Bay Area Accelerator Research Traineeship (BAART)
Dr. Erik Helgren1, Professor
Co-PI(s): Ken Wharton2, Professor, Lieselotte Obst-Huebl3, Research Scientist, Laleh Coté3, Program Manger WDE, Spencer Gessner4, Assistant Professor, Dorian Bohler4, Staff Scientist
1: California State University East Bay, Hayward, CA 94542
2: San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192
3: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720
4: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025
The BAART (Bay Area Accelerator Research Traineeship), in partnership with California State University East Bay (CSUEB), San Jose State University (SJSU), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory offers a focused initiative designed to increase the size of the talent pool within the High Energy Physics (HEP) accelerator workforce. The recently released P5 Report envisions an ambitious plan to pursue a Higgs Factory followed by a 10 TeV collider. The current US accelerator workforce is not large enough to support these efforts and must be enhanced through the development of new workforce pipelines. The California State University system is the largest and most diverse 4-year public university system in the nation and with the local proximity of these two CSU campuses to these two DOE national laboratories, this program aims to support the pathway to connect a pool of untapped potential for the US accelerator workforce. Four students will be recruited annually from relevant STEM fields, with two students from CSUEB and two students from SJSU, both Minority Serving Institutions located in close proximity to the LBNL and SLAC facilities. Students who participate in BAART will receive hands-on research experience and training at world-class accelerator facilities, specifically the BELLA Center at LBNL and the FACET-II accelerator at SLAC, and will participate in projects consistent with the HEP mission. Through a curated series of workshops, both before and during the summer internship, participants will delve into key areas of accelerator physics, such as beam dynamics, and magnet technology, along with critical topics in scattering and instrumentation sciences. The students will join the SULI cohorts at SLAC and LBNL for their summer internships. As part of their onboarding, they will be trained with accelerator-specific skills, including software development for accelerator control systems. These skills are critical for their summer research. The program also emphasizes professional development, including resume writing, interview techniques, and communication skills. To ensure accessibility and encourage participation from a wide array of students, including those from underrepresented backgrounds, BAART will provide participants with a competitive, cost-of-living-appropriate stipend. Additionally, they will receive financial support for training prior to engaging in their summer Accelerator Physics projects, and also after their summer internship, to continue data analysis, research and manuscript preparation with their project PIs. This approach aims to support students while they gain valuable knowledge and skills, paving the way for future careers in science and engineering and contributing to the diversification and advancement of the field.
