2014 Annual Report - Virtual Center

Virtual QuarkNet is a group of far flung, often isolated American high school science teachers from Boston and Atlanta, to the northwest coast of Washington, Taiwan and Shanghai.  Mentors Antonio Delgado and Dan Karmgard are assisted by lead teachers Mike Wadness and Dave Trapp.  In the 2013-14 school year they held 10 monthly meetings via Sunday evening (Monday morning in Asia) video conference.  Attendance varied from 5 to 10 with an average of 8.2 participants.  Sessions typically lasted from an hour to 90 minutes.  Several sessions had guest speakers and nearly all of them included discussions of the latest physics discoveries or theories.

Many of the group members have cosmic ray detectors at their school and many also had high school students participate in Masterclass.

The group also typically gathers for a couple days each summer at a site which offers new insights into physics.  In 2014 the group gathered in Spearfish SD with the assistance of members of the Spearfish QuarkNet group.  They learned of the new EQUIP Java cosmic ray detector interface, the new detector data blessing protocols and interface support, viewed the new International Linear Collider Masterclass (using simulated data), visited research activities on the Black Hills State campus, visited the Sanford underground Laboratory learning about the latest neutrino and dark matter research, and sat in on a couple CETUP conference talks.  Time permitted many of the members to visit other local areas such as Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial and Devil’s Tower.