In 2020-2021, the Physics Career Accelerator Program or physCAP, was fully virtual .
physCAP helps undergraduate students transition to graduate studies or professional careers.
The program provides students with opportunities to plan ahead, experience, and reflect on their personal and professional development. PhysCAP includes, the Mentorship Program, two Career Events, and a preparation program for The Canadian Association of Physicists Professional Physicist exam.
Mentorship Program
The popular Physics Mentorship program matches 3rd and 4th year undergraduate students with a mentor. Mentors include alumni, faculty and graduate students from the Department of Physics.
Normally, students are interviewed in person by the program coordinators at the start of the program, this year, Professor Jason Harlow interviewed over 50 students on Zoom in September. After the interviews, the students were matched with mentors whose careers aligned with the interests of the students.
The program had 52 mentor-mentee pairs who met virtually from October to April.
The launch event (left) took place on October 15, 2021 and was attended by over 70 people! For the first time, mentors from outside the GTA were able to attend the launch. For example, we had mentors join from Ottawa, Alberta, Oklahoma and Hong Kong.
The mid-term event took place via Zoom on January 21, 2021 and a networking component was added. With the absence of in-person events, students would miss out on the opportunity to network with other mentors and their peers, and so 12 mentors kindly offered to host breakout rooms, allowing students to talk to a number of mentors.
The closing event was held on April 7, 2021 and was virtual networking event for mentors and mentees.
Thank you to volunteer our mentors who make this program possible.
Want to be a mentor? Contact: mentorship@physics.utoronto.ca
More information on the Mentorship Program can be found here:
https://www.physics.utoronto.ca/undergraduate/physics-career/mentorship/
Career Events
In 2020-2021, two Career Events were held for undergraduate physics students virtually over Zoom.
On November 4, 2020, physCAP held the Professional and Graduate School panel. This event is meant to show students what they can do after the BSc in physics. Physics alumni who attended different professional and graduate schools after completing their physics degrees participated in the panel and answered student questions. The panel was moderated by Rory McKeown from the School of Graduate Studies.
The following alumni were present:
Danielle Chu (HBSc Physics 2013) – Law
Stephanie Lim-Reinders (BSc Physics 2006) – Medicine
Pekka Sinervo (BSc Math and Physics 1980) – Academia
Sarah Torrie (BSc Physics 2002) – Teaching
On March 3, 2021, there was the “Physics Careers Outside Academia” event where students heard from a panel of alumni who pursued careers outside of academia. These speakers were from a variety of fields as well:
Ginelle Johnston (Msc Physics 2014) – Manager A220 Maintenance Engineering – Airbus
Eisha Patel - Data Scientist (BSc Physics 2016) – BELL Canada
Eric Sjerve (PhD Physics 1996) – Chief Technology Officer – IRISNDT
Andrea Vargas (HBSc Physics 2013) – Systems Test Specialist - Synaptive Medical Inc.
Thank you to our alumni!
Interested in participating in a career panel? Contact: mentorship@physics.utoronto.ca
More information on physCAP Career Events can be found here:
https://www.physics.utoronto.ca/undergraduate/physics-career/physics-career-fair/
The Canadian Association of Physicists Professional Physicist Certification Preparation Program
The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) Professional Physicist (P.Phys.) Certification Information Session took place virtually over Zoom on November 25, 2020 and was hosted by Professor Miriam Diamond. The purpose of this program is to introduce students to the CAP P.Phys. program and its benefits. It was open to 3rd and 4th year physics students and graduate students.