Notre Dame QuarkNet Annual Report 2020
The Notre Dame center has a unique place in QuarkNet. The university helps the center to offer research opportunities for students and teachers each summer in addition to the QuarkNet workshop the center holds every year. The year 2020, of course, the situation is different. The ND center has already accepted students and assembled the teachers for research when it all had to be canceled due to the pandemic. Lead Teacher Pat Mooney had the idea, then, that the teachers could offer the students two weeks of online summer classes in particle physics. Week 1 started with some basic physics and went all the way to particle physics data analysis using the BAMC masterclass. In week 2, Pat lead students into a deep study of the J/Ψ particle using CMS data and Python. It all went very well, but the teachers decided they really needed to actually meet together for their QuarkNet workshop. But how, given the situation? The solution: meet outdoors for three days. Senior Tech Dan Ruggiero helped the QuarkNet team set up power, Wi-Fi, and a tent just outside the Reyniers Life Building in which the QuarkNet center has its home. The teachers worked on physics experiments that could be done by students at home, since many would still be learning remotely in the coming academic year, with a particular emphasis on using smart phones.
Other highlights of the year:
- Notre Dame QuarkNet again participated in ETHOS Science Spooktacular in October 2019.
- Dan Walsh's students from Adams High School and Jeremy Wegner's students from Winamac High School participated in World Wide Data Day 2019.
- Teacher Dan Kallenberg went with Ken Cecire on a visit to Asia under the Notre Dame International Asia Research Collaboration Grant "Notre Dame - Masterclasses Across the Paciifc (ND-MAP)" to particopate in masterclass and cosmic ray workshops.
- Dan Kallenberg became a Cosmic Ray fellow.
- Jeremy Wegner's students from Winamac High School and Rebekah Randall's students from Marian High School participated in International Masterclasses even though the schedule was truncated due to covid-19. Jeremy's students also participated in the Big Analysis of Muons in CMS masterclass designed for remote online participation after schools closed.
