February 21, 2002 Natalia Kuznetsova Fermilab 1 High Energy Physics as a Career I am a postdoctoral fellow in High Energy Physics at Fermilab I am originally

February 21, 2002 Natalia KuznetsovaFermilab

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High Energy Physics as a CareerHigh Energy Physics as a Career

• I am a postdoctoral fellow in High Energy Physics at Fermilab• I am originally from Minsk, Belarus.• I got my B.A. in physics from Kenyon College, a small liberal arts

school in central Ohio• In August 2001, I got my Ph. D. in high energy physics from the

University of California, Santa Barbara• I came to Fermilab in September 2001.

Natalia KuznetsovaNatalia Kuznetsova Fermi National Accelerator LaboratoryFermi National Accelerator Laboratory


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What do I do?What do I do?• I am a member of CDF collaboration• CDF = Collider Detector at FermilabAsia

Total:11 countries55 institutions525 physicists


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CDF DetectorCDF Detector

• We use the CDF detector to observe the results of very high energy proton-antiproton collisions

• Because E = mc2, the higher the energy of your colliding particles, the more "stuff" comes out of the collision.


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What's inside a detector?What's inside a detector?• Different sub-detectors in

a single particle detector are used for detecting and analyzing different types of particles


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Results of proton-antiproton collisionResults of proton-antiproton collision


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What's a typical day like?What's a typical day like?• It's hard to describe a typical day -- what you get to do varies greatly,

and there is a great deal of freedom to do whatever you want.

• Typically, you are involved in three things:– Maintaining some particular subsystem of the detector (hardware)– Writing code for analyzing the data (software)

• And you get to learn LOTS of different computer languages!– Actually performing data analysis -- coming up with new ideas, etc..

• Most people in HEP work long hours, but they do so by choice


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Some things you might do on a typical day…Some things you might do on a typical day…

Taking detector shifts…Taking care of electronics…

Writing software…


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What is it like? What is it like? • Because our experiments are so huge, it takes a lot of people to

get things going• So you get to interact with lots of people -- physicists and

engineers– This has both good and bad sides…

Future ATLAS ATLAS Collaboration at CERN: nearly 2,000 people!


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Careers and salariesCareers and salaries• If you would like to stay in academia and do basic research, the

typical career progression is:– grad student postdoc assistant professor full professor

• The level of responsibility and the amount of competition increases at each step

OccupationOccupation Salary rangeSalary range

(Doctoral) Grad. student(Doctoral) Grad. student

Postdoc/Assistant professorPostdoc/Assistant professor

Full professorFull professor

~20k

90k ->…

35-50k


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QualificationsQualifications• To be a high energy physicist doing basic research,

you need:– Academically: a Ph.D.– Personally:

• LOVE PHYSICS!! You are in this for the love and fun of the science, not money.

• Be self-motivating, capable of learning new things on your ownr and fast, capable of collaborating with lots of other people, somewhat competitive, always curious…


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What else can you do with HEP training?What else can you do with HEP training?• Because you get to do so many different things, you are

well-prepared for non-academic careers

• For example, your background in computer programming or designing electronics can be very valuable while applying for industry jobs

• But the more important thing is, most people who have received HEP training can THINK.


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What former UCSB grad students are up toWhat former UCSB grad students are up toYear Student Current (or last known) Position1999 D. Lange postdoc, Livermore

1999 A. Sonnenschein postdoc, Princeton

1998 T. Nelson postdoc, Fermilab

1996 A. Ryd Fairchild Fellow, Caltech

1996 C. Qiao Project Leader, Engelhard Sensor Technologies, Goleta

1995 M. Gray Wall Street

1994 D. Borden Wall Street

1994 D. Sperka computer consultant, Madison

1993 J. Duboscq research physicist, Ohio St. U.

1993 J. Huber research physicist, LBNL (medical imaging)

1992 D. Schmidt staff, LANL (medical imaging)

1990 R. Stephens assistant professor, U.T. Arlington

1990 D. Grumm AXAF project, Smithsonian Astrophysical Laboratory

1988 T. Barker associate professor, U. Colorado

1988 T. Browder associate professor, U. Hawaii


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What can you do to become a HEP physicist?What can you do to become a HEP physicist?

• Apply to college with a good physics program.

• Participate in a summer research program for undergraduates

• Come to Fermilab for a field trip

• Send me an e-mail with questions ([email protected])


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SLAC: Stanford Linear Accelerator CenterSLAC: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center• SLAC is located near the

beautiful Stanford University campus, at Menlo Park in California (20 min. to the ocean).

• The research performed at SLAC has been recognized with three Nobel Prizes in physics!

• http://www.slac.stanford.edu is the first U.S. Web site!


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SLAC siteSLAC site


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The BaBar detectorThe BaBar detector

BaBar looks at much lowerEnergy collisions than CDF


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The detector for BaBar I helped buildThe detector for BaBar I helped build• Many particles decay very close

to where they were produced.

• That’s why at the heart of many detectors is a device needed for finding just where this happened.

The silicon vertex detector used in the BaBar experiment at SLAC

The vertex point The vertex point


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A typical BaBar eventA typical BaBar event

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February 21, 2002 Natalia Kuznetsova Fermilab 1 High Energy Physics as a Career I am a postdoctoral fellow in High Energy Physics at Fermilab I am originally