Blog Overview

Intro

Program Info 

The program provides housing, airfare, food stipends and any other support costs. To be accepted to the program students must have completed 2 years of university and have a solid programming/high energy physics background. The application process entailed, providing 2 letters of recommendation, university transcript, programming background and motivation for working at CERN. After applying, the application is then reviewed by the foundation's board of directors and a decision if you are accepted is made. This whole application process for me took about 2 month. Although, after being accepted to the program, I also needed to fill out school specific forms for the position.

Paperwork Preparation :(

In review, I was accepted by the foundation last February and have been preparing for my time at CERN ever since. The first step was finding a flight and all that jazz. So, I began searching Expedia and all the other mechanism for a flight to Geneva International Airport around September,when I would be leaving. Once I had completed this, things calmed down for the most part in terms of preparing to go abroad until June. June, the foundation had us prepare for getting Work Visas just to allow us to have full flexibility in terms of our stay at CERN. The Visa process was far simpler than I had initially excepted. On the Consulate's website, there are a list of about 10 support documents one needs to obtain for applying for a Visa. I acquired all the various documents including proof of residence, proof of insurance, proof of ... and when I arrived at the consulate all I needed was one document (My CERN Contract). The Consulate worker explained to me that for CERN workers Visa fees and paperwork are simplified to allow easy travel of scientist to and from CERN. All together my visit at the consulate lasted about 20 minuted including waiting to enter the Consulate. At this point I had to wait about 2 weeks for the paper work to be processed and my Visa to be applied to my passport. Aside from obtaining my Visa, the only other paperwork I filled out was a necessary CERN pre-application form.

Programming and Physics Preparation :)

Now to the best part so far! In July my mentor at CERN emailed me, informing to me, that I would be working on the ATLAS experiment on various hardware and software improvements. These improvements are being performed to increase ATLAS's sensitivity to new particles. In terms of software my mentor explained to me, CERN uses an object oriented framework known as Root a top C++. Since, I have already taken mutiple classes on C++ I didn't really to do much catching up on it. Although, I began playing around with CERN's new open data system which included mutiple tutorials on Root. As for high energy physics(HEP) preparation, I tried to read a few of the Griffiths books on particle physics/quantum mechanics in tandem with watching a few video lectures from Stanford's particle physics class. Coming from a engineering background compared to a hard science my grasp on these HEP concepts are still loose although they should solidify with practice at CERN.
Wrap Up
So wondering whats next: In this blog, I am going to try to include as much detail as I can provide about my experience working at CERN along with my weekend trips that I take to other countries. I will try to blog about once a week depending on my work schedule. Hope you enjoy!