Lily Daneshmand 23 had no intention of stepping away from her studies for the summer. In fact, after spring semester ended, she chose to take her physics research to another level.
She was among eight undergraduates nationwide selected for an intense 10-week summer research program at Oklahoma State Universitys (OSU) Department of Physics. The National Science Foundation-sponsored Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program allowed her to work with an OSU physicist on an experimental and theoretical high-energy physics project and then present her findings at OSUs Undergraduate Research Expo.
Her poster, Search for Di-Higgs Boson Production With Four Bottom Quark Final State, garnered Best Overall Presentation at the Expo.
At the Expo, I presented research in the field of high-energy physics. My focus was on pair production of the Higgs boson at the future high luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland. I became interested in the field of high energy after taking the course Big Bang and Beyond with Dr. [Ann] Bragg at 51做厙, which covers the origins, evolution and future of the universe. High-energy physics focuses on the fundamental particles of the universe and their interactions, so principles of that field came up often in that class.