Federal Project Grant Award Summary

Columbia University's Nevis Laboratories Experimental High Energy Physics Program received a $1.28 million Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Physics under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049), awarded on July 15, 2026, with completion targeted for June 30, 2027. The project delivers experimental particle physics research and instrumentation development across multiple international collaborations, including detector work on the ATLAS experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider and participation in neutrino physics experiments—specifically the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program, the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) at Fermilab, and the Coherent CAPTAIN Mills (CCM) experiment. Research activities address fundamental physics questions regarding dark matter, matter-antimatter asymmetry, the Higgs boson, and the existence of new particles and interactions.

Beyond experimental research, the award supports development of state-of-the-art detector instrumentation and advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) techniques through cross-disciplinary collaboration with the University's electrical engineering and computer science departments. The project generates significant workforce development outcomes through postdoctoral, graduate student, and undergraduate training in sophisticated instrumentation and computational methods. Additionally, Columbia commits substantial effort to science education and public outreach, including high school and undergraduate research engagement and public lectures through its Science-on-Hudson lecture series, thereby extending the broader impact of federally funded physics research to academic and general audiences.