UAE University is member of ATLAS Collaboration at European Organization for Nuclear and Particle Physics Research (CENR) in Switzerland

Al Ain, United Arab Emirates 5 July 2021 – UAEU is taking a major step toward outstanding investment in fundamental research with the world’s largest physics research center, the European Organization for Nuclear and Particle Physics Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland.

The United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) has become a member of the ATLAS Collaboration at CERN-Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in July 2021. The LHC is a proton-proton (and heavy-ions) collider machine based at CERN near Geneva. This machine uses the 27 km tunnel, located underground between 50 m and 175 m depth, that was built between 1984 and 1989 for the Large Electron-Positron (LEP) collider.

The UAEU has joined ATLAS Collaboration as part of cluster of three UAE Universities representing UAE, namely: United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), University of Sharjah (UoS), and New York University Abu Dhabi.

At UAEU, Prof. Salah Nasri, from the department of physics at the College of Science, is leading the High Energy Physics Group that will be engaged primarily in the Higgs particle models and Dark Matter research, in addition to physics modeling, and developments towards the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC).

Prof. Mohammed Hasan Ali, the Acting Provost welcomed this exciting development, which is first of its kind in the region, and expressed his thanks of the 3 universities for working together to achieve this important milestone and encouraged for more scientific collaboration. He expressed his hope that this important research will lead to better understanding of our universe and to important technological applications that will benefit humanity at large.

On the other hand, Prof. Ahmed Murad, the Associate Provost for research, welcomed such an important development and urged our researchers to be an active part of this collaboration and build a strong network of collaborations with the scientists of the prominent institutions that are part of this collaboration.

Prof. Maamar Benkraouda, the Dean of the College of Science, emphasized the importance of this membership and its effect on research at UAEU and highlighted the importance of this opportunity for researchers and graduate students to be part of this prominent international research institution.