Friday Flyer - March 20, 2026 - DRAFT
Spotlight on the University of Minnesota QuarkNet Center
In early 2025, this center hosted a one-day Physics Education Forum for area teachers, many of whom were new to QuarkNet. The primary goal was to identify the real-world successes and hurdles teachers face, ranging from curriculum alignment to resource accessibility, ensuring that QuarkNet programming remains directly relevant to the current educational landscape. The center hosted a NOvA masterclasses in April for students from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, giving participants a chance to dive into the world of neutrino oscillations by analyzing real data from the NOvA experiment’s detectors and using Python for event analysis. Beyond the data, students experienced a hands-on exercise using photolithography and were able to tour the clean room at the U of M's Physics and Nanotechnology building.
The momentum culminated in the Summer 2025 Teacher Workshop, an intensive deep dive into the intersection of modern physics and data science. Educators explored Machine Learning (ML) through activities involving linear regression and decision trees, gaining the tools to introduce these computational concepts to their students. The curriculum also featured extensive work with Cosmic Watch and QuarkNet Cosmic Ray Muon Detectors (CRMD).
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News from QuarkNet Central
International Masterclasses 2026: Fermilab-based International Masterclasses are ongoing through March, with an additional two-day "masterclass island" in April. For general information, go the the Masterclass Library and, for all the latest masterclass news, see the March 13 and March 20 (today's) IMC circulars.
Coding Camp 1 will be held virtually via Zoom from June 29–July 3. During this week, teachers learn to code in Python, analyze authentic physics data, and build pathways for bringing computational thinking into their classrooms. Applications for Coding Camp 1 are due March 27, 2026. For more information and application details, visit the Camp 1 page or contact Coding fellows Tracie Schroder (bravesearth@gmail.com) or Carol Burns (burnscarol2020@gmail.com).
Student Success!: The success of the QuarkNet program is best seen through the remarkable trajectories of its former students, such as Joseph Farah, a former student of QuarkNet teacher Mike Wadness. Joseph recently reached a pinnacle of academic achievement with his research featured as the cover story for the March 2026 issue of Nature. His work on general relativity and the "heartbeat" of dying stars has garnered international acclaim from Scientific American and Reuters. As he prepares to defend his dissertation on high-energy astrophysics this May, Joseph has already secured his next prestigious chapter: he will join the Miller Institute for Basic Science at Berkeley as a Miller Fellow this fall. His journey from a QuarkNet classroom to the forefront of astrophysics serves as a powerful testament to how early exposure to authentic particle physics can launch a world-class scientific career.
Physics Experiment Roundup
Resources
Just for Fun
2001: A Space Odyssey - https://www.aps.org/apsnews/2026/03/film-space-odyssey-1968?utm_source=mar26-amn&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mar26-amn
QuarkNet Staff
Mark Adams: markadams74@gmail.com
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Spencer Pasero: spasero@fnal.gov
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu