Pursue STEM
The launch event for the 2021.2022 Pursue STEM program was held on Thursday, February 17, 2022. This year, the outreach program for Black high school students has two cohorts for a total of 75 grade 10 and 11 students. There are 39 new grade 10 students and 32 returning grade 11 students.
The launch included a talk called "To Engineer(,) Be Human" and a conversation with Professor Philip Asare from the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. Students also got an introduction to the Pursue STEM team and what to expect from the Pursue STEM program.
Pursue STEM students will participate in activities from the Departments of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth Sciences, Math, Statistics and Physics and School of the Environment. Pursue STEM is a joint effort between U of T’s Office of Student Recruitment, Leadership by Design (LBD) and the Department of Physics.
LBD is the signature program of the Lifelong Leadership Institute (LLI). The LLI is an educational organization that exists to inspire leadership and develop leaders, and dedicates its resources to advancing leadership competence and personal success among Canadian youth of Jamaican, Caribbean and Black heritage.
When students were asked why they wanted to be part of the program they said things like to expand their knowledge and to be exposed to a wide array of STEM topics. They also want the opportunity to work with people and gain knowledge, figure out what they want to do in the future, see what it is like to work in STEM, and develop to critical skills for the work environment.
Chair of the Physics Outreach Committee, David Bailey says, “We are excited by the growth of the program and the new activities being offered by the participating departments for our Grade 11 students. We hope to finally be able to meet some of our participants in person.”
So far the students have participated in workshops from the departments of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Computer Science, Earth Sciences, School of the Environment, Statistics and Mathematics. They have learned about data, statistical pitfalls, computer vision in healthcare, water filtration, cosmic distance ladders and simulation and more.
Also, on January 30, 2022, three groups from the grade 11 cohort presented their 2021 capstone projects at BE-STEMM, a conference that was organized by the Canadian Black Scientists Network (CBSN).
Students Gigi Adetunji and Shornelle Halsted won the Founders Award for Outstanding Senior Science Fair proposal at the conference for their "smart mask". The announcement of the award can be seen here: https://youtu.be/2NAjikybfrU?t=2613.
The other two projects were a Refill Itself Water Bottle by Gia Daniels and Zoe Ekhaguere and COVID Risk Investigation by Amina Hassan and Imani Reid.
The three groups then went on to present their projects at the Canadian Black Scientists Network Youth Science Fair on April 23, 2022. Pursue STEM teams took two of the top three spots and will move on to the Canada Wide Science Fair (CWSF) in May 2022. Last year, only about four of the 400 students presenting at CSWF were Black, so the four Pursue STEM students going this year are a very significant contribution to reducing Black under-representation.
Also, the Smart Mask group was presented with the Sanofi Biogenius Award and scored highest in the Grade 11-12 category. Finally, one Pursue STEM student had the opportunity to participate in a Q and A with Andy Fillmore, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry.
The students are being mentored by faculty and graduate students from the Departments of Physics and Computer Science as well as mentors from the University of Calgary and Victoria.
We look forward to working with all of our Pursue STEM students!
More:
https://www.physics.utoronto.ca/physics-at-uoft/outreach/pursue-stem/
Pursue STEM was developed in partnership with Leadership by Design (LBD), U of T’s Office of Student Recruitment and the Department of Physics.
LBD is the signature program of the Lifelong Leadership Institute (LLI). The LLI is an educational organization that exists to inspire leadership and develop leaders, and dedicates its resources to advancing leadership competence and personal success among Canadian youth of Jamaican, Caribbean and Black heritage.
More information on LBD here:
https://llileaders.com/leadership-by-design-lbd/
More information LLI here:
https://llileaders.com/
Canadian Association of Physicists High School Exam Workshop
Saturday, March 26, 2022
After a two-year hiatus because of COVID-19, a virtual Canadian Association of Physicists High School Exam Workshop was held on March 26, 2022. 30 grade 9, 10, 11 and 12 students attended and there were students from the Toronto area, Quebec, Manitoba and one student from India.
This workshop introduces high school student to the exam, gives them the opportunity to work through previous exam questions, and provided tips on test-taking.
The workshop was facilitated by Professors Ania Harlick and Ziqing Hong with the assistance of U of T Physics undergraduate and graduate students. The high school students commented how they found interacting with U of T students very useful.
Professors Harlick and Hong wowed students with physics demos, including the popular liquid nitrogen train to demonstrate superconductivity. Professor Hong also treated the students to a tour of his Dark Matter Lab in the McLennan Lab basement.
Thank you to U of T students:
Brendan Halliday
Andy Jiao
Arthur Pang
Ahmad Rayyan
Michael Sloan
Nicolas Sullivan
Ivan Tochovski
Morgan Watson
Joscelyn Vanderveen
Kai Zhang
