SPS Zone 9 Meeting Day 1

For two days, physicists and mathematicians from across the nation united at Illinois Tech for the SPS Zone 9 Meeting and Chicago Area SIAM Student Conference. Tours of national labs, presentations from invited researchers, and a panel discussion gave insight into the states of physics, mathematics, and machine learning. With over ten universities represented at the conference, attendees had numerous opportunities to network and advance their career in math and physics, transforming the region into a collaborative community.

On Friday, we were faced with the tough choice between Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Argonne National Lab, the leading particle accelerator lab and the top computational facility in the nation.

Fermilab

Upon arrival at Fermilab, attendees started at the Lederman Science Center, named after the late Fermilab Director, Nobel Prize Laureate, and Illinois Tech faculty member Leon Lederman.

We then explored the iconic Wilson Hall, checking out showcases of Fermilab’s greatest achievements. On the top floor of Wilson Hall, attendees were able to see the construction of the PIP-II project which will be a new Linear Accelerator capable of generating proton beams greater than 1 megawatt which is 60% higher than current capabilities.

Attendees were then guided to the main control room and had the opportunity to meet with technicians working there. Due to a pump malfunction and subsequent flooding, we weren’t able to view any live demonstrations but the technicians were ecstatic to answer any and all questions regarding their work as a control room operator. Additionally, the technicians talked about their experiences going through college and graduate school and gave advice if we wanted to follow a similar career path as them.

After a quick lunch break, attendees were all guided to a conference room where a researcher gave us a presentation on pursuing a career in Physics research and gave us an open-floor to ask any question.

 
“What courses should I take?” 

“How to choose a Grad Program?”

“What’s the expected salary?”

Attendees asked away and our presenter answered everything as candidly as possible.

Closing out the tour, we left Wilson Hall and were given an exclusive tour of the Silicon Detector Facility, SiDet, which contains about 5000 square feet of cleanroom space and is the Fermilab station for the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX). Our first stop was to a lab where we were given an in-depth demonstration of a silicon detector and how they’ll be used in the PIP-II accelerator.

Our final stop for the trip was a visit to Dr. Rakshya Khatiwada’s laboratory. Dr. Khatiwada currently teaches at IIT and is a lead researcher in the field of Dark Matter detection, and gave us an impressive presentation on the Axion Dark Matter Experiment. Dr. Khatiwada provided an explanation of the current understanding and theories of dark matter and walked us through the insight on how quantum computers and qubits might be just what we need to conclusively detect dark matter.

Thank you to the tour guides, presenters, researchers and everyone else at FermiLab who helped make this experience as wonderful as possible.

Argonne

Meanwhile, the rest of the attendees were exploring Argonne thanks to Dr. Sven Leyffer and his team. Dr. Leyffer has been the President of SIAM since 2022, having close ties with the Illinois Tech SIAM Student Chapter since his induction. Arriving at Argonne a bit later than expected, we were welcomed to Argonne by multiple research scientists and led through a presentation of large-scale AI for science and the AuroraGPT.

At Argonne, there were three separate tours going on at the same time! Attendees had the opportunity to focus on nuclear structure physics at ATLAS, on environmental studies with ATMOS, or on automated lab workflow at the RPL. What do all these terms mean?

ATLAS, or the Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System, is where we received a tour from Dr. Michael P. Carpenter, Group Leader for the Low Energy Experimental Group at Argonne. As we were toured through the labyrinthine laboratory setup for the experiment, Dr. Carpenter gave insight into each component of the experiment and how they are collectively used to study nuclear structure.

ATMOS is the Argonne Testbed for Multiscale Observational Science, the instrumentation headquarters for Community Research on Climate and Urban Science. At ATMOS, Dr. Scott Collis, Dr. Paytsar Muradyan, and Matt Tuftedal guided us through the countless sensors and instruments being used (and not used) to study the climate, weather, and environment.

The Rapid Prototyping Lab, RPL, is where scientists are innovating "modular" approaches to autonomous lab work, and advancing what functions in the lab can be integrated into a robotic system. For an hour, we had the chance to observe a robot repetitiously – but with near-perfect precision – mix and deliver fluids in a system that mimics a procedure often performed in the development of biological materials. We learned how that precision is essential to autonomy of such methods and how safeguards have been implemented by the scientists for when the trained model goes awry.

Finally, we ended the trip with a reveal of the Aurora supercomputer, the most powerful computer in the world, and a Q&A with Dr. Valerie Taylor, Director of the Mathematics and Computer Science Division and a CS faculty member at Illinois Tech. The Aurora reveal helped contextualize the state of computation being employed for modern scientific problems with its spanning size and intricate architecture. The Q&A with Dr. Taylor answered pressing questions to the various undergraduate and graduate students present on the tour, all with one question: How do I prepare for the state of computational science related fields and suitably advance my career?

Thank you to the team at Argonne who helped make this experience possible!

New Furama & The Bog

After a full day of exploring some of the most interesting research and labs in the world, we reconvened to Illinois Tech, getting a brief walking tour of the campus as we commuted a kilometer to New Furama, a local dim sum restaurant.

Here is where students got the chance to make a genuine introduction and connection with others, even merging two tables to get a table of twenty people from four different universities!

After dinner, which included seven entrees and gave plenty of leftovers for students to take lounge for late-night snacks, everyone joined for the walk back to campus to experience the hit social spot at Illinois Tech: The Bog.

The Bog is the social entertainment center on campus, with a bowling alley, bar and food, stage, billiards, arcade games, and gaming consoles. Groups split up choosing their venue of choice, with some even participating in karaoke alongside WIIT Radio, the on-campus radio station.

Meanwhile, some students grabbed drinks and food at the bar, gathered alongside the sure to be incredible musical performances, and discussed ways to connect the Chicagoland area with more frequency and legitimacy than the annual Zone 9 meeting and regional conferences. Where will these discussions lead to? Who knows...

The End of Day 1

And that was everything! People dispersed from campus for their overnight housing destinations after their time at the Bog or watching the movie. Students who could not find housing were granted free housing at the Hilton Garden Inn, located right next to the lakeshore, museum campus, and both Grant and Millennium Parks for some late night or early morning exploration before heading back to Illinois Tech for Day 2!

Thank you to Illinois Tech, the Society of Physics Students, the Society for Industrial & Applied Mathematics, Argonne National Lab, Fermilab, New Furama, and the CTA for working with our groups to help accommodate all our programming on Day 1.