Friday Flyer/News
Submitted by kcecire
on Wednesday, September 13, 2017 - 12:53
Friday Flyer - February 10, 2017
Spotlight on Summer Workshop Opportunities at Centers: QuarkNet Central provides several two- to three-day workshops available to our centers. These are facilitated by staff or fellows, and focus on a variety of topics, including data analysis from ATLAS, CMS, LIGO or cosmic ray muon detectors. Each workshop provides teachers the opportunity to wear their "student hats" (deepen their own understanding), and their "teacher hats" (discuss and plan for implementation into their own classes). More information is provided on the workshop description page, including a sample agenda for each workshop. Mentors and lead teachers contact Ken, Mark or Shane with questions or if you would like to schedule one of these workshops at your center.
News from QuarkNet Central: Have you registered your masterclass group for an orientation or an update? Please do so! Check out the orientation page, then register for an orientation or update with the orientation registration form. Advertise too! Masterclass posters, logos and media templates are available for download and printing. In addition, check out the latest IMC circular.
Physics Experiment Roundup: Learn who is a part of the DUNE collaboration in the short video, "We Are DUNE." Read about smashing gold ions at Brookhaven National Lab in this Science News article.
Resources: Symmetry explores the experiments that may help us learn more about what ended the "dark ages" in the early universe. See how math concepts relate to one another in this poster and video. (This math poster/video is similar to the physics version that was shared a few weeks ago.)
News from our Houston/Rice Center: We are very sad to report that one of our mentors, Marj Corcoran of Rice University in Houston, Texas, recently passed away. Marj was a very dedicated mentor and will be greatly missed by many. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the the Rice center, and to all of Marj's family and friends. You can read more about Marj in her obituary and in this announcement from Rice.
QuarkNet Staff:
Mark Adams: adams@fnal.gov
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu
Friday Flyer - February 3, 2017
Spotlight on e-Lab Posters: The poster section of all three QuarkNet e-Labs—Cosmic, CMS, and LIGO—is a great resource to find ideas for student investigations and for students to report on their own research. Often, a group will see an intriguing poster which leads them to either test its conclusions or branch off into a related investigation. There are pleny of posters! Browsing around on a Friday afternoon reveals two interesting cosmic posters: one is a report on a Forbush decrease while the other descirbes an attempt to measure absorption of muons by water. And this CMS poster is about the upsilon particle while an intriguing poster from LIGO looks for a connection between seismic activity and the Deepwater Horizon accident. There is a lot more. Encourage students to search, read, investigate and write!
News from QuarkNet Central: Have you registered your masterclass group for an orientation or an update? Please do so! Check out the orientation page, then register for an orientation or update with the orientation registration form. Advertise too! Masterclass posters, logos and media templates are available for download and printing. The latest IMC circular is out, reminding you as well. And if you ever thought of taking your cosmic ray detector on the road, well, get inspired by this story, also in symmetry.
Physics Experiment Roundup: Interesting news is out there. For example, we've found that our chemistry colleagues are right; hydrogen really can be a metal. At Fermilab, the neutrino program is ramping up the power. At CERN, we have an intriguing LHCb result as reported in symmetry.
Resources: What do you have for us, Fermilab? Well, there is Fermilab's Greatest Hits by Chris Quigg, and Don Lincoln has a new video on future circular colliders.
Just for Fun: Ah, science fairs.
QuarkNet Staff:
Mark Adams: adams@fnal.gov
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu
Friday Flyer - January 27, 2017
Spotlight on the Fermilab/University of Chicago Center: Summer 2016 was a busy one at the FNAL/UC center. Eight high school students worked with mentor scientists and two teachers on research covering a wide range of topics, including work with astrophysics detectors, the test beam facility, scientific computing, and the Muon g-2 experiment. The Fermilab location gave the students opportunities to tour experiments/facilities and hear several summer student talks. In addition to the student research, twelve teachers met for a three-day workshop in July that focused on reviewing the Standard Model, CERN's CMS experiment and using the CMS e-Lab. The teacher workshop included time for teachers to discuss classroom implementation plans and for them to hear presentations from the high school student summer researchers.
