Like many other initiatives on campus, PHYS10 struggled over the pandemic. Despite this, PHYS10 is back and it's better than ever with a fresh team of dedicated undergraduate students. The new team has one hope, to make Phys10 the highlight of your week with approachable seminars about the frontiers of the field with some snacks on the side.
The first talk of this term was given by current master’s candidate Urja Nandivada and lecturer Dr. Matthew Robbins. They worked together to share their passion for lasers with an introductory talk about lasers, their properties, uses and had multiple interactive demos, including one where they made a fish disappear with a “cloaking device”! This is part of the current team’s efforts to have seminars that are interactive and approachable to all students, whether they are in their first year, or about to graduate.
Since the start of the term, PHYS10 has been going strong. A definite highlight was the talk given by Dr Faisal Al-Faisal of the Department of Mathematics, where he talked about Fermat's Last Theorem and the struggles over the past few centuries to prove and disprove it. With over 50 people in attendance, this talk was a fruitful result of the teams' efforts to show how interdisciplinary Physics is as a field. PHYS10 also had a special International Women's Day talk where Dr. Bruna Shinohara, a staff scientist at CMC Microsystems, talked about Careers in Quantum Technology, how to get there, and advice for students who are interested.
Beyond just providing opportunities for students to hear about the various ways and fields in which physics research is conducted, PHYS10 also seeks to provide students with the opportunity to present their own research to their peers. This is done through two events, the first being the student seminar slot that PHYS10 offers each term. This allows undergraduate students to present their own research, whether done with a professor, over a co-op term, or independently to an audience in a colloquium format. This gives upper-year students an opportunity to share what student research can look like, or younger students to get an opportunity to practice their public speaking and communication skills.
A new event the team is hosting this term is a poster fair. This will allow students to experience presenting their own research without barriers like conference acceptances and the costs of printing (which PHYS10 will be covering). This allows students to practice valuable skills that they can use in the field later, while allowing other students to learn from them.
Overall, PHYS10 has grown a lot over the past year. The team behind it is always looking for ways to innovate their once-a-week time slot and have been providing numerous opportunities for students to learn more about the field of Physics through events like Lab Tours, collaborations with other departmental clubs, and our end of term Town Hall. PHYS10 hopes to continue providing incredible and approachable seminars, opportunities for students to present their own research to an audience and incorporating interactive elements for the upcoming future.
You can keep up with their future events by following @uwphys10 on Instagram and checking out their YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@wloophys10 .
