Spotlight: The Making of a Particle Physicist

Name:Gwenaelle Lefeuvre
Job Title: Post Doctoral Research Assistant

Educational Background:
High School: Mantes lo Jolie, a small town about 1 hour from Paris, France
The educational system is different in France. I did all my studies at the University in Paris, and all my degrees are of Fundamental Physics. I cannot be more specific, your system of education seems so different than France's.

How long have you been working in the field of high energy physics? About 3 years.

Why did you choose high energy physics as a career path? There are so many interesting fields... but High energy physics seemed, in a way, the ultimate one. In terms of structure of matter, nature, interaction of particles. I am also attracted by those big detectors: using something huge to study the smallest bodies known ( well, for the moment!). I feel there is a kind of beauty and symmetry that makes this technical field poetic.

Were there any barriers that you had to overcome in order to pursue high energy physics as a career? My own fear not to be able to do it.

Before coming to SU, what other types of experience in this field did you have? Training in labs during my studies (total about 3 months). I also have a Ph.D., but its not in High Energy Physics.

Was there any person or event that inspired you to follow this career path? My father, who follows any news of technical/scientific discovery and taught me about science. My Physics teacher at "high school". He would explain things very complex in a way that seemed so natural. I discovered at University, about 3 or 4 years later, that he made us understand VERY difficult concepts. I would like to understand things so that to be able to explain them as simply as he did.

Is there any advice you may have for today's high school students regarding a career in the sciences? Think ahead and be open to other fields than the one that drove you to physics/science studies. So many things are interesting, but not all the careers are easy ( theory vs. nanophysics for example, ask questions such as the number of people doing it, ease of funding, "fashion" of the moment and so on). But today, many fields in science can mix up together, there is more than one way. Which is a "default" that I encountered in my own students.