Katrin Kroeger: studying jets with ATLAS

I am Katrin Kroeger from Germany and I have recently obtained my Bachelor of Science in Physics at the University of Goettingen. During this summer I am participating for nine weeks in the CERN summer student programme.

I decided to apply for the programme when some of my friends , who had previously attended the Summer Schools in 2011 and 2012 told me about the awesome time they had. In order to attend all six weeks of lectures I started with my bachelor thesis a little earlier this spring semester, so that I submitted my thesis on a Friday and arrived at CERN on the Sunday two days later. I was involved in doing data analysis in ATLAS and looking at the production of W-Bosons with jets. In particular I am looking at Scaling Patterns for QCD Jets. My work involves mainly programming but also learning about the theoretical background behind the analysis. I am learning a lot which I consider very valuable for my future career.

As I have been to CERN last year for an undergraduate research project I knew by heart how to make my way from the Geneva Gare Cornavin via Tram 18 to CERN, on the way meeting fellow summer students (believe me, you can spot them!). I arrived at CERN very exhausted from the workload of the last few days but also very thrilled about now being a CERN summer student. Just the Monday after my arrival the summer student lecture programme started and lasted for six weeks. During those six weeks I attended the lectures during the morning and worked on my project in the afternoon. I really enjoyed the lectures as they covered a wide range of topics but each one for itself had an adequate level of profoundness and particularity. I liked the variety about listening to some very theoretical lectures but also learning about the extremly advanced level of engineering required to perform those huge experiments. What also strongly shapes my experience at CERN are the people I meet and spend time with. Directly after my first arrival in the hostel I met more fellow summer students and we ended up watching the soccer world cup together.

The next days and weeks went on like this: everyday I did something fun together with the other summer students, e. g. taking dancing lessons in Salsa or Swing, visiting Geneva, cooking, going swimming, exploring the CERN site, playing games or just sitting together and talking about all kinds of topics. For every possible activity one could find someone else to join, so one definitely never felt bored! I really enjoyed the international atmosphere as the exchange with students from all over the world really broadened my horizons. I also managed to learn some Italian and French. Luckily I got into a double room at the hostel Bld. 38 with a very nice roommate from Italy. She and I had an amazing time together and I could practice my Italian with her.

The location of CERN at the Swiss-French border is also very well suited to go on trips during the weekends. Besides going hiking in the nearby Jura mountains I took the chance and visited Montreux, Zuerich, Annecy, Interlaken, Mailand, …

Looking back. I think that the experience from the school exceed my expectations. Besides being involved in research at the frontier of knowledge I enjoy the highly international environment at CERN