Letter for Jessica 2025

Its an honor to be able to present this award to Jessica

I am an experimental particle physicist working on an experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. My group is builing an upgrade to LHC detectors… 5000 devices basically, radiation hard digitial cameras

Jessica has been instrumental in preparing us to do this job. She is leading a team of four full-time members (any 1/2 part time students), she has contributed extensively to every aspect of the program, including constructing the cleanroom, installing and commissioning equipment, fabricating prototype modules, assembling and training the team, and now optimizing the production workflow.

Our work is really just begining, but Jessica has put us in the position to execute.

Honoring Jessica's contributions with this award means a lot to our entire team.

It is my pleasure to nominate Jessica Parshook for an outstanding achievement award.

I am an experimental particle physicist working on the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. At Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), we are constructing an upgrade to the CMS detector—the High-Granularity Calorimeter—which involves assembling 8-inch silicon modules that function essentially as radiation-hard digital cameras.

Each module consists of a silicon sensor attached to a printed circuit board containing readout electronics, as well as a base plate that provides cooling and structural stability. Module assembly employs automated robotic systems to integrate components and establish approximately 200 electrical connections per module. To facilitate this process, we have established a specialized manufacturing center on campus capable of producing up to 25 modules per day, with production scheduled to begin in the fall of 2025.

Jessica has been instrumental in preparing our laboratory for module assembly. Leading a team of four full-time members, she has contributed extensively to every aspect of the program, including constructing the cleanroom, installing and commissioning equipment, fabricating prototype modules, assembling and training the team, and optimizing the production workflow using methodologies akin to industrial engineering.

Jessica also serves as our expert for wire bonding operations. Each module requires nearly 600 electrical connections between the silicon sensor and the readout electronics, achieved using an industry-grade automatic wire bonder. Jessica is trained in both operating and servicing the bonder and has accumulated significant hands-on experience bonding prototype modules. In industry, this work is typically done by a dedicated — and highly paid — skilled technician. The fact that Jessica has mastered the operation of the bonder while juggling her other responsibilities underscores her dedication and skill.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jessica managed the day-to-day operations of our laboratory, ensuring that our research continued despite significant disruptions.

In summary, Jessica is an indispensable member of our research program. She is our boots on the ground in the lab. She is hardworking, always upbeat, and — as you can no doubt tell by now — willing to learn and grow. Her outstanding service in these past six years seems to me to be exactly the kind of thing this award is meant to recognize. She is a fantastic member of our group and has a very bright future ahead of her at Carnegie Mellon. Honoring Jessica's contributions with this award would mean a lot to our entire group.

Jessica has been indispensable to our laboratory’s effort to construct advanced silicon detector modules for the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Leading our technical team, she has expertly managed robotic assembly systems, wire bonding equipment, and production workflow optimization. Jessica’s outstanding dedication, technical skill, and leadership have significantly advanced our research and set a benchmark for excellence at Carnegie Mellon.

Jessicas job performance has consistently been "role model" level.

Jessica consistently goes "above and beyond" for the group. She plans and organizes the teams daily activities and is critical in onboarding new members. During CO

The pandemic required Jessica to take on several unforeseen roles. In particular, was often the only senior person in the lab, she has become a mentor to several graduate and undergraduate students. She helped supervised undergraduate summer research assistant Emma Ryan. Emma was awarded a grant from NASA to work with our group over the summer of 2020. Jessica went out of her way to give Emma a flavour of the “hand-ons” nature of experimental particle physics, despite the required remote working conditions. Mentoring students is, again, something Jessica was not hired to do and required a skill set she did not have until recently.

Jessica sets the tone for the group and is a big part of keeping the moral high.

As indicated above, Jessica excels at teamwork. Her job is essentially to coordinate the technical aspects of a team of skilled technicians, engineers and students.

We have achieved significant progress over the past six years—none of which would have been possible without Jessica. Major milestones include:

• Installation and qualification of critical equipment
• Fabrication of the first modules at CMU
• Meeting the international collaboration’s assembly-center qualification standards
• Successful production of a high-quality pre-series run
• Launching full production: we have now built approximately 50 modules (about 1% of the total required)

We have achieved much in the past six years, all of which could not have happened without Jessica. Major milestones include:

• Installation and Qualification of major equipment
• Fabrication of first modules at CMU
• Meeting qualification standards for an assembly center set by the international collaboration.
• Successfully producing a run of high-quality pre-series modules
• Starting the production phase. We have now make ~50 modules about 1% of the total needed.

Jessica manages a large diverse team with large variation in skills. She is inclusive, deftly pairing peoples individual skill with projects needed in the lab.

—

Jessica has been an electronics engineer in my group for the past six years and is directly responsible for the day-to-day operations of our laboratory. She

• coordinates group of techicians / grad students postocs and undergraduates
• Covid

She is a collaborative team member, skilled with both hands-on work and software, and effective at defining and solving open-ended problems.

has played an invaluable role in keeping our research on track despite the setbacks from COVID. Jessica is an outstanding candidate for this award and I can’t recommend her to you highly enough.

I am an experimental particle physicist working on the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. At CMU, we are constructing an upgrade to the CMS detector, the High-Granularity Calorimeter, which involves assembling 8-inch silicon modules – essentially radiation-hard digital cameras. Each module consists of a silicon sensor attached to printed circuit board containing readout electronics and a base plate that provides cooling and structural stability. Module construction is performed using automated robotic systems to assemble components and make approximately 200 electrical connections per module. To facilitate this, we have established a small manufacturing center on campus capable of producing up to 25 modules per day, with production set to begin in the fall of 2025.

Jessica has been essential in getting our lab ready to build modules. She leads a team of four full-time team members working on this effort, she has been involved in all aspects of this program: from constructing the cleanroom, installing and commissioning the equipment, making prototype modules, to building and training the team and the optimizing workflow for production using principles akin to industrial engineering.

Jessica is also our point-person for wire bonding. Each module we make will require nearly 600 electrical connections to be placed between the silicon sensor and the readout electronics. These connections will be made using an industry-grade automatic wire bonder. Jessica has been trained to operate and service the bonder and has gained valuable experience bonding prototype modules. In industry, this work is typically done by a dedicated — and well paid — skilled technician. The fact that Jessica has mastered the operation of the bonder while juggling her other responsibilities is a testament to her dedication.

Jessica has been responsible for operating the main Gantry robot used for module assembly; he has built proto-type modules and has developed software using pattern-recognition algorithms to automate the assembly process.

During covid she was directly responsible for all the day-to-day operations of our laboratory and was responsible for keeping our research on track despite the setbacks from the pandemic.

In summary, Jessica has been an indispensable member of our research program. She is our boots on the ground in the lab. Jessica is hardworking, always upbeat, and — as you can no doubt tell by now — willing to learn and grow. Her service in these past six years seems to me to be exactly the kind of thing this award is meant to recognize. She is a fantastic member of our group and has a very bright future ahead of her at Carnegie Mellon. It would mean a lot to our whole group if we could honor Jessica’s work with this award.

—

Letter for Jonas

202504291504