NAME:
Purdue University Calumet

HOME TOWN:
Hammond, Ind.

MASCOT:
Peregrine

COLORS:
Black and gold

COLLABORATING AT FERMILAB SINCE:
2005

WORLDWIDE PARTICLE PHYSICS COLLABORATIONS:
CMS, DZero

NUMBER OF SCIENTISTS AND STUDENTS INVOLVED:
One faculty, one postdoc, two undergraduates

PARTICLE PHYSICS RESEARCH FOCUS:
The Purdue Calumet group has been responsible for critical tasks on the CMS forward pixel detector—developing its geometry, performing burn-in tests for all modules and writing the geometry for the upgrade option. We have performed physics analysis on CMS data in the electroweak sector on the W-muon asymmtery and physics beyond the Standard Model in the search for the W prime boson. Additionally, we are responsible for co-coordinating tracker DQM shifts at Fermilab's ROC.

WHAT SETS PARTICLE PHYSICS AT PURDUE CALUMET APART?
Purdue Calumet is the only undergraduate and teaching institution in the US CMS list of collaborating institutions and the only high-energy physics Institution in Northwest Indiana with official membership in Fermilab and CERN experiments. The group has primarily supported women and minorities, with a very heavy component on both building the CMS pixel detector and developing the geometry software for the current detector and the upgrade. Our education outreach activities have been recognized by the Fermilab director. The group is working on establishing a QuarkNet center at the university. Proximity to Fermilab has been a great advantage. Purdue Calumet's undergraduate students have led the CMS tracker validation effort.

FUNDING AGENCIES:
NSF