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Chivukula and Simmons were among the co-organizers of the 2011 Aspen Winter Conference
on High-Energy Physics: New Data from the Energy Frontier.
The search for new physics at the TeV scale is entering an exciting era with many
new experimental results emerging from the Tevatron's last run and the LHC's first
-- as well as from a variety of searches for new astrophysical and cosmological indicators.
This conference brought together experimentalists and theorists to present new results
and ideas, creating an atmosphere that encouraged the close collaborations and active
discussion that are crucial for making progress at the energy frontier.
2011 Aspen Winter Conference on High-Energy Physics
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Chivukula was an organizer of the 2010 Aspen Workshop on Strong Dynamics Beyond the
Standard Model.
As the experimental program at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) explores the TeV energy
range, there is potential for the discovery of new strong interactions beyond the
QCD sector of the standard model. Strong interactions arise in several promising extensions
of the standard model, which are being actively explored in the particle theory community.
The workshop brought together particle theorists working in (1) lattice field theory
and simulation, (2) non-perturbative gauge theory dynamics and (3) string/gauge duality
to explore fundamental mechanisms and their generic consequences for phenomenological
signatures.
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Simmons is a member of the Program Committee of the Rencontres de Blois, an annual
high-energy-physics and cosmology summer conference that is held in the Loire Valley.
The 2010 conference was entitled First Results from LHC and the 2011 workshop was named Particle Physics and Cosmology.
The workshops draw physicists from Europe, the Americas, Asia, and the Middle East,
including many younger physicists and scientists from developing nations. Participants
traditionally visit the nearby mansion Clos Luce', home to Leonardo da Vinci during his final years, in order to see the life-size
models of many of his most famous inventions and reflect upon his contributions to
science.
The LHC Theory Initiative (LHC-TI)
Chivukula is involved in the LHC Theory Initiative. The LHC Theory Initiative is a
program to provide national graduate and postdoctoral fellowships to support LHC-related
theory. Unlike our European colleagues, the US theory program has not emphasized theory
related to collider physics -- this despite the Tevatron's decade plus reign as the
energy frontier collider facility. A successful US LHC program must include a substantial
theory component, to complement the extensive investments in the LHC experiments.
The LHC fellowship program is modeled on the successful SSC fellowship program funded
by the state of Texas in the years prior to 1993, and aims to ensure that the US maintains
a vibrant and successful program in collider theory over the twenty year lifetime
of the LHC.
LHC Theory Initiative-
Higgsless EWSB in the LHC Era, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (2007)
Simmons, in collaboration with Chivukula, organized the week-long seminar at the Radcliffe
Institute focusing on Higgsless models of electroweak symmetry breaking and their
observable consequences at the LHC.
Radcliffe Institute Exploratory Seminars
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MSU China Program Development Grant (2006):
Chivukula and Simmons, accompanied by their postdoctoral associate, Neil Christensen,
and two of their graduate students, Baradhwaj Coleppa and Stefano Di Chiara, traveled
to Beijing, China, from Dec. 10-17, 2006 to visit the Tsinghua University Center for
High-Energy Physics. Their hosts at Tsinghua University included Prof. Hong-Jian He,
a long-time collaborator of Chivukula and Simmons, and Prof. Yu Ping Kuang, a member
of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Tsinghua University Center for High-Energy Physics
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The Aspen Center for Physics (1994-2014)
Simmons is a general member of the ACP, and has served as a trustee, corporate secretary,
and scientific secretary.
Aspen Center for Physics Wu-Ki Tung Symposium, May 12, 2007.
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Chivukula, in collaboration with Chip Brock and C.-P. Yuan, organized the Wu-Ki Tung
Symposium held on May 12, 2007.
Tung Symposium