Experimental physicist Dr. Mingming Yang will present an overview of her work at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), culminating in the identification of the Higgs boson particle, and explore the parallel journey of self-discovery and the significance of that research to humankind. Throughout her experiences in a collaborative research environment, Dr. Yang contemplates the role of the individual, the value of particle physics, and the beauty of nature.

Mingming obtained PhD from MIT physics department last Septermber. Her work was searching for the Higgs boson through its decay into two photons at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in CERN, with the Compact Muon Solenoid detector (CMS) Higgs to Two Photon Working Group. She “unblinded” the first Higgs search result within CMS collaboration on June 15, 2012, leading to the discovery of the Higgs boson combining the results from four other Higgs decay channels as announced on July 4, 2012. This historic “unblinding” moment has been transformed into the opening play of the “Collider Exhibition” by London Science Museum.

Mingming was offered a prestigious Chamberlain Fellowship at Berkeley National Lab for post-graduate research. She turned down this fellowship to continue to explore the world, which brings her to Alaska.