2017 Annual Report
QuarkNet
Fermilab: University of Chicago
Student Summer Research and Teacher Workshop Annual Report
The Fermilab/University of Chicago QuarkNet Center sponsored its annual student summer research and teacher workshop for its 11th year. The summer research began June 26th and went until August 4th. The three-day teacher workshop spanned from August 2nd to August 4th. This year’s summer activities included two co-mentor scientists, one mentor teacher, four high school students, (three juniors and one senior), and 16 physics teachers. Teachers from the workshop primarily were from the suburbs west of Chicago, all having taught physics or will be teaching physics this upcoming year. We had a good spread in gender, age, and years of experience in the classroom.
The summer research was very rewarding for the students this year. One of the students worked individually, with a mentor scientist, while the other three students worked together, sharing a mentor scientist. The students conducted research in the projects of areas of the ICARUS Neutrino Detector, and the South Pole Telescope detecting Cosmic Microwave Background. During the week, the students had the opportunity to attend lectures by well-known scientists as well as go on tours of the experiments. We conducted weekly lunch meetings on Mondays to keep up with the logistics and share the progress on the students’ experiments. For the teacher workshop, the students prepared presentations on their experiment and experiences. One of the groups integrated a demonstration of their work into their talk. All of this went very well and we are extremely proud of their progress and accomplishments.
The teacher workshop was also a great success. Teachers immersed themselves for three days at Fermilab experiencing a pilot of the QuarkNet Neutrino Master Class, conducted by Shane Woods. They looked at the research projects done by our QuarkNet students, worked with scientists from Fermilab and toured the NuMI underground (MINOS, MINERvA and NOvA), and MC-1, (Muon/g-2). Scientists included Anne Schukraft, “Introduction to Neutrinos”, and Angela Fava, “Particle Hunting, Why and How?”, Tom Carter, COD, and Brandon Eberly, SLAC. The pilot of the Neutrino Master Class included a number of activities working towards the handling of data from research experiments. Teachers developed plans for implementing higher levels of data collection, interpretation, and explanation.
The Fermilab/University of Chicago QuarkNet Center continues to provide a quality research experience and educational workshop. Both teachers and students expressed their satisfaction.
Lead Teacher: George Dzuricsko