Physics Undergraduate Conference 2017
The Physics Undergraduate Conference (PhUnC) 2017 edition was a great success, this year having contributions from Windsor and McMaster Universities.
The morning of Thursday, March 9, 2017 began with registration, poster setup, and breakfast.
Student talks began at 11:00am.
First to speak was Ahmad Mahmood of McMaster, giving a talk titled, "MITOCHONDRIA - Organelle with a License to Kill".
Next to speak was Jonathon Riddell of Western, speaking on, "The Eigenstate Thermization Hypothesis in the XX Model".
The third morning talk was given by Western's Toluwa Fayemi, with a talk titled, "3D Printing of Surgical Instruments for Long-Duration Space Missions".
After a short break in the atrium, the final student talk was given by Diego Felipe Martinez of McMaster. Diego's presentation was titled, "Improvement of Image Registration in Treatment of Head and Neck Cancer".
Lunch was followed by viewing and judging of posters in the atrium. A dedicated group of Physics and Astronomy faculty member judges did some serious deliberation before award winners were decided.
Next came the keynote talk, given by Dr. Nigel Smith of SNOLAB. His captivating presentation was titled , "The SNOLAB Science Programme: Cutting-edge
science from a deep hole in the ground". After the talk, audience members got to take photos (selfies!) with a replica of Dr. Art MacDonald's 2015 Nobel Physics Prize gold medal. This was a big hit.
At the awards ceremony, Nigel Smith was thanked with some Western/PhUnC bling.
Student awards were as follows:
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1st place: Diego Felipe Martinez (McMaster, talk).
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2nd place: Sergio Dempsey (Western, poster).
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3rd place (tie): Ahmad Mahmoud (McMaster, talk) & Sachi Elkerson (Western, poster).
The day ended with a catered dinner in the atrium, complete with live music.
The organizers should be very proud of the successful event. The organizing committee consisted of Adrian Majhour, Claire Park, Colin Metrow, Danielle McFadden, Dario Crisci, Dylan Del Papa, Jef Judes, Mark Krammer, Matt Shubat, Mauli Bhatt, Michael Molliconi, Nastaran Ghafouriansahraei, Nicole Barucha, Patrick Hatch, Sean Huggins, Stella Liu, Tim Hallatt.
