Spotlight on the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez QuarkNet Center
The University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM) QuarkNet Center continues to favor workshops during the academic year and deep involvement in International Masterclasses (IMC). UPRM had 50 students and 12 teachers in an ATLAS masterclasses for IMC 2018; in IMC 2019, the group has signed up for a MINERvA neutrino masterclass. The most recent workshop was in December 2018, in which teachers prepared for the new neutrino masterclass and also sought to record variations of cosmic ray flux with altitude, taking a cosmic ray detector from the seashore up to the highest point in Mayagüez.
News from QuarkNet Central
Is your group registered for International Masterclasses? Orientations and updates begin in February, so sign up for that masterclass now. Check the videoconference schedules for ATLAS and CMS or for MINERvA, choose a date and time, and contact Ken. Also, you can check the latest IMC circular, just out today, about masterclasses and social media.
From AAPT and our own Jon Anderson: Registration is now open for the 2019 PhysicsBowl Contest. You should arrange for supervision of the test any day from March 27 to April 12, 2019. The deadline to register is February 25, 2019.
Mentors, the RFP form is coming very soon. Please look for it in your e-mail. Teachers, look for the CERN Summer Programs application, also on its way. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Ken or Shane.
Physics Experiment Roundup
Is 14 TeV enough? Maybe not; plans for the Future Circular Collider (FCC) are under way. The goal is 100 TeV and a whole new energy frontier. Read the BBC article about the FCC and its prospects. Excitement builds for neutrino physics as well; read the new Fermiilab article on using a liquid argon detector to study low-energy neutrinos. One more neutrino item—as exciting for who is giving it as it is for the talk itself—a detector seminar at CERN about IceCube, given by former QuarkNet student Dr. Summer Blot,
Resources
Last week, we suggested a New York Times virtual tour of the LHC, How about a real tour? CERN Open Days are coming in September; read about it and maybe plan a trip. Returning to our Physics Experiment Roundup topics, note that the FCC is promoted with a pretty nice teaser video and, for neutrino fans, Don Lincoln has a new video about DUNE.
Just for Fun
Let's begin with how not to run a space program, courtesy of xkcd. NASA and ESA are not like this, right? Good. So let's turn to a video of odd, interesting physics to close us out.
QuarkNet Staff:
Mark Adams: adams@fnal.gov
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu