The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) offers an Award for Excellence in Teaching High School/CEGEP Physics, which is intended to recognize excellence in teaching physics in Canadian high schools or CEGEPs and to encourage and promote physics at the high school/CEGEP level in Canada. The prize includes an opportunity to conduct teacher training at a Canadian research institution. Stephanie Sajatovich of Halifax was selected as the 2014 Award winner for the Atlantic region, and she chose to take her research experience at TRIUMF the week of Oct 20-24.
During the week, Stephanie was given access to the facilities at TRIUMF as if she was one of the scientists – including being given a personal dosimeter. She met with a number of scientists to learn about their work, discuss their findings and learn about some of the challenges they were facing in their work. Since TRIUMF is one of the world's leading accelerator laboratories, Stephanie had the opportunity to meet scientists from around the world. The Centre for Molecularand Materials Science (CMMS) scientists, most notably Dr. Iain MacKenzie, walked her through the experimental set-up, the underlying theory, target preparation and discussed the data that was generated by their experiments on exotic materials.
"I was most impressed with how many people gave their time to meet with me and discuss their work. They would walk me over to their beam area and show me the equipment they were using and explain to me how it worked."
Like all the lab scientists, Stephanie had the opportunity to attend three lectures, including one about the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). Stefan Simrock came to TRIUMF from France to discuss the control and diagnostic systems of the fusion reactor that they hope will be able to harness fusion energy in the future. He also discussed the challenges of coordinating an international facility.
Towards the end of the week, Stephanie visited the Proton Irradiation Facility (PIF&NIF) at TRIUMF where, in coordination with UBC, severe cases of cancer of the eye are treated. Also at PIF, electronic equipment is exposed to low-intensity radiation to simulate long-term exposure from cosmic rays in space.
By coincidence, on Friday, October 24th, the BC Physics teachers biennial Professional Development Day was held at TRIUMF. At that conference, Stephanie gave the opening speech along with the BC Award winner Susan Hunter-Jivung, a long-time friend of TRIUMF through the ATLAS Masterclasses. She shared with the audience how she was nominated for the award, discussed her teaching experiences at Armbrae Academy, and shared with them some photos of her week at TRIUMF. The day concluded with sharing best practices and a number of interesting lectures.
TRIUMF was a founding supporterof the CAP teacher awards which were established in 2010 and extended this year to include research experiences to all regional winners. After this successful initial effort, TRIUMF looks forward to more future award winners gracing our lab in the years to come.
-marcello pavan, based on report by Stephanie Sajatovich