Physics Without Frontiers
Co-leading ICTP’s work in the Americas: university programmes, research supervision and the relationships that turn students into collaborators.
Opening a route into research
I co-lead ICTP’s Physics Without Frontiers work in the Americas. My contribution brings together the roles I know from inside science: researcher, lecturer, systems administrator, programme organiser and thesis supervisor. I connect those skills to a practical purpose: helping students gain the tools, confidence and relationships to participate in research.
For me, access to science includes access to people who will answer questions and stay involved. A workshop can introduce the possibilities; sustained teaching and supervision help a student take the next step.
Six universities, two countries
In October 2016, I taught with the PWF team across six universities in Colombia and Venezuela. Our two-week programme reached Bogotá, Tunja, Bucaramanga, Mérida and Caracas, combining particle-physics masterclasses with real ATLAS data, virtual visits to CERN and discussions of further study.
The programme brought international research into universities where students could meet the people doing it. Local lecturers and organisers made that exchange possible. My part was to contribute scientific expertise and teaching that students and colleagues could continue using after our visit.
Exhibit 1DiagramRead left to right
A visit becomes a programme, a thesis, a collaborator
The loop is the point. A two-week visit in 2016 led to a regional programme in 2019 co-chaired with a former student, to six thesis projects in 2021, and to resources that let the next cohort start without us.
Organising across a region
In 2019, Iskya García and I co-chaired a regional PWF programme whose itinerary included Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. We brought together open-data workshops, physics talks and conversations about scientific careers, working with the universities and local teams that hosted the activities.
This is programme leadership in practice: connecting the scientific content with the people and institutions that can use it. I bring both sides of that work — the technical knowledge to teach and the commitment to organise opportunities across borders.
From thesis student to fellow organiser
Iskya had worked with me on her master’s thesis at Universidad Central de Venezuela, using ATLAS Open Data for dark-matter searches. Her defence connected her in Argentina, the examining committee in Caracas and me in Geneva. I described that experience in an ATLAS article in 2018.
In 2019 we were organising PWF together. That progression matters to me: a teaching relationship can become a scientific partnership, with a former student helping create opportunities for others. It is a concrete example of the continuity I want to build through education and mentoring.
Research supervision that continues after the workshop
By the February 2021 PWF South America follow-up meeting, I was supervising six students on MSc-equivalent high-energy-physics thesis projects using ATLAS Open Data. The initiative also aimed to produce resources in Spanish that other students and teachers could use.
A research project needs more than an introduction to software. It needs a question that can be investigated, an analysis that can be explained and the persistence to work through difficulties. My responsibility as a supervisor is to support that process while helping students develop their own scientific judgement.
Exhibit 2TimelineFilled points are my milestones; hollow points are the context they sit in
Teaching, leadership and continuity
- 2016Six universities in Colombia and VenezuelaTwo weeks of PWF teaching and exchange in five cities.Source
- 2018Writing about a thesis defence across three countriesMy ATLAS account of supervising Iskya García’s research at UCV.Source
- 2019Co-chairing PWF with Iskya GarcíaA regional programme connecting universities, open-data teaching and scientific careers.Source
- 2021Six thesis projects using ATLAS Open DataPWF South America research supervision at MSc-equivalent level.Source
Exhibit 4PeopleCredit where the work was shared
Students who became colleagues
- Iskya GarcíaMaster’s student at Universidad Central de Venezuela; later co-chair of the 2019 regional PWF programme with me.
- María Di DomenicoThesis student at Universidad Central de Venezuela, under my supervision.
- Oscar AltuveUndergraduate thesis student under my supervision; today part of the CoAfina 2026 team.
Exhibit 5NumbersEach figure links to the record that states it
Students, in numbers
Teaching is part of my professional work
PWF belongs to a wider commitment that includes my university teaching in Mérida, CEVALE2VE, ATLAS Open Data, the CERN School of Computing, LA-CoNGA physics and CoAfina. These activities connect expertise in physics and computing with the ability to teach, coordinate institutions and support other people’s development. At CERN itself I supervised more than ten summer students over the years.
I bring that experience to my research and infrastructure work. Helping someone understand a difficult idea, undertake a thesis or become a collaborator is part of what I contribute as a professional. The opportunity grows when that person can pass it on.
Exhibit 3ResourcesOpen the thing itself, not a description of it
Where to go from here
- ArticleICTP: the 2016 programme in Venezuela and Colombiablog.ictp.itInstructor in the team visiting six universities in five cities.
- ProgrammeCERN: the regional PWF programme co-chaired with Iskya García, 2019indico.cern.chProgramme co-chair alongside Iskya García.
- ProgrammeICTP: six South American thesis projects, 2021indico.ictp.itSupervisor of six MSc-equivalent thesis projects using ATLAS Open Data.
- ArticleMy ATLAS article on research supervision in Venezuela, 2018atlas.cernSupervisor of Iskya García’s master’s research and author of the account.