Local high school students visited Boston University’s Physics Department earlier this month for CONNECTIONS@BU, a four-day event where students learned about scientists’ quest to uncover the mysteries of the universe and how it began. They also got a sneak peak at the exciting research taking place at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in CERN Switzerland, where Assistant Professor of Physics Tulika Bose—who helped organize and led the event—conducts cutting-edge experiments.
Close to 100 high school juniors and seniors from five schools attended CONNECTIONS@BU over the four days. During the program, students were introduced to particle physics, learned how to view various particle collisions and identify the mass and charge of particles, and learned the importance of the conservation of energy and momentum. In addition, they got an insider’s look at a control room at one of the LHC experiments and got the chance to ask questions of scientists who are involved firsthand in the experiments. The days ended with a pizza lunch where graduate students shared their experiences and talked about careers in physics.
When she’s not teaching at BU, Bose is a trigger coordinator for the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the LHC; the LHC is one of the most powerful particle accelerators ever built. According to a recent BU Research article, “The LHC smashes protons together 40 million times a second, and physicists like Bose sort through the wreckage. Bose is looking for particles (or their remains) that will substantiate (or dismiss) new theories that solve mysteries about the Big Bang and the nature of matter.” Bose offered students a unique educational experience, allowing them to learn from a leading researcher about such large experiments that could change physics as we know it.
CONNECTIONS@BU was funded in part by an NSF grant from Fermilab (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory), LERNet (the Learning Resource Network), and the BU Department of Physics.