News from QuarkNet Central: Applications for the CERN High School Teachers (HST) program are open now through February 1, 2017. HST will run July 2–22 this year. Learn more at the CERN HST web page. Use the QuarkNet CERN HST application form, not the CERN application.
International Masterclasses: Read the latest masterclass circular, check out the orientation page, then register for an orientation or update with the orientation registration form. Still need to schedule your masterclass? It is not too late! Check the videoconferences page and contact Ken to register or if you have questions. Advertise too! Masterclass posters, logos and media templates are available.
Physics Experiment Roundup: Fermilab achieves a major milestone in beam power for neutrino experiments, providing more neutrinos each second for MicroBooNE, MINERvA and NOvA.
Resources: Think neutron stars are pretty extreme? Well, you're right! Read five extreme facts about these small, yet incredibly dense stellar remains. Watch as Alex Himmel explains how neutrinos—so tiny, and so rarely interacting—may provide answers to many questions about the universe. See how high-energy physics technology can help during a water shortage. Videos from TEDxCERN's 4th annual event, "Ripples of Curiosity" are now available online. Speakers explore the relationships between humans and technology.
Just for Fun: What happens the moment you reach 700 kW beam power?
QuarkNet Staff:
Mark Adams: adams@fnal.gov
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu
Friday Flyer - January 20, 2017
Spotlight on the Virginia Center: The Virginia Center, 10 teachers strong, runs through the populated corridor from Hampton Roads and Williamsburg, up through Richmond, and up into Northern Virginia. They are active in International Masterclasses and each year hold one at George Mason University and one at the College of William and Mary. This summer, they held a three-day workshop in which they worked on neutrino physics, the TOTEM experiment, and using arduinos. If you want to learn how a geographically distributed center (with traffic issues!) holds together and even thrives, talk with a member of the Virginia Center.
News from QuarkNet Central: Applications for the CERN High School Teachers program (HST) are open. HST will run July 2–22 this year. Learn more at the CERN HST web page, but U.S. teachers should not use the CERN application; rather, use the QuarkNet CERN HST application form. Applications are due Wednesday, February 1, 2017.
Mentors and lead teachers: Please be sure that one person from your center fills out the QuarkNet 2017 RFP form indicating the support needed for your 2017 QuarkNet center teacher and student activities. (Note that mentors should have received an e-mail message with this link last Tuesday from Shane.) We ask that each center complete this short form by January 24. Please contact Shane with any questions.
For International Masterclasses: Read the new masterclass circular, check out the page for orientations, then register for an orientation or update with the orientation registration form. Still need to schedule your masterclass? It is not too late! Check the videoconferences page and contact Ken to register or if you have questions. Advertise too! Masterclass posters, logos and media templates are available here.
Physics Experiment Roundup: The Antiproton Decelerator (AD) at CERN is full of news: the first light spectrum of an antimatter atom and the best-ever measurement of the antiproton magnetic moment.
Resources: Learn good stuff with Don Lincoln's new Fermions and Bosons video. Then spend a minute with Farah Fahim, an electrical engineer at Fermilab. And see how symmetry responds to the age-old "but what's it good for?"
Just for Fun: We start the fun with a science pun. Still with us? Good! Let's STOMP around CERN.
QuarkNet Staff:
Mark Adams: adams@fnal.gov
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu
Friday Flyer - January 13, 2017
Spotlight on the QuarkNet Leadership Fellows: The leadership fellows, along with QuarkNet staff, serve as points of contact for QuarkNet centers. They assist centers in the planning and implementing teacher workshops and student research and help centers stay on top of the latest announcements and opportunities from QuarkNet Central. Pictured from left to right in this photo are Shane Wood (QN staff member, works with leadership fellows) and leadership fellows Debbie Gremmelsbacher (St. Louis, MO), Rick Dower (Plymouth, MA), Hank Horn (South Arlington, VA), Don Dean (now retired as a QN fellow), Bob Baker (Santa Monica, CA), and Dave Trapp (Sequim, WA). Each of these fellows has extensive high school teaching experience and has been involved in various aspects of QuarkNet for many years. Please feel free to contact them with your QuarkNet-related questions or for assistance organizing your next center workshop.
News from QuarkNet Central:
Mentors and lead teachers: Please be sure that one person from your center fills out the QuarkNet 2017 RFP form indicating the support needed for your 2017 QuarkNet center teacher and student activities. (Note that mentors should have received an e-mail message with this link last Tuesday from Shane.) We ask that each center complete this short form by January 24. Please contact Shane with any questions.
As International Masterclasses season approaches, centers should register for both the masterclass videoconferences and for orientations. The orientation registration form is online; contact Ken if you have questions. Need a poster to advertise your masterclass, or perhaps a logo for a T-shirt? Masterclass posters, logos and media templates are available here.
Physics Experiment Roundup: CERN ramps up its neutrino program as a U.S.-CERN partnership takes on the mystery of neutrinos.
Resources: symmetry explores answering the question, in "How heavy is a neutrino?". The worlds of science and art collide in the exhibit, "Neutrinos in a New Light" (currently on display in Fermilab's Art Gallery), in which Ellen Sandor attempts to help us visualize the invisible. Check out some of Sandor's work. And lastly, a brief history on how Fermilab got its name.
Just for Fun: A little quantum humor thanks to The New Yorker. (Thanks to Dan Walsh for forwarding this to us!)
QuarkNet Staff:
Mark Adams: adams@fnal.gov
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu
Friday Flyer - January 6, 2017
Happy New Year!
Spotlight on the Virginia Tech QuarkNet Center: Virginia Tech continued its growth in 2016. The two lead teachers, Rebecca Jaronski and Nick Merrill, worked over the summer under Camillo Mariani on research to test photomultiplier tubes for a system to enhance nuclear reactor safeguards. On the professional development front, Rebecca attended Inspiring Science Education in Greece, and Nick went to Data Camp at Fermilab. The team did a great job this summer and is looking forward to its Associate Teacher Institute in 2017!
News from QuarkNet Central: International Masteclasses are coming in March, so we need centers toregister for both the masterclass videoconferences and for orientations. Orientations and updates, which start January 28, are important for the latest information and to test Vidyo links. Check the pages cited (and the schedules therein) and contact Ken for more information; the orientation registration form is now online. In more International Masterclasses news, the latest IMC circular is now available; look for these every week from now until masterclasses start!
Physics Experiment Roundup: The Dark Energy Survey is an advanced project that does, well, pretty much what the name suggests. Recently, they found something else. CMS is, of course, one of the two large multipurpose detectors in the Large Hadron Collider. Components are built worldwide. So how are those components brought to CERN? Carefully.
Resources: Physics and astronomy lost a resource and inspiration in Vera Rubin, who recenlty passed away at age 88. No one did more to show that dark matter is real. Learn more from this AIP oral history piece and this compendium of Vera Rubin in Physics Today. Also in history: 2016 in particle physics from symmetry.
Just for Fun: What if famous scientists had logos? It might look like this.
QuarkNet Staff:
Mark Adams: adams@fnal.gov
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu
Friday Flyer - December 16, 2016
Spotlight on the Syracuse University QuarkNet Center: Activity in 2016 at this center began in the spring with two days of LHCb masterclasses, with a total of 55 students from four area high schools participating in the daylong event in which students learn about the LHC and analyze data from LHCb. During the summer, eight teachers (seven of whom were new to QuarkNet) took part in a two-day CMS data workshop on July 6–7. Teachers had the special treat of three mentors (Profs. Steven Blusk, Matthew Rudolph, and Mitch Soderberg) working with them during these two days, allowing for abundant mentor-teacher interaction throughout.
