workshop, a physics modeling workshop, and a QuarkNet workshop every summer at FIU's Physics Learning Center," said Alvarez. "We are creating a community of scholars centered at the PLC and reaching out into the community." In addition, CHEPREO collaborators at the University of Florida focus on grid computing education for undergraduates, graduate students and established researchers.
The cyberinfrastructure component, which includes network and grid research, uses the UltraLight project as a test bed for CHEPREO's scientists. CHEPREO has helped increase network bandwidth to Brazil through the AMPATH open network exchange point. CHEPREO will also aid an effort by FIU and several other Florida universities to create a statewide Florida Research Grid.
"CHEPREO connected the dots as to how AMPATH could be leveraged to improve networking from the U.S. to Brazil, and to start a program in Miami to serve multiple goals of the NSF—improving math and physics education and outreach to South America," said Julio Ibarra, director of AMPATH and the Western Hemisphere Research and Education Network-Links Interconnecting Latin America (WHREN-LILA).
Learn more at the CHEPREO Web site.
—Katie Yurkewicz
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