EPPOG/US Masterclass at Work

Introduction

The European Particle Physics Outreach Group (EPPOG) has created the Masterclass, an opportunity for students to discover the world of quarks and leptons with real data from the Large Electron Positron Collider (LEP).


The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is scheduled to begin operations in 2009. The LHC has detectors that scientists have designed to detect evidence of the Higgs boson. The Higgs boson is theorized to quickly decay into Z bosons, which have several possible decay scenarios. Understanding the decay of Z bosons will be key in definitively identifying Higgs boson events.


Read the rest of this Masterclass Introduction



To learn more about how the US Masterclass works, visit the Masterclass Institute pages linked above. To keep up with the latest information, scroll down and read below.


The Latest News

March 2009: Passed!

All U.S. Masterclass Institutes have earned at least a conditional pass on their EVO Tests. Most have passed fully. Check your EVO situation at http://cosm.hamptonu.edu/vlhc/doku.php?id=wiki:start:wkshp:mcwg:evo:status. Well done, U.S. Masterclass Institutes!


· 2009/03/11 21:26 · Ken Cecire

February 2009: Masterclass at Fermilab...and more

The Masterclass at Fermilab, an event for teachers and students local to Fermilab, is coming on Saturday, February 21. Teachers and students will spend the day at Fermilab, go through the Masterclass, and then have an in-house scientific conference. Information is available on the new Masterclass Library at http://www.quarknet.us/library/index.php/Masterclass_at_Fermilab.


Meanwhile…the Level 2 Evaluation pre-test is almost ready. There is still time to join in the Level 2 Evaluation: just e-mail Ken Cecire.


January 2009: New FAQ

Wondering about resources, or the schedule, or what's for lunch? You may find an answer on a new feature - the US Masterclass FAQ. If you don't find your question, e-mail it in and it might get posted there!


· 2009/01/30 14:53 · Ken Cecire

January 2009: EVO test results - and new tests coming

Congratulations to the following sites for successfully passing their EVO Tests:

  • Bloomington
  • Buffalo
  • New Brunswick
  • Oxford
  • West Lafayette
  • Wien

12 sites participated in the EVO Tests on 12-16 January 2009; those which have not fully passed found technical issues to be resolved before the Make-up EVO Tests in February. The next and final round of EVO Tests has been moved back and will take place 24-26 February 2009. The schedule for these tests can be found on the EVO connections page; all Masterclass Institutes which have no yet fully passed an EVO test must schedule an EVO test by sending an e-mail with their first 2 choices for test day and time.


January 2009: EVO test lessons learned so far

  • Even with H.323 or an echo-cancelling mic, it is good practice to assign a student to control the mic button on EVO and mute his/her Institute except when someone has something to say
  • When using Polycom with a TV monitor, it is a good idea to use a projector to show the desktop: this makes the spreadsheets, etc bigger and easier for students to read
  • Almost as many fail the EVO test on the first try as pass it, so it is good to get a test in early and re-do if there is a problem the first time out (and if you fail, know you are in good company)
  • Ethernet connection is better than wireless
  • The phone bridge is a good back-up and also useful for communication while troubleshooting: a user can disconnect his/her computer or H.323 device from EVO while working on tech issues but still talk with the group
  • We should (and will) establish a wiki or web page for Institutes to upload their presentations. This way, if one group has trouble seeing a presentation on EVO, they can download it and view it directly on using their own machine(s).


Information for Mentors and Teachers

US Masterclass Institutes, arranged by Date and Time of Videoconference

Date Time (CT) Institute No. of TeachersNo. of StudentsContact Masterclass Exercise
Mon 23 Mar 10:00 Hampton/Richmond 1 10 Vassilis Vassilikopoulos LHC
Mon 23 Mar 10:00 Notre Dame 2 10 Beth Marchant LHC
Mon 23 Mar 10:00 Cincinnati 1 18 Brian Meadows LHC
Mon 23 Mar 10:00 UC London Mario Campanelli LHC
Tue 24 Mar 15:00 Gainesville 2 15 Tom Jordan LEP
Tue 24 Mar 15:00 Irvine/LA 6 75 Mu-Chun Chen LEP
Tue 24 Mar 15:00 Lawrence 20 Phil Baringer LEP
Wed 25 Mar w/CERN Riverside 1 20 Bill Gary LEP
Thu 26 Mar 15:00 Argonne 6 Bob Wagner LEP
Thu 26 Mar 15:00 Brookhaven 2 15 Helio Takai LEP
Thu 26 Mar 15:00 College Park 3 25 Jordan Goodman LEP
Fri 27 Mar w/CERN Brookhaven 2 15 Helio Takai LEP
Fri 27 Mar 10:00 Hampton 1 20 Vassilis Vassilikopoulos LEP
Fri 27 Mar 10:00 New Brunswick 5 20 Steve Schnetzer LEP
Fri 27 Mar 10:00 Wien 0 21 Laurenz Widhalm LEP
Fri 27 Mar 15:00 Baltimore - JHU 4 20 Morris Swartz LHC
Fri 27 Mar 15:00 Mayaguez 4 20 Hector Mendez LHC
Fri 27 Mar 15:00 Tallahassee Horst Wahl LHC
Sat 28 Mar 14:30 Bloomington 5 25 Rick Van Kooten LEP
Sat 28 Mar 14:30 Boston George Alverson LEP
Sat 28 Mar 14:30 Buffalo 2 9 Ia Iashvili LEP
Sat 28 Mar 14:30 West Lafayette 10 6 Daniela Bortoletto LEP
Sat 28 Mar 16:00 Arlington 5 15 Andy White LEP
Sat 28 Mar 16:00 Oxford Lucien Cremaldi LEP
Sat 28 Mar 16:00 Minneapolis 3 21 Dan Cronin-Hennessey LEP
Sat 28 Mar no vconHouston 3 25 Robert DuBois LHC

Fellows Masterclass Work Page

Basic resources

For a more complete resource list, go to the Resources page.


Masterclass in the press


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