News from QuarkNet Central: Mentors and lead teachers, it's not too soon to start considering QuarkNet plans for your center in 2017. Staff and leadership fellows are available to help with plans, and don't forget that QuarkNet Central offers several two- to three-day workshops that can be done at your center. Watch for a link to the 2017 RFP in early January!
One more reminder that early registration for the AAPT Winter Meeting in Atlanta ends on December 28. Several QuarkNetters will be there, so stay tuned for plans to meet!
Physics Experiment Roundup: The LHC is still "young" with likely at least 15 more years of groundbreaking discoveries; nevertheless, physicists are already planning the potential next accelerators to answer the big questions beyond the reach of the LHC. ATLAS releases the first measurement of W mass using LHC data.
Using the QuarkNet Website: Looking for some information from a past Friday Flyer? Find out how to search an archive of the Friday Flyer on the QuarkNet website here.
Resources: This year's Windy City Physics Slam consisted of five competing scientists, each with ten minutes to explain their research in a fun way that can be understood by a general audience. Check out these five engaging presentations and decide for yourself which one you think is best!
Just for Fun: Instead of cutting out paper snowflakes this year, use these templates to cut out "snowflakes" in the image of physicists like Einstein, Curie or Schrodinger! Perhaps holiday cookies are more your style; don't worry, symmetry has got you covered with these scientific cookie decorations. And finally, check out this image that's a five-month-long exposure showing the path of the sun every day from June–December at Fermilab's Proton Pagoda.
This will be the final Friday Flyer for 2016. Happy Holidays to you all. See you in 2017!
QuarkNet Staff:
Mark Adams: adams@fnal.gov
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu
Friday Flyer - December 9, 2016
Spotlight on the Queensborough Community College QuarkNet Center: Queensborough Community College (QCC) particle physicist Raul Armendariz wanted to build a cosmic ray network in New York. QuarkNet was interested in piloting our program in a two-year college. A new center was made! One-part a traditional start-up QuarkNet center, QCC has two lead teachers, QuarkNet veteran Colin Denis and new QuarkNet teacher Kelly O'Shea who will do research and go to Data Camp in summer 2017. Also, the center has a strong component of college students working on detectors funded by QCC. Recently, they made a poster about their work. The next few years will be very interesting.
News from QuarkNet Central: Have you scheduled your videoconference for International Masterclasses 2017 yet? Well, check out the videoconference schedule, look for a suitable slot, and send Ken an e-mail. We especially hope you will match up with a group that does not yet have videoconference partners. When thinking about the schedule, also think about February 10–11: International Masterclasses will have special videoconferences for the International Day of Women and Girls in Science; read all about it in the latest IMC circular.
Going to the AAPT Winter Meeting in Atlanta, February 18–21? If so, note that early registration, which saves a lot, ends on December 28. The program is now available. QuarkNetters who will be there: Let's try to get together. We'll let you know more in the new year.
Physics Experiment Roundup: The MicroBooNE neutrino detector at Fermilab has a cool new look—all to exercise the cosmic veto. Astronomers are excited these days; they have discovered a faint new satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way. In addition, symmetry reports work has begun on the Čerenkov Telescope Array (CTA) to map gamma rays from regions near black holes and elsewhere and on comsic rays and AMS.
Using the QuarkNet website: What are the different user roles in the QuarkNet site? Find out.
Resources: It's EM Experiment Friday! (We just made that up.) Here is Physics Girl on a DIY magnetic train, exploding pop cans, and the amazing shrinking quarter.
Just for Fun: Moving the two-dimensional motion, Notre Dame teacher Dan Walsh and his students at Adams High School have answered the age-old question, "When will we get a good, engaging centripetal acceleration lab?" (Here is the apparatus.) As often happens, we are not sure what to make of this XKCD, except it is geeky enough to run in the Friday Flyer. This too.
QuarkNet Staff:
Mark Adams: adams@fnal.gov
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu
Friday Flyer - December 2, 2016
Spotlight on the Northern Illinois University QuarkNet Center: The NIU QuarkNet Center, located just a short drive west of Fermilab in DeKalb, Illinois, had a successful 2016, with events and activities organized by Dhiman Chakraborty and Elisa Gatz. On March 3, teachers and students participated in the International Masterclass, with students analyzing data from CERN's ATLAS detector. The summer program took place during the week of June 6–10, with 21 students participating in addition to teacher involvement. Participants had the opportunity to learn about a wide array of physics topics from talks ranging from cosmology to the impacts of high-energy physics research on our daily lives. Students and teachers also collected data using the cosmic ray detectors; the week ended with a poster session, in which results of cosmic ray studies were shared.
News from QuarkNet Central: Updated Center Contacts! Recently, we updated the list of staff and leadership fellows who serve as a point of first contact for each QuarkNet center. The list can be found here; these leadership fellows and staff are able to assist mentors and lead teachers in planning for center activities and to take advantage of the many opportunities and resources "QuarkNet Central" has to offer. Masterclass season is approaching; check out all the latest about International Masterclasses 2017 on this updated IMC2017 informational circular.
Physics Experiment Roundup: CERN uses two robots, each known as TIM (Train Inspection Monorail), to inspect the LHC in order to keep the accelerator in working order. After some recent upgrades, LIGO is back online ready to make more discoveries.
Resources: As we all know, physics is a broad subject containing an enormous number of topics. Physicist Dominic Walliman attempts to put it all in perspective through a video and poster found in this article. Fermilab's Don Lincoln talks about the Higgs boson from the perspective of 2016 in this video. It's now official: As of Wednesday of this week, the names suggested in June this year for newly discovered elements numbers 113, 115, 117, 118 have been added to the periodic table.
Just for Fun: Think you had a challenging time preparing Thanksgiving dinner last week? Try making it in space! Check out how astronauts made a Thanksgiving meal on the International Space Station. Fermilab turns the "big 5-0" in 2017! Keep up to date with the plans for the yearlong celebration here.
QuarkNet Staff:
Mark Adams: adams@fnal.gov
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu
Friday Flyer - November 18, 2016
Spotlight on Sudha Balakrishnan: You may not know Sudha Balakrishnan, but chances are her work has impacted you. Sudha works as an important part of the QuarkNet IT team and spends a lot of time maintaining and improving our e-Labs. Born in India, Sudha went to high school in Tinley Park, Illinois. After getting her B.S. in Physics at the University of Illinois, she went on for an M.S. in Applied Mathematics at the State University of New York. She also received another M.S. (computer science) at DePaul University. Sudha has worked for QuarkNet at Fermilab since January 2015 while also teaching math at the College of DuPage. She reports that her favorite hobby is painting.
News from QuarkNet Central: If your group is planning to register for International Masterclass videoconferences online, the opportunity closes today. To get it in last minute, get the links from this previous circular. Registration is still open! You can register by checking the schedule and then sending an e-mail. The latest masterclass circular tells you how. Speaking of International Masterclasses, have you checked them out on Twitter recently?
Physics Experiment Roundup: It's November and the Linacs are blossoming at Fermilab and CERN.
Using the QuarkNet Website: You can edit a document in your own center group. Read how.
Resources: Concrete: symmetry asks what to do with all this data. More abstract: A no-dark-matter theory of gravity (you read that right) is kicking up a bit of a storm in physics world. Here is a news article and, for the very bold, the paper by Dutch physicist Erik Verlinde. Friday Flyer takes no editorial position on this or, really, anything.
Just for Fun: Some pictures are worth a thousand words. Others count for millions of bytes. This one just leaves us speechless. (Here's the context.)
Dark matters on Black Friday: There will be no Friday Flyer next week. We pick it up again on December 2.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
QuarkNet Staff:
Mark Adams: adams@fnal.gov
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu