Student Projects in Nuclear Physics

This work is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under grant 2209480

Student pages

Student Videos on Data Analysis Techniques

• ROOT Data Analysis Framework Overview - James M^cIntyre

Tagger Microscope Installation and Commissioning

• Tagger Microscope Status - Alex Barnes
• Microscope Installation Pictures - Alex Barnes, Brendan Pratt, James M^cIntyre
• Fiber Installation - Alex Barnes, Brendan Pratt, James M^cIntyre
• Fiber geometry and numbering scheme - Richard Jones
• Inclusive listing of lab journals of students who worked on this project

Tagger Microscope Mechanical Construction

• Moving the Tagger Microscope - James M^cIntyre
  • Calculating the move - James M^cIntyre
  • Tagger Microscope Placement in the Tagger Hall - James M^cIntyre
• Tagger Microscope Construction - James M^cIntyre, Alex Barnes
• Construction of the Full-Scale Tagger Microscope - Ann Marie Carroll, James M^cIntyre, Jonathan Kulakofsky, Liana Hotte, Kenny Brand, John Bartolotta, Aaron Carta
• Tagger Microscope Engineering Drawings - James M^cIntyre
• Replacement Fibers Construction and Assessment - Micah Warren

Tagger Microscope Electronics

• Microscope Electronics - Alex Barnes, Igor Senderovich, Jonathan Kulakofsky
• Euro Card Connectors - Alex Barnes, James M^cIntyre
• Darkbox Fiber Testing Setup - Alex Barnes

Active Collimator Installation and Commissioning

• Assembly and bench tests with the active collimator - John Bartolotta
• Active Collimator Installation Pictures - Alex Barnes

Diamond Radiator Fabrication and Mounting

• Diamond Radiator Thinning Using an Excimer Laser - Brendan Pratt
• Diamond Mounting - Brendan Pratt
• Analysis of Diamond Cantilever Vibration - Jessica Hyde
• Surface Images and Thickness profile of Diamonds - Fridah Mokaya

Detector Development

• Construction and testing of a GEM-based radon detector - Andrew Sampino, Mira Varma

Hadron Spectroscopy

• Summary of 2008 XYZ Meson Review - Igor Senderovich
• Exotic b1π Channel Simulation and Analysis - Igor Senderovich

Radphi Data Analysis

• η Meson Cross Section Analysis (UNDER CONSTRUCTION) - James M^cIntyre
• Omega photoproduction and backgrounds simulation

GPU Computing

• GPU/CPU Cooling System - James M^cIntyre, Alex Barnes
• Cooling System Specification - John Bartolotta
• GPU/CPU Cooling Loop Construction - Andy Wang
• GPU/CPU Cooling Loop Controls - Frances Yu, Jeremy Prema, Sabrina Shen, Amar Sinha, Varun Yetukuri

