The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded a $1.3 million grant to James Wetzel—University of Iowa Physics and Astronomy alumnus and Coe College Adjunct Assistant Research Professor— for the development of novel calorimeter prototypes using never-before-tested materials. 

Coe College is the lead institution for the two-year project, titled “Advanced Calorimetry for High Energy Physics.” Funding from the DOE Office of High Energy Physics will support innovative instrumentation for high energy physics.’

UI Professor Yasar Onel is receiving a $325,000 subaward to support the University of Iowa’s contribution to this research. The funding will support detector construction, undergraduate student participation, materials, and the preparation and operation of test beams at CERN and Fermilab.

Central to Iowa’s role in this effort is the world-class Physics Machine Shop and Engineering Team, which will be instrumental in the design and fabrication of detector prototypes. The University of Iowa maintains dedicated laboratories and facilities at both CERN and Fermilab and has a strong record of major contributions to high-energy physics instrumentation.

Notably, Iowa manufactured and upgraded the CMS Forward Hadron Calorimeter (HF) for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) proton–proton program, as well as the Zero Degree Calorimeter (ZDC) and the ZDC robotic crane for the CMS Heavy Ion Program.

Professor Onel previously served as Project Manager for the upgrades and spokesperson for the Fermilab Test Beam Experiment T-1041, further underscoring Iowa’s leadership and expertise in detector development and test-beam operations.

By advancing next-generation particle physics instrumentation, the project creates transformative opportunities for Coe and UI undergraduates. Students will travel nationally and internationally to test the technology they help design, working alongside leading researchers at CERN in Geneva, Fermilab, and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

The grant also funds workshops for rural Iowa high school students, introducing them to high energy physics instrumentation — a field with surprisingly wide applications beyond physics. Wetzel expects the program to have a significant impact across Eastern Iowa and beyond, as the research collaboration also includes research universities such as Caltech and Notre Dame.

Wetzel earned his BSc (2008) and PhD (2014) in Physics from the University of Iowa. He is an affiliated researcher in the UI Department of Physics and Astronomy.