Training Program at the University of Houston
(Tu 5/27/2025 – Th 7/3/2025)

Week 1: 5/27–5/30 — Neutrino Detection: Hardware and Software Techniques
Prof. Koerner and Dr. Olson
  • Monday: The Physics of Neutrinos
  • Tuesday: Neutrino Fluxes, Cross Sections, and Connections with Nuclear Physics
  • Wednesday: Neutrino detectors
  • Thursday: Neutrino experiments
  • Friday: Applied Math, Statistics, and Computing in Neutrino Physics
Week 3: 6/9–6/13 — Computational Techniques in Relativistic Heavy Ion Physics
Prof. Timmins and Dr. Portillo
  • Monday: Introduction to C/C++
  • Tuesday: Introduction to C/C++
  • Wednesday: ROOT: an analysis platform for heavy ions
  • Thursday: Python and modern tools in nuclear and particle physics
  • Friday: The GRID: running TB of data around the world
Week 5: 6/23–6/27 — Applications in Low Energy Nuclear Physics, Space Science, and Medical Physics
Profs. Bellwied and Portillo
  • Monday: Technologies applied at lower energies in fundamental nuclear research
  • Tuesday: The intersection between nuclear, space and medical science
  • Wednesday: Using nuclear state-of-the-art detectors in space science
  • Thursday: Using nuclear state-of-the-art detectors in medical applications
  • Friday: The future of high precision, robust detector development


Week 2: 6/2–6/6 — Nuclear High Energy Physics at RHIC and the LHC
Prof. Timmins and Dr. Portillo
  • Monday: Big Bang Theory and forces in the universe
  • Tuesday: Phase transitions and the QGP
  • Wednesday: RHIC and LHC — accelerator and detector
  • Thursday: Results from RHIC
  • Friday: Results from the LHC
Week 4: 6/16–6/20 — Introduction to the Standard Model of Particle Physics
Prof. Ratti and Dr. Portillo
  • Monday: Introduction to Mathematica
  • Tuesday: Introduction to Quantum Electrodynamics
  • Wednesday: Introduction to Quantum Chromodynamics
  • Thursday: Introduction to Weak Interactions and Neutrinos
  • Friday: Heavy-Ion Physics and the Quark-Gluon Plasma
Week 6: 6/30–7/3 — Professional Opportunities in Nuclear Physics, Networking, and Presentation Skills
Profs. Cherdack, Rigos (MIT), and Guests
  • Monday: Leadership, self-awareness and the role of personality and personal history
  • Tuesday: Opportunities at universities, federal laboratories, and at companies related to Nuclear/High Energy Physics
  • Wednesday: How to prepare professionally for a talk and a job interview
  • Thursday: Opportunities in seemingly unrelated fields
  • Friday: Student Presentations

Training program at Brookhaven National Laboratory and Sanford Underground Research Facility
(Mo 7/7/25 – Fr 7/18/25)

Week 7: 7/7–7/12 — Particle Physics at SURF and Underground Lab facilities
  • Monday: Underground training and lab Safety
  • Tuesday: Active experiments at SURF and Q&A with staff scientist
  • Wednesday: introduction to researchers working on LZ, MJD, and CASPAR
  • Thursday: Participation in Science Operations Meetings
  • Friday: Python, basic data handling and student presentations, and discussions
  • Saturday: Participation in Neutrino Day (city-wide science festival)
Week 8: 7/14–7/18 — STAR and Neutrino Physics at BNL
  • Monday: STAR Muon Telescope Detector
  • Tuesday: STAR High-Level Trigger, hypertriton reconstruction
  • Wednesday: Introduction to BNL neutrino program
  • Thursday: Introduction and tour of BNL liquid scintillator lab
  • Friday: Student presentations and discussions

Funding

This program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

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Contact us
  • For details about the program, contact at the following email address:
  • ddcherdack@uh.edu
Department of Physics, University of Houston

Science and Research Building 1
3507 Cullen Blvd., Room 617
Houston, TX 77204-5005