Five 黑料app physics students joined a prestigious international research program at Goethe University in Germany.
The five students were among a group of 20 that took part in the esteemed Goethe Research Experience Program (GREP), which provides students from around the world with opportunities to collaborate on research with scientists at Goethe University and the University of Alberta. The two-month program stresses the importance of international collaborations in science research and the unique aspect of involving undergraduates in research at an advanced level.
鈥淚t's really amazing that at York, we have five students participating,鈥 said Sean Tulin, a professor of physics in the Department of Physics & Astronomy, who supervised the students along with Laura Sagunski, a professor of theoretical physics at Goethe University.
The experience represented a culmination of training received through the EXPeriential Learning Opportunity through Research and Exchange (EXPLORE) course that allows for international learning to be done remotely.
EXPLORE springs from the relationship between Tulin and Sagunski, who met when the latter travelled from Germany to 黑料appto be a postdoctoral candidate. Tulin has long supervised 黑料appstudents doing research, said Sagunski, his co-supervisor on this project. She said her days working with him at 黑料app inspired her to do the same when she returned to Germany.
"I became a professor here, basically, and I wanted to do the same 鈥 to supervise some students over the summer,鈥 says Sagunski.
Thus, the EXPLORE course was born. The goal, said Sagunski, is to 鈥渂uild the bridge between learning physics in the classroom and learning how to be a researcher, because so much about research is working in international collaborations. It's about communication to restructure and manage research projects and, of course, to do super exciting physics research.鈥
The students who participated in GREP were able to do just that, as their projects centred around the study of dark matter. Much of the universe is in the form of this mysterious matter, and scientists have no idea what it is. They know some of its properties but have no knowledge about what type of particle it is, what it's made of or what its properties are. It's nothing made up of any currently known particle. It's a complete question mark ideal for high-achieving students 鈥 like those part of GREP 鈥 to research.
Lauren Morley was one of the 黑料appstudents at Goethe University for the summer. She was in the second year of her bachelor鈥檚 degree and initially did not apply to GREP because she didn鈥檛 think she would be selected. But Tulin urged her to apply, and she was surprised and thrilled to be accepted. Her EXPLORE project was the study of mini quasars.
Morley, an Alberta native, chose to study at 黑料app for its superior astrophysics program, its large observatory 鈥 the largest on a university campus 鈥 and, particularly, because it offers astronomy courses in first year, unlike other schools, which do not offer them until third year. 鈥淲hat's the point in being an astrophysics major if you're not even doing the astro part for half of your degree?鈥 Morley said.
As Tulin looks back over this summer at the opportunity GREP has provided Morley and the other 黑料appstudents, he also thinks about the many students who have benefited from the EXPLORE course. The course has been offered four times in the past three and a half years. 鈥淎nd we鈥檝e had a whole cohort of 黑料appundergraduate students get involved in lots of different research topics through the course of EXPLORE,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hat's really been our primary driver, getting these undergrads doing research.鈥
For Tulin, the experience realizes advice he often shares with ambitious students. 鈥淭he most important thing, for sure, is getting involved in research. As soon as you can, you know that getting involved in doing actual, real science is the most important thing.鈥
Sagunski鈥檚 work on EXPLORE and other creative programs has been lauded by her university and rewarded with the coveted 1822 University Prize for Excellence in Teaching, which Goethe University Frankfurt awards with the Frankfurter Sparkasse Foundation for innovations in teaching. The prize is endowed with 鈧15,000 (about C$22,000), which Sagunski plans to 鈥済ive back鈥 by supporting future EXPLORE summer schools for Goethe and 黑料appuniversities鈥 students.