CERN


My 3rd week at CERN went well! First off, I was able to finish a large part of my webserver project. This involved creating various new PHP, Python and Javascript scripts to perform various actions for the physics server. All that is left to do on the project is to implement some routines to parse and sanitize user input. If any one would like to check out the stable version of the site(none of my new features are implemented in this): https://spectrum.web.cern.ch/spectrum/develop/index.html.
As for the work on my tile calorimeter project, this week I didn't get to do much, since the 3D printers were unavailable. Although, I did get to present my work for this project on a live webcast to the University of Michigan sponsors. Here is a link for anyone who would like to learn more about my project:https://indico.cern.ch/event/568524/.
Aside from my projects at CERN, I have forgotten to mention that I am taking a French class at CERN.  Every week, I have a 90 minute session with our professeur and we explore the French language! My first week, we went over basics like, “My name is, I am from New York, I am American.” The second week, we went over numbers, details about phone numbers in Switzerland and France and how to ask/give directions. This week was especially useful since, I am constantly in need to find where X place is located. Overall, I have found the classes very fun and useful, allowing me to perfect my French accent!
One last thing at CERN, this week I was able to view the Large Hadron Collider(LHC) control room, AMS experiment and beam test facility. My mentor brought us to all these places and had lengthy explanations about every intricate detail of these rooms. The LHC control room was by far the coolest. Inside the control room, there is about four different workstation areas with over 100 monitors in one workstation. Aside from at the workstation, there are also huge monitors around the room describing all the different LHC parameters such as: power, beam intensity, luminosity, energy and tons more! One of the coolest parts of the LHC was the safety system to start the detector. Just like in movies where you see there are two keys to launch a missile, there is an analogous system here at CERN. Here, there are about 100 keys which are used to go down into the LHC. Now, in order to start the detector all 100 keys must be in their slots to initialize power ramp up for the LHC. After seeing the LHC control room, our group was off to see the AMS experiment. This experiment is actually on the International Space Station(ISS) measuring various cosmic rays. Inside the experiment’s building, there is a small remote control room, a live view of inside the ISS and a replica of the detector on the ISS. One of the cool parts about the remote control room was the experiment had a live event visualizer to highlight cosmic ray paths! After AMS, our group headed to the beam test facility where one of the LHC’s beams is used to test and calibrate new sensor modules. The room where all this is done is massive, to move things about the room there is a huge ceiling crane that scans the room. This experience was awesome, getting to go inside and see so many sensors in their infancy.

European Night


Friday at CERN was European science night. At the event, various documentaries were being shown of physics phenomena, which were developed to appeal to young kids at the event what science is like. Aside from the documentaries, CERN’s globe was opened up for people to walk through the halls. In the globe, there are various pictures of the experiments’ detectors at CERN, particles and a bunch of inspirational quotes. At the bottom of the globe, tours were being offered to see the ATLAS control room and to view the Universe of Particles exhibit. Since I had already been to the ATLAS control room, I went to view the Universe of Particles exhibit. The exhibit was awesome, the room was dark with tons of glowing orbs where various small facts of particle physics were mentioned. Additionally, there was a cosmic ray viewer, that made a flash of light whenever a cosmic ray hit the material! At the end of all this, I got a “New York Hot Dog” from some of the food vendors brought in for the event. The hot dog featured, sausage, pain de maiz, bolognese, cheese and fried onions! The hot dog was pretty good with this unique set of ingredients.

Nyon


Saturday, I visited Nyon, a city in Switzerland. Originally, I had intended to go to Yvoire, which is a French city across the way from Nyon. Although, the weather on Saturday in France/Switzerland was tons of rain. Therefore, I opted for the short 15 minute train ride from Geneva to Lyon, instead of a ferry ride across lake Geneva. Overall, Nyon was a cool small town to visit. During my visit, there was the festival of Nyon which featured various street vendors and artists performing. I spent some time going through the various vendors, awing at the amazing food such as fresh proscuitto, crawfish croquettes and assorted desserts from local bakeries. After searching through all the vendors, I got a pig sandwich! The meat for the sandwich came straight from a pig that was skewered and roasting over an open fire pit! Aside from food, I visited the castle of Lyon and the old city town. The castle featured tons of little crests of Switzerland and a great balcony view over the city.  After viewing the castle, I packed up and went back roaming the streets of Geneva for the day!

Mont-Saleve


Sunday, a group of the US students in my CERN program went to climb Mont-Saleve. The route had taken the group about 3 hours to climb up and 2 hours back down. Along the hike, we were able to see tons of cool little things. Such as, the mountain village, we discovered! This village had a little church, school, restaurant and a farmers market for Sunday. Also, many of the buildings had a beautiful antique look which added to the wow factor of the little town. In addition to the village, on the way there we were able to see a cow farm at the top of the mountain! One cool thing about the cows, was they all had the little swiss cow bell on them. After the cow farm, we finally reached the top of the mountain after walking another 10 minutes. The top of the mountain had a beautiful look out over the whole city of Geneva/ parts of France. We were even able to see the spewing water of the jet d’eau from the top of the mountain! All in all, this was an amazing weekend to enjoy the outdoor beauty of Switzerland!
Check back next week for another adventure story!


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