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The Interview:

Karen: How did you first get involved in research?

Will: I got interested in particle physics after talking with my friends who research in the subject, and through watching an unhealthy number of Nima Arkani-Hamed’s talks on YouTube. I started working with Professor Hannah Arnold in January of 2025—she’s part of the ATLAS experiment. I learned she was looking for new students through an email sent out by Professor Jung, so I contacted her because I thought it was a good opportunity to do some interesting research.

Tell me what your project is about.

So, we study a certain decay process called ttH(->cc). In words, this means that two top quarks (which are a flavor of quark) are produced in association with a Higgs particle, and then the Higgs decays into two charm quarks. To study the Higgs’ coupling to the charm quark, we use the technical tools of data analysis through C++ and ROOT, as well as machine learning frameworks like SALT. The transformer model within the SALT framework developed by the ATLAS flavor-tagging group enables a much deeper systematic analysis of these events, and it’s the main focus of my project.

I think another obvious question to ask is: why is this important? Well, we study this decay to give us some clues as to why there are three generations of matter, and to help bound the strength of the Yukawa coupling of the charm quark. This would help confirm the Standard Model prediction of the charm quark’s mass, which is an important step in verifying (or disproving) the Standard Model’s predictions. This may also help us understand the problem of there being three generations of matter, a seminal longstanding problem in particle physics, as the charm quark is the heaviest unmeasured member of the second generation of fermions. “Unmeasured” meaning that its Yukawa coupling hasn’t been confirmed to be the Standard Model prediction to within 5 sigma.

Have you seen a big jump or learning curve since you started doing research?

Yes, definitely. When I first started attending group meetings (we meet twice per week as a group), I didn't understand anything. Almost all of it was jargon to me. But then, after spending some more time becoming familiar with our work (especially this summer), I've started actually understanding things. Professor Arnold is an incredible advisor and is extremely patient with me—I ask a lot of stupid questions about what we're doing and why we're doing it. This summer, I’ve been able to ask a lot of questions like this, and so that’s been helping me get over the mountain of ignorance one has when going into a new project.

Do you feel like there is much of a connection or crossover between your classes and what you’re learning in research?

I’ve thought a lot about that question. In my mind, they’re almost completely disparate. Most of what you learn by doing research isn’t taught in undergraduate courses, nor should it be. For my research, the bare-bones of what you need is some C++ coding experience and basic physical knowledge, like what the four-momentum is. It helps to be well-versed in statistics and data analysis as well, but you can learn most of that on the job. Experimental work is really an entirely different body of knowledge from the theory you learn in class, and it will take some time to assimilate it into your DNA before you can start actually understanding what you’re doing. Learning more in your classes will help you insofar as just training your brain to learn things (the so-called “maturity” you gain as a student), but other than that, it won’t do much.

What are the skills that you have developed from being involved in research?  

Well, I've gotten better at coding. My project specifically is implementing machine learning, using this framework called SALT, into our analysis. And so I'm learning a lot about machine learning, so that's really neat. But you also learn other soft skills – such as collaborating with other people. In most of my classes, I was used to working alone. But ATLAS is a huge collaboration. It’s something that you can’t do alone. And so I’ve discovered that I really like the people in my group, and that I like working with them. They're good, hardworking people that know a lot about the subject. Plus, I think being involved in research has helped me to assimilate a whole new body of knowledge. The vernacular is something that's initially very foreign to you, but then you start using it and it becomes familiar. I think I also learned some meta-skills about scoping out which problems to actually solve, thanks to Professor Arnold always taking the time to answer why we were doing what we’re doing.

What do you enjoy most about doing research?

I like learning things, and I really enjoy learning something deeply.  I think that’s the main thing: research gives me an opportunity to learn things I'm interested in.I also enjoy seeing improvements that we can make. For example, if you're using machine learning, which is sort of the “new paradigm” in ATLAS research, you can expect massive improvements on your analyses. So, I enjoy that as well—cashing in on the massive improvements possible through using better tools. I also think that the research environment is useful for learning meta-skills, like how to stop yourself from procrastinating or how to produce good work. The summer has been a great time to dive deeper on those things, and I’ll get to use them in my upcoming years as a student and researcher.

What brought you to Stony Brook?

During my high school years, I was apathetic towards school. But then in my junior year, I took a physics class on a whim. That one class with Mr. Moody honestly changed my life; I learned that school could be interesting, and that physics was really interesting! I spent my senior year taking a few more physics classes, and when it came time to apply to college, I decided to apply to Stony Brook. Interestingly, I had heard about it on a podcast at first. Stony Brook is among the top 20 graduate physics programs in the nation, and it has the SCGP, one of the top institutions in the world for high-energy physics and geometry, right nearby. Renaissance Technologies and New York City are close as well, which appealed to me. I’m very grateful to my past self for deciding to apply here.

What advice would you give to other students about undergraduate research?

So, I heard the advice I’m about to give a lot, and I ignored it every single time I heard it. But the only advice I think really should be given is to just start.

The reason I didn't act on that advice previously was because I thought: “I don't know anything. How am I going to contribute to research?” This is a fantasy. At least for experimental research, the amount of technical skill that you need to have is not large. You need to know how to code, and you should have some basic knowledge of modern physics. But that’s really it. You can learn these skills at SBU through PHY 277 (Scientific Computing) and PHY 251 (Modern Physics), which are standard sophomore year courses. Once you have taken these classes, I think you should start doing research. Start as early as possible; your freshman or sophomore year if you can. If you’re trying to go to graduate school, they expect you to start in your sophomore year.

I would also give the following pieces of advice, which I’ve spent years thinking about. The first is that you should understand things deeply. Don’t be satisfied with saying fancy words and looking smart; you’re just fooling yourself if you can’t reproduce everything you know with just your brain and a blank sheet of paper. A simple rule is that if you can’t create it (or at least get quite close to creating it), then you don’t know it. You should have your own model of everything you learn, and you should be able to explain it on a dime. Second, be precise in your speech. Don’t hide in jargon or rest on the politeness of the other person. Say falsifiable things, even if it means showing your cards. Third, work on important problems. As far as you or I know, we only have one life to lead; if you’re a researcher, you should spend it working on or towards important problems.

Has it been helpful for you to participate in the summer research program?  

It's incredibly valuable. It's almost hard to overstate this. During the school year, most of your time will be dedicated towards classes. The summer is such an incredible time to do research, because it lets you make massive gains in research while not sacrificing your coursework. I think it's so useful to have a summer research program like URECA because you can progress your research abilities and careers in a safe, protected environment without sacrificing any of the coursework.  It's the perfect environment!