Friday Flyer - December 14, 2018
This is the last Friday Flyer of 2018. The flyer will resume after the holidays on January 11, 2019.
Spotlight on the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center
The University of Notre Dame center is unique in a few important ways. First, it has its own facility, with offices and lab space at 929 North Eddy Street in South Bend (come visit!). It also has been maintained robust student and teacher research through partnership with different programs in the Department of Physics and the university. The teachers meet every Monday during the school year and are very involved with the community; they usually have more than one masterclass in IMC and are part of various science exhibitions, most recently the ETHOS "Science Spooktacular" (just before Halloween) for children and families in nearby Elkhart. Each February, the group participates in "Science Alive!" at the public library and last spring added the Notre Dame STEM Day event. Mentors Mitch Wayne and Antonio Delgado facilitate the work that the teachers come up with in the school year.
News from QuarkNet Central
Registration for International Masterclasses via Doodle poll has closed. Groups can still register via e-mail; contact Ken Cecire and consult the IMC schedules posted or linked at the Videoconferences 2019 page. Read more in the latest IMC Circular, which came out today.
Mentors should have received an e-mail this week about how QuarkNet will operate during the new grant period. If a mentor has not, he or she should contact Shane or Ken. Our QuarkNet RFP for centers will come out in January.
Physics Experiment Roundup
With the LHC shutdown, we can look at what has been a great run so far and what to expect in the LHC Run II report in CERN Bulletin and the LHC-watcher's field guide in symmetry. Physics Today reports on a dark matter search negative result.
Resources
Rounding out the year in symmetry: an article on gravitational lensing and a guide to physics books of 2018. And just in time for that last-minute physics video you need for your students as we wind down for the holidays, here is the winning entry in the 2018 Physics Slam at Fermilab, Explaining Neutrino Oscillations, by Northwestern University physicist André de Gouvêa.
Just for Fun
We'll end today with a holiday round-up of videos, from The 12 Days of Christmas - Physics Edition to The Physics of Christmas and a Hanukkah Rube Goldberg Machine. (Why not?) For New Year, you can sip champagne or go ahead and break that glass, courtesy of Physics Girl. Finally, let's close out the old year in full geek mode.
Best wishes for the holidays and the coming year!
QuarkNet Staff:
Mark Adams: adams@fnal.gov
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu