Every January, I head from Geneva (CERN) to Boston for a couple of weeks to work with students on Future Circular Collider (FCC) Physics analysis projects at MIT. It’s something I look forward to every year, and this time was no different. Alongside my colleagues Luca and Anja, we put together a program to help the students dive into their first physics analyses using Monte Carlo generated for the FCC.
We kicked things off with tutorials, covering the basics of Monte Carlo simulations, data handling, and the steps involved in a physics analysis. Plotting and understanding the invariant mass of the dimuon spectrum is always a must! After this quick intro, each student got their own project to work on, and we guided them through the process—whether it was understanding the physics behind their project or tackling technical challenges. After some time they gained the necessary skills and knowledge to explore their project on their own.
Throughout the two weeks, the students made great progress. We had intermediate presentations where they shared updates, got feedback, and refined their work. These sessions were also great practice for the mini-conference coming up on Friday, where they’ll present their projects to a larger group people.
This trip is always a highlight of my year. It’s nice to see the students getting excited about physics and learn new data-analysis skills that can be used even outside the scope of these projects. I look forward to see some of them again, but this time during the summer at CERN!
