U of T Physics School Visit Program
On May18, 2023, students in grade 11 and 12 from Ontario Science Centre School visited the department for a Laser Diffraction workshop by Professor Brian Wilson.
On June 6, 2023, students in grade 7 and 8 from Avalon Montessori School visited the department for a Light-Matter Interactions workshop by graduate students Joscelyn van der Veen and Kiera Augusto. The workshops were followed by Telescope tours run Dr. Ilana MacDonald in Astronomy and a Physics facility tour by Arman Malik.
On June 6, 2023, students in grade 7 and 8 from Avondale Alternative Elementary School visited the Department for a virtual workshop on Black holes by Dr. Ilana MacDonald.
Science Rendezvous
On Saturday, May 13, the Department of Physics participated in Science Rendezvous. Science Rendezvous is Canada’s largest Science Festival and is free for everyone. There were over 300 events across 30 cities and 1000s of mind-blowing exhibits. At Physics, 30 student and faculty volunteers made the event a huge success, 100s of people came through the throughout the day for the variety of demonstrations, talks and tours. Demonstrations included: Spandex table – time and space model, Sound Waves & Pendulum Waves, Angry Birds, Singing Wine Glasses, 1m tall dominos, Optical illusions using Ghost Light Bulb, Real image of Frog, Miracle Mirror, Classic Van de Graaff generator, the Superconducting Train, Chladni Plates, Levitating Magnets, Eddy Current Tubes, Homopolar Motors and more. Prof. John Wei also gave a public talk on High Temperature Superconductors.
More information here: https://www.physics.utoronto.ca/physics-at-uoft/outreach/science-rendezvous/
Girls sySTEM
The Department of Physics participated in workshops for Girls sySTEM again this year. This program is for girls in grade 7-12 who are interested in STEM. This year, the following workshops were provided:
- John Wei ran a workshop on “Superconductivity”
- Andrew Cox ran a workshop on “Theoretical Physics”
- Kaley Walker, Cassandra Chanen, and Alexandra Corapi ran a workshop on “Atmospheric Physics: Up, Up and Away!”
- Joscelyn van der Veen ran two workshops on "The magic of microwaves" and "Hello darkness my old friend"
- Mohamed Shabaan ran a workshop on "Experimentally probing the Dark Universe"
- Daniel Gregory ran a workshop on "Starburst Rock Cycle"
- Earth Sciences graduate students ran two workshops on "Virtual Museum Tour: History of Life on Earth" and "Virtual Earth Sciences Field Trips"
Doors Open
The Physics Department participated in Doors Open Toronto on May 26 and 27, 2023. Over 1700 visitors saw the lecture hall where Good Will Hunting was filmed, as well as receiving other historical information about the McLennan Physics building. There were a variety of physics demonstrations for children, parents, and curious people of all ages. The event was organized by Professor David Bailey with the help of our technicians, and a number of volunteers from the Department.
The building is home to the Department of Physics, professors, researchers and students who work together on theory and experiments involving high energy particles, the atmosphere of Earth and other planets, quantum computers and more. Visitors had the opportunity to visit the 15th floor roof of the McLennan tower and look over the University campus and downtown Toronto, overlooking buildings historic, modern, and under construction. Visitors also saw the first-year undergraduate laboratories, where they can explore our teaching and learning spaces, tried some of the apparatus, and met our scientists and students.
More information on Doors Open can be found here.
Science Unlimited Summer Camp
Science Unlimited Summer Camp took place from August 14-18, 2023. 50 high school students to participated in a week of workshops hosted by Departments of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth Sciences, Math, Physics and the School of the Environment. At Physics, students learned about scientific computing, various physics demos, and atmospheric science.
Students commented that they enjoyed the hands-on activities, seeing the U of T campus, and working on the design challenge with their groups. They also enjoyed meeting new people:
"I enjoyed all of the activities over the week and it was an unforgettable experience to learn new topics in every course we took!" – 2023 Science Unlimited Summer Camp participant.
"I liked presenting the design challenge on Friday. After a whole week of preparation and work, being able to present to our peers was really exciting. The prospect of a prize upped the stakes as well, which made me quite invested. I learned a lot from other groups' ideas that I didn't know before." – 2023 Science Unlimited Summer Camp participant.
We look forward to camp next year and are grateful to the departments who made this week possible.
More information on Science Unlimited can be found here: https://scienceunlimited.physics.utoronto.ca
