Lebanon
CERN and Lebanon signed an International Cooperation Agreement (ICA) in 2015.
The CERN Theory Unit has long had a connection with the American University in Beirut. The Lebanese University has become a CMS cooperating institute in 2016 and has created a programme in high-energy physics, with its first PhD graduating in 2019. Following the Lebanese University, the other three top universities of the country have joined CMS – the Lebanese American University as an associated member in 2017, Saint Joseph University as a cooperating institute in 2017, and the American University in Beirut as a cooperating institute in 2018. As a result, the number of students, scientists and engineers deployed at CERN has also steadily increased. Two CERN/CMS technology transfer projects have also been set up in Lebanon. Each year, four students from Lebanon are enrolled in the CERN Summer Student Programme, sponsored by CERN, charitable foundations and philanthropists. National scientific seminars have been organised in Lebanon by CMS, contributing to the outreach and dissemination effort relating to CERN in the country.
In 2016, the vision to establish a Tier2 computing centre in Beirut, was put forward. Eight years later, and after overcoming numerous challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lebanese revolution, the devastating explosion at Beirut's harbour, and a severe economic crisis, the HPC4L facility has entered production on June 6th 2024, processing CMS data through the WLCG. Under the agreement between CERN/CMS and the Lebanese entities that constitute the HPC4L consortium, 20% of the facility's computing capacity is dedicated to CMS activities. The remaining 80% will be used by academics and students from a large spectrum of disciplines such as social sciences, genomics, fluid dynamic, weather sciences.
Dernière mise à jour le 20 juin, 2024