Details+for+QuarkNet+Student+Journalism+Opportunity


 * =[[image:http://quarknet.fnal.gov/graphics/blast.jpg width="57" height="54" align="center"]]= || = = || =An Opportunity for QuarkNet Teams= || = = || =[[image:http://quarknet.fnal.gov/graphics/blast.jpg width="49" height="47" align="center"]]= || = = ||

Student Journalism Program in Physics April 2-7, 2008
For information about this opportunity, contact Kris Whelan at kkwhelan@lbl.gov. For technical/scientific questions, please contact Michael Barnett at barnett@lbl.gov or Randy Ruchti at rruchti@nd.edu ||
 * You are invited to submit a proposal to send a team of three students and a teacher to report on the coming startup of experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at the [|CERN] laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. Selected teams will have all major expenses paid.
 * The Event:** CERN will be holding Open Days on April 5-6, 2008. During this weekend, the general public will have access to the laboratory and see elements of the LHC and the ATLAS and CMS experiments. Fifty thousand people are expected.
 * The Opportunity:** The student/teacher teams will learn about the LHC, [|ATLAS] and [|CMS] experiments, by interviewing physicists and engineers and seeing the experiments up close. These particle physics experiments will study the fundamental nature of matter and explore the basic forces that have shaped our universe since the beginning of time and that will determine its fate. They will search for new discoveries in the collisions of protons with extraordinarily high energy. Open Days represents the last real opportunity for the public to have direct access to the experiments and accelerator facilities before everything is closed in preparation for bringing the LHC into operation.
 * The Assignment:** Teams will act as news reporters to students in their home communities and across the US. The teams will share the excitement of this frontier science via blogs, websites, and videos. This journalist role will allow students to share the excitement of frontier science with many others. The supervising teachers are responsible for ensuring that all school and/or district guidelines are satisfied regarding each student's participation. This includes items such as parental permission forms, insurance information, etc.
 * Program Planning:** Through resources provided for LHC Awareness by the US Department of Energy, QuarkNet has been invited to send four teams to CERN as science journalists. The teams are expected to attend the Open Days activities, attend the tours of the accelerator and its experiments, interact with and interview researchers, and report their findings back to their colleagues and fellow students in the US. Funding will be provided for airfare, lodging and meals. Teams will depart the US on April 2 (arriving in Geneva on April 3) and return to the US on April 7.
 * Proposal Process:** The teams will be selected for participation based upon **[|proposals]** submitted via the web. The roles and skills of the students should be elaborated – for example: one for physics/science background; one for video/artistic skills; one for skill in conducting interviews. Each team will have at least one scientific contact at CERN on an experiment--for example a postdoc or graduate student--who will help assist and mentor the teams at CERN. Several QuarkNet leaders will be present at CERN to facilitate all aspects of the program.
 * Proposal Deadline:** Proposals must be filed on line by Friday, February 15, 2008. The successful proposals will be selected by Wednesday, February 20, 2008.
 * Passports:** All team members must have a valid US Passport. It is urgent to start the passport process immediately (unless team members have them already) since there is considerable delay to process them currently. Processing time can be six weeks (or more) unless one pays extra. QuarkNet will provide financial assistance as necessary for rapid Passport Applications for chosen teams, but it will be up to the teams to make sure such applications are filed and Passports received in time.