US Particle Accelerator School: An Overview
William A. Barletta, USPAS Director
The US Particle Accelerator School (USPAS) is a national graduate school that provides educational programs in the field of beams and their associated accelerator technologies not otherwise available to scientists and engineers. The USPAS also promotes the development and publication of advanced technology textbooks.
The USPAS is governed and funded by a consortium of seven national laboratories of the Office of Science of the Department of Energy (DOE), two national laboratories of the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) of the DOE, and two National Science Foundation (NSF) university laboratories. The administrative office, which performs and coordinates all functions and activities of the school, is funded by the DOE Office of High Energy Physics and is located at Fermilab, which provides fiduciary oversight of the school's activities.
Established in 1981, the USPAS originally offered a seminar format of topical “schools.” After a few years it became clear that to provide substantive staff development and to educate scientists and engineers adequately, a more rigorous classroom regimen would be required. In 1987 the USPAS initiated its credit course program at the University of Chicago.
The USPAS curriculum covers all major aspects of accelerator science and technology that are crucial to the user facilities for high-energy physics, nuclear physics, basic energy sciences, fusion, and other programs of the DOE Office of Science and the NSF. Since 1987, through partnerships with America’s elite research universities, the USPAS has offered more rigorous, and more diverse, for-credit courses in accelerator science and technology than any university in the world. Over 3000 students and faculty have participated in USPAS academic sessions, including more than 500 international participants and more than 1600 from DOE and NSF laboratories. Over 150 participants who started their accelerator career as USPAS graduate students have been identified as leaders in accelerator science and technology.
Approximately 120-150 students attend each program, with about two-thirds of them enrolling for university credit. Some students are currently matriculating in university degree programs while others are working at laboratories or in private industry. Approximately 25% travel from outside the United States to attend USPAS/university-sponsored programs. In January 2007, Texas A&M University will sponsor the winter session of the USPAS in Houston, Texas, from January 15-26, 2007.
In June 2007, Michigan State University will sponsor the session that includes courses in radiation control and effects and in accelerator safety systems. We offer these courses on a regular basis (every 1.5 years). The American Academy of Health Physics (AAHP) awards 32 continuing education credits for the USPAS radiation course for certified health physicists (64 are needed every two years). Similarly the USPAS accelerator system safety course carries continuing education credit from the AAHP, the Health Physics Society, and the American Board of Industrial Hygienists. The instructors are also given permission by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals to administer the certified functional safety expert (CFSE) and certified functional safety technician (CFST) exams at the end of their USPAS course.
An essential component of the school is the nation-wide pool of leading U.S. research universities from which the school selects hosts for its semiannual sessions of graduate-level courses. Universities that have sponsored past USPAS programs include Boston University, University of California at Berkeley, University of California at Los Angeles, University of California at Santa Barbara, University of California at San Diego, University of Chicago, University of Colorado at Boulder, Cornell, Duke, Florida State University, Harvard, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Indiana University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Rice, Stanford, State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook, University of Texas-Austin, Vanderbilt, University of Washington at Seattle, and Yale.
The US Particle Accelerator School, together with Indiana University, also offers an opportunity to earn a Master of Science Degree in Beam Physics and Technology. Students may earn credit toward the Indiana University diploma at USPAS/university-sponsored courses. Participants would select their USPAS course for Indiana University credit instead of the host university credit. Award of a master of science degree requires 30 hours of credit with a grade-point average of B or above: a maximum of 8 credit hours may be transferred and some credits earned at previous USPAS courses may be eligible for transfer. There is a strict, five-year limit to obtain the master of science degree. Students can fulfill the requirement for both the classical mechanics and the electromagnetism courses by taking the USPAS course, “Classical Mechanics and Electromagnetism in Beams.” Generally, students complete this degree program within three years. The maximum completion time is five years. At this time, we are unable to accept international students into the Indiana University/USPAS Master's Degree Program.
The USPAS also offers co-listing of USPAS courses to major research universities to assist them in establishing new degree programs in accelerator physics and technology. Such an initiative for an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program is already underway at MIT.
USPAS course sessions are held in January and in June. The courses run 10 days in duration. Students may register for one full course (>45 contact hours) or they may choose two half-courses (>22.5 contact hours each) where each half-course is one-week in duration. By successfully completing the course requirements that include lectures, daily problem-solving, and examinations, students can earn university credit. A full course earns the equivalent of three semester hours of host university credit; each half-course earns the equivalent of 1.5 semester hours of credit. All courses run in parallel so students can take one full course, or two half-courses, or they may opt for only one half-course during either week of the program.
The prerequisites are minimally classical mechanics and electromagnetism at the junior or senior undergraduate level. However, specific prerequisites are listed in each course description.
Courses are developed for the school with the advice of a Curriculum Advisory Committee composed of representatives from our consortium laboratories in addition to representation from universities with accelerator science programs. The school has developed a highly varied program. Graduate-level courses are being offered in many subjects both general and specific. They include the following:
Where possible, an instrumentation course where students are introduced to the workings and use of more sophisticated instrumentation like network analyzers is offered. Agilent Technologies, Inc., has been instrumental in loaning equipment for this type of course at no cost.
The USPAS Director is responsible for selecting highly qualified instructors and submitting their curricula vitae (along with course descriptions) to the host university for approval and for adjunct or interim teaching appointments as appropriate. The USPAS faculty is composed of university faculty members and of senior researchers from national laboratories and industry with deep practical experience in specific fields. The result is a large pool of prospective instructors with a rich variety of forefront knowledge and methods. The USPAS can offer a curriculum that covers the broad spectrum of material needed to represent the diverse, multidisciplinary field of beam physics and accelerator technology.