The Department of Energy recently began a new program, Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce For High Energy Physics (RENEW-HEP). This program will, in part, support training and particle physics research experiences for members of underserved communities. The overarching goal is to increase the likelihood that participants from underrepresented populations will pursue a career in a Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM) field. Here at Texas Tech, this program will support long-term undergraduate research opportunities with mentorship from graduate students and faculty and community engagement.
A core component of the TTU RENEW-HEP program will be to support RENEW Scholars as *PAID* undergraduate researchers at the level of 20 hours per week during long semesters and 40 hours per week during the summer. We will provide competitive salaries for RENEW scholars and will provide students with the financial support to travel to conferences and workshops each year.
The TTU HEP group is working on a number of exciting areas of research that will be critical to next-generation experiments, like artificial intelligence and robotics for detector construction, researching novel detector components, advanced data analysis techniques using machine learning, and radiation detectors for archaeology, geology, homeland security, and other fields. Students can choose from a variety of projects and will learn valuable hard and soft skills that will help maximize their success beyond their undergraduate studies at TTU. It is not required that students are a physics major, we welcome students from all backgrounds to express their interest.
In addition to these projects, students learn about the active area of particle physics research, including TTU research on finding Dark Matter, other new exotic matter, new forces, and evidence of extra spatial dimensions at particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider.
If you are a TTU undergraduate and interested in becoming a RENEW Scholar, please fill out the form below. Based on the level of interest, we will then reach out to potential scholars with more information. We anticipate 2 scholars in 2023, with an additional 1-2 scholars each following year through the end of 2025.
If you have any questions, please contact Andrew Whitbeck (andrew.whitbeck@ttu.edu)
