Chapter 3.1: The Research Process Continued

I am currently finishing optimizing the equipment for the cosmic rays and will soon be taking cosmic ray data from around Faraday Hall and La Tourette. I’ll be taking data from around the building because the amount of cosmic rays that hits the sensors depends on the surroundings, e.g. near windows will increase cosmic ray hits. Thankfully, the test stand has wheels which will allow it to be easy to cart around. I am still learning more about what will be done next and how discrepencies will be applied such as energy loss through matter and how to account for noise probability for the cosmic rays. (Noise is when the equipment will read out a cosmic ray hit when it actually isn’t. This happens at a certain probability and this probability can be calculated for the chance that it occurs in every sensor.

Working with my faculty mentor has been extremely helpful to me and luckily I also have the opportunity to work with Dr. Eads, another professor who works in high energy physics. This is beneficial because it gives me multiple people to seek help from and guide me in the research process. They are also both up to date on current data analysis techniques and programs that will help with the analysis.

Chapter 3: The Research Experience

My research opportunity has been a very interesting experience so far. I thought it would be difficult learning about the equipment but I started my research by testing the equipment. This gave me the opportunity to learn what each piece of the equipment does. The most challenging part of the research process has been learning about the different aspects of the muon and how each piece of equipment helps in the muon detection process. The most rewarding feeling is when the equipment being testedworks as planned.

Chapter 2: The Research Project

With the research rookie program in full swing, I will be spending my first year of Research Rookies working on the construction of a cosmic ray stand to assist in the testing of straw tubes for the “g-2″ experiment at Fermilab. My project is part of a larger portion of research and development that Dr. Hedin is working on in conjunction of with the experiment at Fermilab. This project excites me because it allows me to contribute to an experiment at a national laboratory and will introduce me into research in experimental physics with a project that I will be able to understand. I was initially worried that I would not be able to comprehend the project but as I continue to meet with Dr. Hedin, I am understanding more of the specifics of the project.

Chapter 1.2: Completing the Selection Process

Although I had a tough decision, I decided to work with Dr. Hedin on his project concerning muons.

Chapter 1: Finding a Mentor

I’ve met with all my possible mentors and I’m currently trying to decide who I want to work with. But first, let me start at the beginning of the process which started out as deciding whose research seemed interesting to me. The answer to this question, quite frankly, is everyone within the Physics department had research that interested me, such as material science, high energy physics and condensed matter. So, I had to further narrow my choice down to faculty with research that I would not only be able to understand but be able to have a project of my own. I ended up choosing Dr. Lurio, Dr. Hedin, and Dr. Ito. I was able to schedule a meeting with all of them and I took my first step into the Research Rookies program. That first step not only came with excitement but also a large amount of nervousness. I knew this was a good choice but I didn’t know what physics research pertained and that definitely worried me. But at the same time, I was excited about the fact that I will finally get the chance to truly understand what research in my desired field contained. I also get to work on my own project that is still scientifically important to the field. Yet, that nagging feeling of would I be able to understand what I would be doing and the research proposal scared me.

Back to the present: I’ve had the opportunity to meet with all my possible mentors and I’m currently trying to narrow down which mentor I would like to work with. I was partially right about the complexity of the research in progress at NIU, but all of the faculty explained their research in such a way that I was able to understand the basics of what was going on (even with my basic understand of physics). I wish I could say I have my faculty mentor chosen, but all of the research is extremely interesting and it’s going to be a tough choice. I have the opportunity to work with elementary particles, spectroscopy, and x-ray scattering; all of which are complex but the ease at which I feel I can jump into the research and come out with an understanding of what I’ve done, thanks to the professors and their projects, brings out a huge feeling of excitement. The feeling of “a kid in the candy store” comes to mind because I have so many fantastic options but can only choose one. I’ll give an update as to when I finally make the tough choice and make a decision on my mentor.
Mason