The Local Weekly The heart and soul of our communities with news and information about the Sunshine Coast
The Sunshine Coast branch of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada welcomes Francesca Crema, who will speak on April 14 on “Cosmic Rays in the Classroom: My experiences with muons, variable stars, and project-based learning.” The event starts at 7:30pm at the Arts Centre in Sechelt.
Francesca is a 17-year-old grade 12 student in Vancouver participating in Templeton Secondary’s STEM Program who intends to pursue a career in the sciences, specifically physics (specifically, high-energy particle physics). Francesca is the youngest at-large council member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, serving on the council of the RASC’s Vancouver centre as their youth rep.
Ever since joining her school’s STEM program, Francesca has received the opportunity to research and analyze data collected from a cosmic ray detector, and is currently studying spectroscopy and photometry at the SFU Trottier observatory. Francesca has been updating old data (eg radial velocity, apparent magnitude) on RT Aurigae. Because her school’s STEM program has provided her with these opportunities and more, she will also talk about it and detail the benefits of project-based learning. Her talk will detail her experiences with these projects, as well as provide an introduction to the scientific principles – from elementary particles to variable stars – that they are based on.
Admission is free; donations gratefully accepted at the door. Submitted