Presentations and Posters

Conferences and Workshops

• Demystifying Particle Detectors with Interactive Learning Tools, Richard Dube - poster, AAPT Summer Meeting, Boston, MA, July 6-10, 2024.
• Introducing Particle Identification to Algebra-Based Physics Students, Richard Dube - invited talk, GlueX Collaboration meeting, Newport News, VA, May 14-16, 2024.
• PID Playground: Teaching Particle Identification Using Jupyter Notebooks, Richard Dube - poster, AAPT Winter Meeting, New Orleans, LA, January 6-9, 2024.
• Hall D & GlueX Update, Alex Barnes - invited plenary talk, JLab Annual User's Group Meeting, Newport News, VA, June 20-22, 2016.
• Spin density matrix elements for radiative decays of the omega meson in photoproduction at 5 GeV, Fridah Mokaya - contributed talk, APS-DNP Annual April Meeting, Salt Lake City, NM, Apr. 16-19, 2016.
• Calibration of the Tagger Detectors with GlueX Commissioning Data, Alex Barnes - contributed talk, APS-DNP Annual Fall Meeting, Santa Fe, NM, Oct. 28-31, 2015.
• High-Statistics Analysis of All-Neutral Decays of Mesons with the Radphi Experiment, Fridah Mokaya - contributed talk, 2015 International Summer Workshop on Reaction Theory, Bloomington, IN, June 8-19, 2015.
• High-Resolution Tagger Hodoscope for GlueX, James M^cIntyre - contributed talk, 2015 International Summer Workshop on Reaction Theory, Bloomington, IN, June 8-19, 2015.
• GlueX at JLab, Alex Barnes - contributed talk, Hampton University Graduate Summer School 2015, Newport News, VA, May29 - June 17, 2015.
• Diamond Radiator Development for the GlueX Experiment, Brendan Pratt - contributed talk, 2015 International Summer Workshop on Reaction Theory, Bloomington, IN, June 8-19, 2015.
• Thin Diamond Radiator Characterization at CHESS for the GlueX Experiment, Brendan Pratt - poster, CHESS Annual User's Meeting, Ithaca, NY, June 10-11, 2014.
• Thin Diamond Radiator Fabrication for the GlueX Experiment Brendan Pratt - contributed talk, New Diamond and Nano Carbons Conference, Chicago, IL, May 25-29, 2014.
• The Development and Construction of the Tagger Microscope for the GlueX Experiment, Alex Barnes - contributed talk, DNP-2013 Newport News, VA, October, 2013.
• Thin Diamond Radiator Fabrication and Characterization for The GlueX Experiment - Brendan Pratt - poster, International Conference on Diamond and Carbon Materials, Riva del Garda, Italy, Sept. 2-5, 2013.
• CHESS Rocking Curve Measurements of Thin Diamonds for the GlueX Experiment, Alex Barnes - poster, CHESS Annual Users Meeting, Ithaca, NY, June 4-5, 2013.
• Thin Diamond Radiator Fabrication for the GlueX Experiment, Brendan Pratt - contributed talk, APS-DNP Annual Fall Meeting, Newport Newport Beach, CA, Oct. 24-27, 2012.
• Collimation and Tagging Instrumentation for the GlueX Photon Beamline, Igor Senderovich - contributed talk, APS-DNP Annual Fall Meeting, Newport Beach, CA, Oct. 24-27, 2012.
• Design and Fabrication of Calibration Device for Scintillating Fibers of Tagger Microscope: For use in GlueX’s QCD Experiment, Emily Briere - poster, Conference Experience for Undergraduates, Newport Beach, CA, Oct. 24-27, 2012.
• Search for Gluonic Excitations in Hadrons with GlueX, Igor Senderovich, Proceedings of the XIV International Conference on Hadron Spectroscopy, eds. S. Paul and N. Barmbilla, Munich, Germany, July 13-17, 2011.

Other Venues

• PID using Boosted Decision Trees on Particle Gun Data (Powerpoint) (pdf), Richard Dube, GlueX Particle Identification Working Group, November 12, 2023.
• Applying Machine Learning to Particle Detectors (pdf, video), Alexander Ercolani, Frontiers in Undergraduate Research 2021, Physics Department, University of Connecticut, March 2021.
• Spin density matrix elements for radiative decays of the omega meson in photoproduction at 5 GeV, Fridah Mokaya, poster, Annual Graduate Research Exhibition, Physics Department, University of Connecticut, March 11, 2016.
• Diamond Radiator Fabrication and Characterization for the GlueX Experiment, Brendan Pratt, poster, Annual Graduate Research Exhibition, Physics Department, University of Connecticut, March 11, 2016.
• Quantifying Light Loss in the Tagger Microscope for the GlueX Experiment , Christine Ploen, poster, Annual Graduate Research Exhibition, Physics Department, University of Connecticut, March 11, 2016.
• Construction and Testing of the Photon Tagger Microscope for the GlueX Experiment, Liana Hotte - poster at Frontiers in Undergraduate Research 2015, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, April 10-11, 2015.
• Understanding Confinement in Quantum Chromodynamics Through the GlueX Experiment, Alex Barnes - invited seminar, Juniata College, Huntingdon, PA, Nov. 2 2012.
• Posters and talks from past years

Completed Projects

Undergrad Honors Projects

• Development of a Diffusion Model for Stochastic High Energy Particle Event Generation - Macchesney Semmelroth, 7/2025.
• Construction of the Photon Tagger Microscope for the GlueX Experiment - Will Livesay, 5/2025.
• Particle Identification Playground - Richard Dube, 5/2024.
• Applying Machine Learning to Particle Detectors - Alexander Ercolani, 5/2021.
• Diagnostics of Light Yield from Scintillating Fibers - Christine Ploen, 5/2016.
• Construction of the Photon Tagger Microscope for the GlueX Experiment - Liana Hotte, 12/2015.
• Design and Fabrication of Calibration Device for Scintillating Fibers of Tagger Microscope: For use in GlueX’s QCD Experiment, Emily Briere, REU project final report, August 1, 2012.
• Listing of past undergraduate research projects

