Digital Commons Network^™

Using Machine Learning To Predict Student Outcomes, Saba Fatima

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Predicting students’ performance to identify which students are at risk of receiving aD/Fail/Withdraw (DFW) grade and ensuring their timely graduation is not just desirable but also necessary in most educational entities. In the US, not only is the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) major becoming less popular among students, the graduation rate of STEM students is steadily declining. The lack of STEM graduates in the US is a serious problem that will place this country at a disadvantage as a competitor in international technological advancement. In order to secure its status as a technological leader internationally, the US institutions …

Studying The Flexibility Of A Bdt As A Vbf Di-Higgs Production Analysis Tool, Dayne R. Coveyou

Honors Capstones

Accurately analyzing the monumental amount of data sourced from high-energy particle experiments presents a herculean task. Some methods under investigation for event analysis, particularly while searching for low-probability events, are machine learning algorithms. Tyler Burch has developed a Boosted Decision Tree (BDT) to look for Vector Boson Fusion (VBF) events through di-Higgs production. VBF is a di-Higgs production process. This report investigates the performance of the BDT if given simulated collision data produced by varying the interaction constants in VBF hhjj production away from those predicted by the Standard Model. The test range will focus on 3 coupling constants—λ, cvv, …

Improved Momentum Spread For Precision Physics Experiments Using Wedges, Nick Amato

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

High precision experiments have become key in the search for physics beyond the Standard Model. One measurement that can be made in order to expand our knowledge of the Standard Model is the precise measurement of the magnetic dipole moment (MDM) of the muon. In order to perform this precise measurement of the MDM of muons, the storage of particles with a precisely known momentum in a highly uniform magnetic field is required.

This thesis is focused on how one may use a wedge of energy absorbing material and the optical parameters of an accelerator lattice to improve upon the …

Exploring The Relationship Among Students' Preconceptions, Attitudes, And Major, Matthew Dwyer

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Force Concept Inventory, (a multiple-choice classical mechanics exam given as a pre-test within the first two weeks of a course and as a post-test within the last two weeks of a course) is one of the most widely used tools in physics education research. The most basic research, which has been implemented at Northern Illinois University for many years, employs a pre- and post-test structure to observe improvements in students' scores over a semester and is used as a quantitative representation of students' learning over the duration of a course. While many studies have been published about best practices …

Intense Beam Dynamics In Arbitrary Structures, Anthony Gee

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Particle accelerators are ubiquitous in science and society and their use is still growing globally. Beam physics, the physics underlying accelerator science, is focusing in part on studies and applications where intense charged particle beams become essential. The high-intensity may cause new collective instabilities and phenomena which are difficult to be modeled by conventional means. New numerical methods must be developed to efficiently and reliably model, simulate and optimize such high currents. The University of Maryland Electron Ring (UMER) and the Fermilab Integrable Optics Test Accelerator (IOTA) are dedicated test rings to study the high intensity regimes. A 3-D symplectic …

New Computational Approaches To The N-Body Problem With Applications To The Electron Cooling Of Heavy Ion Beams, Pulukkuttige D. Sumana Abeyratne

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) has proposed a new Electron-Ion Collider, JLEIC. In this collider, a polarized electron beam and a counter rotating ionbeam collide at the interaction point(s). A critical problem for the JLEIC collider is cooling the ion beam to ensure small emittance and to achieve high luminosity. Since electron cooling—a method of cooling ‘hot’ ion beams through Coulomb interactions with ‘cold’ electron beams—is one of the most effective cooling methods, it will be used by JLEIC. However, the most naive way of calculating Coulomb forces through the pair-wise method becomes infeasible even with the most high …