After six weeks of hands-on research, TRIUMF's three distinguished high school fellows, Morgan Cassels of Esquimalt, Carlos Martin of Mulgrave, and Max Shen of McMath, are now preparing to enter their first year of university with a unique experience straight from the laboratory tucked frimly in their belts.
The TRIUMF High School Fellowship program bestows distinguished BC secondary school graduates an opportunity to explore their passion for science with a six-week research experience at TRIUMF and a $3000 award. Each year, three students are selected from an ultra-competitive pool of applicants by a board of BC science teachers and TRIUMF scientists based on both academic performance and non-academic achievement.
The Fellowship offers direct research experience – at a level rarely available for incoming first year university students – and access to work alongside top researchers.
“I got to experience hands-on tests of the systems I worked on, including data taking and troubleshooting,” comments Morgan Cassels, who worked on the Ultra Cold Neutron experiment under the supervision of Ruediger Picker. Morgan will be pursuing her physics degree at the University of Victoria this fall.
Carlos Martin, who worked with Jens Lassen on laser resonance ionization spectroscopy, explains that his experience impressed on him “a deeper understanding of the techniques and technology used to study rare isotopes.”
For soon-to-be Harvard student Max Shen, the fellowship at TRIUMF was a meaningful step along his already established physics career path. “The TRIUMF High School Fellowship has allowed me to build upon my research experience at Atomic Energy of Canada last summer. Working in the TUDA group, I got to experience two different aspects of an astrophysics experiment; the first few weeks were devoted to setting up the experimental chamber, while the last few weeks consisted of data analysis.”
While the focus of the Fellowship is for the students to gain work experience, they were also able to make meaningful contributions to the lab. “Morgan took on the task of improving a Labview control program for the helium autofill system to be developed, quickly learning the basics of the programming language and solving the problems in a very short time,” Ruediger Picker commented enthusiastically. “In her last week she performed functionality tests with the actual system and found actual bugs in the hardware.” He added, “I was especially impressed by her communication skills, as she had no hesitations at all to discuss problems of cryogenic equipment with companies via phone or email.”
All three of the students appreciated the inviting atmosphere at TRIUMF. Morgan Cassels mentioned the researchers she worked with were “so welcoming and passionate about what they do, it was inspiring.” Max Shen added, “The friendliness of those around me was incredible and everyone was happy to answer whatever questions I had… It was a wonderful experience filled with learning, copious amounts of head scratching, and the occasional eureka moment!”
Congratulations to these three outstanding students! We wish them the best of luck in their budding scientific careers.
- Nick Leach, Outreach Assistant
Potential applicants can learn more about the Fellowship program and apply directly to TRIUMF here.
Top photo: High School Fellowship students stand with their supervisors. From left to right: Jennifer Fallis, Max Shen, Ruediger Picker, Morgan Cassels, Jens Lassen, and Carlos Martin.
Second photo: Carlos Martin with his supervisor, Jens Lassen.
Third photo: Max Shen adjusting components for TUDA.
Bottom photo: Morgan Cassels working with one of the cyrogenic systems.