Centaurus student-engineers and physicists to test particle physics project at DESY Research Centre
LAFAYETTE - In August, 10 Centaurus High School students and their coaches will be headed to Hamburg, Germany to work with European scientists, after being selected in the prestigious Beamline for Schools competition, organized by CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics.
The Beamline for Schools (BL4S) competition, which started in 2014 to coincide with CERN's 60th anniversary, aims to give high school students a hand-on opportunity to experience what it is like to be a scientist. High-school students from all around the world compete by submitting experiments. Those selected are invited on a full-paid trip to conduct their experiments alongside the international scientists at CERN or at one of its partner institutes DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron in Hamburg, Germany) and ELSA (Elektronen-Stretcher-Anlage of the University of Bonn, Germany).
This year, members of the Centaurus Physics Club that call themselves “Team Centauri Stars,” were among five winning teams from around the world chosen, based on the scientific merit of their proposals. They are the only team from the United States, as the other teams are from the United Kingdom, Turkey, India, and Bangladesh. See the official Beamline for Schools releases for more information:
The students from Centaurus plan to use silicon photomultipliers to detect internally reflected Cherenkov radiation in a glass bar, with the help of the scientists at DESY Research Centre.
"We are honoured to be chosen to conduct scientific research with world-class facilities at DESY alongside leading experts in the field of particle physics. We are beyond excited and grateful for this opportunity,” the Centaurus students wrote when they were selected as winners of the competition.
Centaurus’ project was chosen from more than 700 submissions from 89 countries. That is whittled down to a short list of 50 particularly promising experiments, which are then considered by a committee of CERN, DESY and ELSA scientists.
Team Centauri Stars From left to right: Centaurus physics teacher and coach Kimberly Becker, students Natalie Summers, Vibeke Andersen, Ocean Reamer, Dylan Stevens, Ryan Griffith, Liam Bonnell, Jack Mueller-Scott, Noah Keene, Levi Wicar, Centaurus physics teacher and coach Hasan Elsayed
Student not pictured: Merlina Rojas
While all travel is covered as part of the honor from CERN, the team is still asking for donations to help cover equipment needed to prepare for the experience. Members of the public may donate to the Centaurus Physics Club via this link.
More about Beamline for Schools
Beamline for Schools is an education and outreach project funded through the CERN & Society Foundation and supported by individual donors, foundations and companies. This 13th edition is supported notably by ROLEX through its Perpetual Planet Initiative and by the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation in Germany.