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Roy Cruz

Email: rfcruz@wisc.edu
GitHub: https://github.com/roy-cruz


Traineeship Dates: 2025-06-22 - Ongoing
Status: Current Trainee

Training Modules:
  • GPU training module
  • Software Engineering training module
  • FPGA training module (in progress)

Biography and Interests

I am a first-year graduate student in the CMS group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I am advised by Prof. Tulika Bose.

Project

AXOL1TL is a variational autoencoder-based hardware trigger deployed in Run 3 which identifies anomalous events relative to typical SM events using L1 Global Trigger physics objects. While current High Level Trigger (HLT) integration simply passes the AXOL1TL trigger flag, the project I am contributing to seeks to develop a complementary HLT anomaly detection strategy. The strategy will consist of a transformer encoder-based foundation model trained on a diverse dataset of SM processes to generate low-dimensional embeddings. These representations will be the basis for anomaly scoring or other downstream tasks. Looking forward, the second phase of this project will adapt this approach for the Phase-2 Level-1 Trigger system.

Recent Accomplishments

  • Implemented a modified model architecture optimized for reduced resource consumption. Tests confirm the model meets strict HLT latency constraints with negligible performance costs.
  • Validation studies show the model’s anomaly detection performance, demonstrating an increase in S/B for various rare SM and BSM processes.

Mentors

  • Tulika Bose (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
  • Abhijith Gandrakota (Fermilab)