Oklahoma QuarkNet - 2022 Annual Report

After a hiatus in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, Masterclasses were back in 2022.  This spring OSU held two ATLAS Masterclasses, March 24 and April 30, with participants from three schools.  (And we have four events planned for 2023!).

Our QuarkNet summer workshop for teachers was also in-person at OSU this year from July 18 to 21.  The first two days of the program (https://quarknet.org/content/osu-quarknet-summer-meeting-2022) took the teachers through a Coding lab, lead by QuarkNet experts Mike Plucinksi and Charlie Payne.  The third day was dedicated to the ten-year anniversary of discovering the Higgs boson, featuring a nice lecture from OSU theorist Dr. Gonçalves about what we have learned so far and what we are still trying to figure out.  The final day of the workshop focused on implementation, including a share-a-thon from veteran teachers and reflecting on everything learns at the workshop.  

We had another great year and we so thankful to the NSF for the funding this program.  Teachers and students in Oklahoma do not have much exposure to basic research and QuarkNet has been one of our most successful tools for getting high school students engaged in and excited about physics.  We look forward to next year, with the summer workshop back at OU for 2023 plus a record four Masterclasses planned at OSU!