Minnesota QuarkNet Center Annual Report 2021

On March 6, 2021, this center organized a virtual MINERvA Masterclass as part of IMC 2021. Several QuarkNet teachers and their students participated in this event that talk on the NOvA experiment and an analysis of MINERvA data. 

The annual summer workshop took place on August 11-13, 2021. Teachers were happy to meet back in-person for this workshop; last year's workshop was held virtually. QuarkNet staff members Ken Cecire and Shane Wood attended this workshop as well, leading the teachers through some TOTEM data activities in development. The teachers provided valuable feedback that helped to shape the development of TOTEM activities I-III. Greg Pawloski led the teachers through the latest iteration of a NOvA Masterclass exercise, and Mike Plucinski (a Neutrino fellow and Minnesota QuarkNet teacher) followed up with a analysis of NOvA data in Python. The Minnesota Center plans to pilot the NOvA Masterclass with students in spring 2022. Karin Foss (QuarkNet teacher from Wayzata High School) has stepped up as a new lead teacher for this center. Karin led the teachers through a series of energy conservation activities using coding. The workshop included a talk each day, including one on MicroBooNE (Richard Diurba), one on LDMX (Tom Eichlersmith), and one on Mu2e (Ben Messerly). Teachers The workshop also included a share-a-thon, a time for teachers to share lessons, strategies, and other "tricks of the trade." The complete agenda for the summer workshop can be found here: https://quarknet.org/content/u-m-quarknet-workshop-2021. Scroll down to see pictures from the workshop.

The group plans to follow up with ~two half-day workshop days this fall in order to focus on cosmic ray detectors. The first such workshop was held on September 25th at Wayzata High School. QuarkNet staff member Mark Adams attended via Zoom in order to offer guidance. 

Mentor: Greg Pawloski

Lead Teachers: Jon Anderson & Karin Foss