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CERN@school : Harnessing GridPP for s tudent-driven research. T. Whyntie* , † *Langton Star Centre, † PPRC - Queen Mary, University of London GridPP30 , University of Glasgow Wednesday 27 th March 2013. Twitter: @twhyntie @ PhysicsatQM @ langtonstar # GridPP30. Impact.
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CERN@school:Harnessing GridPP for student-driven research T. Whyntie*,† *Langton Star Centre, †PPRC - Queen Mary, University of London GridPP30, University of Glasgow Wednesday 27th March 2013 Twitter: @twhyntie @PhysicsatQM @langtonstar #GridPP30
Impact • Crucialto have well-defined impact strategy: • “Pathways to Impact” (RCUK) • CERN@school is no exception: • Give students and teachers access to CERN detector technology (data taking) and GridPP (data analysis/simulation); • ??? • IMPACT!!! Aim of this talk: provide you with details of what we’ve done, what we plan to do, and ask your advice on the way forward. T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
CERN@school and GridPP • What is CERN@school? • What have we done so far? • What do we plan to do? • How best to use GridPP? T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
A brief introduction to the project What is cern@SCHool? T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
CERN@school: an introduction • Brings CERN technology into the classroom: • To aid the teaching of particle physics; • To allow students and teachers to do research; • To inspire the next generation of scientists/engineers. • Different ways to get involved: • In-school detectors – through SEPnet and IoP; • LUCID: 5 Timepix detectors on TechDemoSat-1; • Data shared by students and teachers. • Currently supported by an STFC Large Award. T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
CERN@school: who’s involved • Project Leader: Dr Becky Parker • STFC Research in Residence: TW • GridPP support: Chris Walker, Steve Lloyd • Queen Mary PPRC computing - huge thanks! • The students: • Mainly A level, some GCSE; • Technical ability varies – but research work provides incentive to learn more. T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
The Timepix hybrid silicon pixel detector • Developed by the Medipix Collaboration. • 256x256 hybrid silicon pixel detector: • 55mmpitch; • Timepix: “Time-over-Threshold” mode. • Capable of x-ray imaging, particle ID and energy measurement. T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
Visualising radiation Colour corresponds to the “Time-over-Threshold”, which corresponds to the energy deposited in the pixel T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
Visualising radiation T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
Visualising radiation T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
The data T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
The data • 256 x 256 frame of pixels: • Output in ASCII or binary, matrix or [X,Y,C]; • Meaning of pixel value depends on mode: • Time-over-Threshold – time spent over preset threshold value (corresponds to energy). • Associated meta-data: • Detector settings, location, time, etc. • Various formats exist: Pixelman, NASA’s ROOT-based format, .LSC (based on FITS). T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
Progress with CERN@school What have we done so far? T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
The first six months • Establish a student research community; T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
The first six months T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
The first six months • Establish a student research community; • Overhaul of the CERN@school website; T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
The first six months http://www.thelangtonstarcentre.org
The first six months T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
The first six months • Establish a student research community; • Overhaul of the CERN@school website; • Detector calibration; T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
The first six months T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
The first six months • Establish a student research community; • Overhaul of the CERN@school website; • Detector calibration; • Detector simulation in GEANT4; T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
The first six months With thanks to J. Idarraga (Medipix/CERN) T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
The first six months • Establish a student research community; • Overhaul of the CERN@school website; • Detector calibration; • Detector simulation in GEANT4; • The Langton Star Server DAQMAP. T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
The first six months T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
GridPP activities • The CERN@school VO: cernatschool.org • Running CERN@school jobs: • “Hello World!” (obviously); • Custom software via InputSandbox: • CERNatschool-frame-reader (on github); • Sample frame data on figshare- http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.644460 • All documented on the GridPP wiki. • Huge thanks to the QMULGridPP team! T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
CERN@school – future plans What do we plan to do? T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
The original plan • Data storage and retrieval: • Timepix data collected by schools uploaded via an online portal, LUCID data from SSTL managed and uploaded by CERN@school team; • Data processed (cluster analysis etc.) on GridPP; • Results available via same online portal. • Storage/processing needs mat by DAQMAP: • Not (yet) enough demand to justify x certificates. T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
The revised plan • Simulations with GEANT4: • Timepix detector and (shielded) sources; • LUCID in the space radiation environment. • Example use case: • End user (student) requests events for given source type, energy range, flux, etc.; • GEANT4 run on GridPP, managed by CERN@school; • Simulated data retrieved for analysis. • Compare with National Schools Observatory. T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
The revised plan T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
The revised plan • Simulations with GEANT4: • Timepix detector and (shielded) sources; • LUCID in the space radiation environment. • Example use case: • End user (student) requests events for given source type, energy range, flux, etc.; • GEANT4 run on GridPP, managed by CERN@school; • Simulated data retrieved for analysis. • Compare with National Schools Observatory. T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
The revised plan • Simulations with GEANT4: • Timepix detector and (shielded) sources; • LUCID in the space radiation environment. • Example use case: • End user (student) requests events for given source type, energy range, flux, etc.; • GEANT4 run on GridPP, managed by CERN@school; • Simulated data retrieved for analysis. • Compare with National Schools Observatory. T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
Thoughts on data analysis/simulation for student-driven research. How best to use gridpp? T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
Lessons from CERN@school • Choosing appropriate research tasks: • Where can GCSE/A level students contribute? • Task complexity and “gateway activities”; • Chris Lintott (Oxford, Zooniverse) – blog post: • “transformational nature of [doing] something real”. • Getting students to code: • Scientific research provides huge motivation; • Challenge - school IT infrastructures vary… T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
Questions for the GridPP community • What else could we use GridPP for? • With the right research task, plenty of Impact-worthy and scientifically useful projects out there. • What could we use the Cloud for? • Our experience: give the students the tools and they will do amazing things. • Can we integrate impact from the outset? • #OpenAccess, #OpenData- reproducability? T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
We are indebted to the companies and organisations listed below, as well as Actel, ARM, REM Oxford, Graphic PLC, NPL, API Technologies (formerly C-MAC), the Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics at the Czech Technical University in Prague and VPT Inc. USA. Thank you! T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London
CERN@schooland GridPP • Bringing technology from CERN into the classroom – and doing the same for GridPP; • Much progress made over the last 6 months: • Plenty still to do – your input very welcome! • Huge opportunities for research + impact: • Much learned so far – please ask us! T. Whyntie*,† *Langton Star Centre, †PPRC - Queen Mary, University of London t.whyntie@qmul.ac.uk Twitter: @twhyntie @PhysicsatQM @langtonstar #GridPP30 T. Whyntie, Queen Mary, Uni. of London