Magnetic Monopole Search with NOvA and Undergraduate Particle Physics Education with Fermilab and CERN at the University of South Alabama

This project, Magnetic Monopole Search with NOvA and Undergraduate Particle Physics Education with Fermilab and CERN at the University of South Alabama, funds the NOvA group at the University of South Alabama. A leading experiment on the intensity frontier, NOvA offers a rich source of data to both advanced researchers and beginning researchers, including undergraduate students. As part of the NOvA Exotics Group, this group will continue the search for fundamental particles with a special emphasis on slow magnetic monopole searches. In addition to this basic research, this project will give undergraduate students the opportunity to experience the international world of particle physics. Students will participate in a one-year program where they will be instructed in particle physics techniques and research, participate in the already successful study abroad program of European particle detectors (e.g. CERN), and travel to Fermilab to learn about the domestic particle physics program. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.