High School Mentored Projects

• CERN Beamline For Schools team advisor, 2021 - Zeno Chen, Arnav Thakrar, Anthony Song, Kanishk Tihaiya, Faizdeenkhan Pathan, Mayee Mavillapalli, Isha Bang
• CERN Beamline For Schools team advisor, 2020 - Zeno Chen, Mayee Mavillapalli, Isha Bang, Dylian Erwin, Faizdeenkhan Pathan, Anthony Song
• Authentic Research Mentorship, Glasstonbury High School, 2018-19 - Richard Dube, Lily Horrigan
• Mentor Connection 2014 - Alden Richter, Omar Amer, and Suki Hyman, 7/2014.
• Mentor Connection 2014 - Alden Richter, Omar Amer, and Suki Hyman, 7/2014.
• Mentor Connection 2014 - Alden Richter, Omar Amer, and Suki Hyman, 7/2014.
• Mentor Connection 2013 - Michael Reisman and Kyle Lockwood, 7/2013.
• all past years

Theses

• James M^cIntyre, Design and Construction of a High-Resolution Hodoscope for the GlueX Experiment with High-Statistics Analysis of the π⁰, η, and η′ Photoproduction Cross Sections from the RadPhi Experiment, December 14, 2025.

• William Livesay,Development of Polarized High-Energy Photon Beams using Coherent Bremsstrahlung, May 10, 2025.
• Eric Habjan, Particle identification in the GlueX detector using a neural network, Paper Draft, University of Connecticut, May 30, 2024.
• Richard Dube, An Educational Resource for Particle Identification (PID) in Experimental Particle Physics Data, Undergraduate Honors Thesis, University of Connecticut, May 5, 2024.
• Alexander Ercolani, Applying Machine Learning to Particle Detectors, Undergraduate Honors Thesis, University of Connecticut, May 8, 2021.
• Fridah Mokaya, High Statistics Analysis of All-Neutral Decays of Vector Mesons with the Radphi Experiment, PhD Thesis, University of Connecticut, May 4, 2018.
• Brendan Pratt, Diamond Radiator Fabrication, Characterization and Performance for the GlueX Experiment, PhD Thesis, University of Connecticut, August 21, 2017.
• Alex Barnes, Development of the Tagger Microscope & Analysis of Spin Density Matrix Elements in gamma,p -> phi(1020),p for the GlueX Experiment, PhD Thesis, University of Connecticut, May 5, 2017.
• Liana Hotte, Construction of the Photon Tagger Microscope for the GlueX Experiment, Undergraduate Honors Thesis, University of Connecticut, December 18, 2015.
• Igor Senderovich, Search for Gluonic Excitations in Hadrons with GlueX, PhD thesis, University of Connecticut, August 24, 2012.
• Chris Pelletier, Vibration Analysis for Diamond Bremsstrahlung Targets, Undergraduate Honors Thesis, University of Connecticut, May 11, 2011.
• Mitchell Underwood, Design of Electronics for a High-Energy Photon Tagger for the GlueX Experiment, Undergraduate Honors Thesis, University of Connecticut, May 8, 2010.

Tutorials

Particle Identification

• Particle Identification Playground - Richard Dube

Data Science Applications

• UConn Data Science Tutorials - Eric Habjan

ROOT Data Analysis Framework

• ROOT Data Analysis Framework Overview - James M^cIntyre

3D Printing

• How to 3D Print (Under Construction) - James M^cIntyre, Ben Willis

Machine Learning

• Python: Programming Language - James M^cIntyre
• SciPy (Scientific Python): Open-source Library - James M^cIntyre
• NumPy (Numerical Python): Open-source Library - James M^cIntyre
• Pandas: Data Handling in Python - James M^cIntyre
• Keras: Deep Learning Framework - James M^cIntyre
• TensorFlow Decision Forests - James M^cIntyre
• Kaggle: No-setup, customizable, Jupyter Notebooks environment - James M^cIntyre
• SVM: Support Vector Machines - James M^cIntyre, Eric Habjan

GitHub Repository

• GitHub: Data Backup - James M^cIntyre

Help

• Administrative Guide for New Group Members
• How to start a Chrome Remote Desktop session on Linux
• How to print a poster in P403
• Notes on distributed authoring software tools
• Example page - Richard Jones
• Test page - testing

References

• Group Photos
• Physics References
• Jefferson Lab Accelerator Schedule 2014-2016, 2016-2018
• JLab VME Module Manuals
• Video: Introduction to GlueX by Prof. Curtis Meyer

Safety Resources

• Chemical Inventory P-403 and P-405