More than 100 participants gathered at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory for the 2025 CMS Data Analysis School — an immersive, hands-on program to train the next generation of physicists for the CMS experiment. The event was hosted earlier this year by the LHC Physics Center, or LPC, at Fermilab, and brought new members of the CMS collaboration together for an intense week of lectures, hands-on exercises and a group competition.
Participants in the 2025 CMS Data Analysis School at Fermilab Credit: Dan Svoboda, Fermilab
The CMS experiment is one of the major particle detectors at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and the school featured a rigorous curriculum aimed at familiarizing participants with the physics, detector technology, software and data analysis of the experiment. Sixty-four students, primarily new graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, along with 46 facilitators and nine lecturers participated in this year’s data analysis school. The facilitators included volunteers from the CMS experiment and this year’s LPC Distinguished Researchers, who provided invaluable mentorship throughout the week.
The program combined lectures and practical exercises to offer a deep dive into particle physics analysis. Twelve short exercises focused on specific aspects of the CMS experiment, such as particle identification and reconstruction. In addition, participants engaged in seven longer exercises, each tackling complex analyses like top quark measurements and searches for new long-lived particles. The exercises were designed to equip attendees with the essential skills needed to work with large data sets.
As part of the program’s concluding activities, seven student groups presented their analyses to a panel of senior CMS collaborators. These presentations were judged based on the quality of the analysis, teamwork and presentation skills. Each group’s performance was assessed by a distinguished panel of senior CMS researchers.
Guest speakers from across the physics community offered lectures and insights throughout the week. Among the presenters were interim Fermilab Director Young-Kee Kim, Fermilab Deputy Director for Science and Technology Bonnie Fleming, CMS collaboration Spokesperson Gautier Hamel de Monchenault and additional experts in particle physics, including Tulika Bose, Eliana Gianfelice-Wendt, Lindsey Gray, Frank Hartmann, Gordan Krnjaic, Corrinne Mills and Isobel Ojalvo.
Corrinne Mills, a long-time collaborator with CMS, shared her thoughts on the significance of the event. “The data analysis school is an excellent opportunity not only to get up to speed quickly on CMS analysis, but also to meet other students and collaborators on the experiment,” Mills said. “I actually went through the data analysis school as a student when I first came to CMS as a new assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and it was a great experience.”
The school also covered key topics such as the CMS publication process, how to present results to a scientifically literate audience, and how to handle tough questions about the details. During one of the school’s lunches, members of the Fermilab Accelerator Division joined students and facilitators to answer questions about the laboratory and its research.
The 2025 CMS Data Analysis School was organized by outgoing LPC co-coordinators Kevin Black and Bo Jayatilaka, along with current LPC co-coordinator Isobel Ojalvo and incoming LPC coordinator Jim Hirschauer. The school’s success was made possible by the dedicated efforts of CMS LPC support staff: Gabriele Benelli of Brown University, Marguerite Tonjes of the University of Illinois at Chicago, and David Yu of the University of Nebraska.
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is America’s premier national laboratory for particle physics and accelerator research. Fermi Forward Discovery Group manages Fermilab for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Visit Fermilab’s website at www.fnal.gov and follow us on social media.
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