The Large Hadron Collider Theory Initiative, a United
States-based consortium of theoretical physicists aiming to
stimulate and cultivate new young talent in anticipation of
the opening of the Large Hadron Collider later this year,
has announced its first LHC Theory Initiative Graduate
Fellowship Awards.
Administered by The Johns Hopkins University and
funded by the National Science Foundation, the $40,000
awards will provide selected young theorists with funds to
underwrite the costs of their research, including travel
and computing needs.
Recipients of the 2007 LHC Theory Initiative Graduate
Fellowship Awards are Randall Kelly of the University of
California, San Diego, and Jonathan Walsh of the University
of Washington. Their research interests include
calculations of higher-order corrections both within and
beyond the Standard Model, as well as the development of
new, improved simulation tools to confront with data
theoretical models.
In addition, LHC Theory Initiative Travel Awards,
which provide $3,000 for LHC-related travel, were presented
to Dai De Chang, Case Western Reserve University; Wei Gong,
University of Oregon; David Krohn, Princeton University;
and Keith Rehermann, Johns Hopkins.
The six winners, all graduate students, were selected
through a national competition. The chair of the selection
committee was Fred Olness of Southern Methodist
University.
Jonathan Bagger, a member of the LHC Theory Initiative
and chair of the
Department of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins,
said, "The goal of these fellowships and awards is to
stimulate the work of theoretical physicists who will help
interpret the treasure trove of data that will emerge from
the Large Hadron Collider. Our initiative will help the
high-energy physics community take full advantage of the
LHC."
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European
laboratory for particle physics in Geneva, is expected to
begin operation late this year. With its unprecedented
energy and luminosity, the LHC promises to revolutionize
particle physics and our understanding of the universe. It
is expected to create new forms of matter as scientists
search for the elusive Higgs boson and a host of new
particles, as well as help answer some of the most
fundamental questions of physics.
"How do particles acquire mass?" asks LHC Theory
Initiative member Lynne Orr of the University of Rochester.
"Can dark matter be created in a laboratory environment? Do
new symmetries of nature link matter, energy, space and
time? How did matter behave a fraction of a second after
the Big Bang? Those are just some of the questions that we
believe will be answered through the LHC. The ultimate goal
of particle physics is to identify the fundamental
principles that govern matter, energy, space and time. The
LHC will allow us to explore this new terrain."
Bagger and Orr are joined as principal investigators
on the LHC Theory Initiative by R. Sekhar Chivukula of
Michigan State University and Ulrich Baur of the State
University of New York at Buffalo.
"In the coming years," Baur said, "we will not only
continue to award the Graduate Fellowship and Travel Awards
but will also award $150,000 grants to postdoctoral
fellows. The money will allow these young researchers to
pursue their research and to build a network of LHC-related
theorists. We want to create a strong community of young
physicists."
For more information on the LHC Theory Initiative, go
to www.lhc-ti.org.
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