A unique experience for Addles Castillo, a student of Physics Engineering of the Faculty of Exact Sciences of the UNAB and a scholar of the Saphir Millennium Institute, at the summer school held by CERN at its facilities in Geneva, Switzerland.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research, better known as CERN, has held a new version of its Summer Student Program for undergraduate and graduate students. This activity, which lasts between 8 and 13 weeks, allows participants to take part in technical projects with the aim of improving their knowledge and skills.
"Participants have the opportunity to attend lectures, workshops and interactive sessions given by experts in particle physics and accelerator technology. They can also work on research projects, collaborate with experienced scientists and explore CERN's facilities, including the famous LHC (Large Hadron Collider) particle accelerator," Addles says of the activity.
Your stay at CERN
For many of the young people who are training in the area of physics, getting to know CERN and seeing in person one of the largest experiments in history, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is the realization of a dream: "The experience changed my life completely. It broadened my vision of the field of physics. At the time I arrived, I had not yet assimilated the greatness of the moment, it didn't seem real. Once I interacted with local people, other students and after getting to know the city, I realized what a great opportunity I had been given and how valuable it was to be there," says the student.
In addition, during the weeks of their stay they collaborated with other students and joined a team led by top physicists, researchers and engineers. "I worked together with another Chilean selected student, a colleague from UNAB, with whom we were a team for the projects given to us by our supervisor Mikhail Kirsanov, who works for the NA64 experiment. Our main objective was to optimize the data acquisition of the simulation code of the experiment, work that we did successfully and with plenty of time to spare", says Addles about the work he performed.
After 2 months and now back in Chile, the future researcher hopes to continue his participation in projects related to CERN's activities. "I would love to come back, the place is incredible. I am currently working on a project, but it is not related to CERN. However, I plan to get involved next year, if all goes well, in a PhD project that could possibly give me the opportunity to return to this beautiful place".
Do you want to know more about the Large Hadron Collider? We invite you to learn about our Institute's collaboration with CERN, specifically at the LHC, the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator, by clicking here.