Since 2018, ISI Florence has been offering a special Physics Program together with the University of Maryland (UMD). The program consists of three physics courses, an Italian language class, and one elective course. As part of the program, students across different physics courses, from Modern Physics to Astronomy, have the opportunity to expand their studies beyond the classroom and develop skills that will chart their course in STEM careers. The program also features several site visits and field trips, including the extraordinary opportunity to spend a whole day at the European Gravitational Observatory (VIRGO Center) near Pisa, read Galileo Galilei’s original manuscripts at the Biblioteca Nazionale di Firenze together with ISI Florence director Stefano Baldassarri, go to the local Museo della Scienza, the Arcetri Planetarium (where astronomical observations have been conducted for over two hundred years now), as well as the eighteenth-century Osservatorio Ximeniano. But the real ‘feather in the cap’, so to speak, has always been the trip to the internationally renowned CERN research center in Geneva, Switzerland.

What is CERN?

CERN is the world’s leading center for particle physics and home to the Large Hadron Collider. Accompanied by ISI Florence colleague Emiliano Calvani, our current physics students visited there on September 26-28, 2025. The guide, Alexey Shevelev, PhD, research scientist at CERN and a fellow UMD alumnus, led an in-depth tour of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment, explaining how particle collisions are studied and how data are collected and analyzed. The students also watched a fascinating video illustrating the importance of the CMS and its strong connection to Geneva and the global research community. Later, they explored scale models of the detector before descending 85 meters underground to visit data-collection rooms and witness the effects of powerful electromagnetic fields near the collider.

Although access to the deepest section of the tunnel was restricted, the ISI Florence-UMD students were still amazed by the experience, which proved transformational for their understanding of physics. The visit ended in the control room, where scientists monitor real-time data, and at the CERN Science Gateway, an interactive museum where visitors can experiment with physics concepts in a playful and engaging way.

Student Testimonials

“The UMD Physics students had an amazing opportunity to visit one of the physics capitals of the world in Geneva, Switzerland. Our tour of CERN was extremely informative and, quite frankly, powerful too. The site itself is very historic and home to many monumental discoveries in physics, including the discovery of many elementary particles. As we descended to almost 100 meters underground, we could see the effects of the high-intensity magnetic field through a paper clip chain bending towards the field. It was a brilliant experience thanks to the coordinator Emiliano and our tour guide at CERN.”
Hayden Plakos

“CERN was a great experience for everyone involved. Meeting with a technician and touring the backstage area was extremely cool. The ability to walk around and experience Geneva was great, too.”
Benjamin Ackerman