1st PERSON INTERVIEW: Physics Ph.D. Student Shares CERN Experience

“My name is Alfredo Gurrola. I am a 25-year-old doctoral candidate from Texas A&M University. I have been stationed at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) for nearly a year and have had the great pleasure of working with some of the greatest physics minds in the world.

“For the past 3.5 years, I have been working in conjunction with the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment on the analysis of physics channels with final states containing tau particles and the development of algorithms and methods to improve the performance of the Hadronic Calorimeter; identify hadronically decaying tau leptons, which might be a key for Higgs searches, searches for physics beyond the Standard Model, and searches for the dark matter particle; and improve the measurement of missing transverse energy, a main discriminator for physics searches beyond the Standard Model.

“During my spare time, I like to travel as much as possible and experience the different cultures that Europe has to offer. Working at CERN has given me the opportunity to explore some of the most beautiful cities in the world with my wife, Leslie. In addition to traveling, I also love to play football, basketball, and baseball.

“Our team from Texas A&M University is working hard to make a meaningful contribution on the increasingly complex field of physics. I truly value the opportunity to make an impact on our understanding of the world in which we live, and I am very excited about the future of physics.”

The Texas A&M University group has been involved in the CMS experiment since 2005. The group is rapidly expanding to include eight Ph.D. scientists, four Ph.D. students and two engineers, who are actively working on projects in the the Endcap Muon (EMU) and HCAL systems for first beam as well as the EMU, HCAL and Tracking Trigger systems for the SLHC upgrades. Their physics interests are focused on searches, in particular for SUSY and the Higgs, using final states with muons, taus, jets and missing transverse energy.