Category Archives: Education

Astronomy, Education, General Mathematics, Physics

National Science and Engineering Week 2013

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National Science and Engineering Week 2013 in the UK is running from the 15th to the 24th March. The events are coordinated by the British Science Association, though it is other organisations and community groups that actualy run the events and activities. The theme this year is invention and discovery.

For those of you in the UK, follow the link below and get involved in something near you.

National Science & Engineering Week shines the spotlight each March on how the sciences, technology, engineering and maths relate to our everyday lives, and helps to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers with fun and participative events and activities.

Last year’s National Science and Engineering Week consisted of something like 500 events and activities from thousands of different organisers. More than 2 million people at schools, museums, universities, shopping centres, cafes etc. attended the various events.

Engineering Education Scheme Wales Awards & Presentation Day 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 – 10:00 to 16:00
Celtic Manor Resort, Newport

Follow the link below for more details.

The British Science Association
The British Science Association is a registered charity that exists works to advance public understanding, accessibility and the accountability of the sciences and engineering in the UK.

Link
National Science and Engineering Week 2013

Engineering Education Scheme Wales Awards & Presentation Day 2013

Education, General, General Mathematics

Advancing women in mathematics: good practice in UK university departments

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lms

The London Mathematical Societry launched its report Advancing women in mathematics: good practice in UK university departments at the House of Commons on 27th February.

The LMS is concerned about the loss of women from mathematics, particularly at the higher levels of research and teaching, and at the missed opportunities that this represents. Through its Women in Mathematics Committee it established a Good Practice Scheme and supporting departments participated in a benchmarking survey which led to this report.

http://lms.ac.uk/news-entry/26022013-1401/house-commons-launch-good-practice-report

The report is avaliable here (opend PDF)

Link
House of Commons Launch of Good Practice Report (LMS)

Education, Physics

The physics of heavy metal \m/

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moshpit
Wetwebwork from London, U.K.

The American Physical Society March Meeting 2013 (Monday–Friday, March 18–22, 2013, Baltimore, Maryland), is going to be focused on the physics of behavior. One abstract caught my eye…

Mosh pits and Circle pits: Collective motion at heavy metal concerts
Matthew Bierbaum , Jesse L. Silverberg , James P. Sethna and Itai Cohen

Heavy metal concerts present an extreme environment in which large crowds (∼10^2−10^5) of humans experience very loud music (∼130dB) in sync with bright, flashing lights, often while intoxicated. In this setting, we find two types of collective motion: mosh pits, in which participants collide with each other randomly in a manner resembling an ideal gas, and circle pits, in which participants run collectively in a circle forming a vortex of people. We model these two collective behaviors using a flocking model and find qualitative and quantitative agreement with the behaviors found in videos of metal concerts. Furthermore, we find a phase diagram showing the transition from a mosh pit to a circle pit as well as a predicted third phase, lane formation.

The preprint
Their presentation is based on a preprint on the arXiv “Collective Motion of Moshers at Heavy Metal Concerts” [1]. Using videos publicly available online, they study the highly energized collective motion of attendees at heavy metal concerts.

They model the behavior at heavy metal concerts and find a disordered gas-like state, commonly known as a mosh pit and an ordered vortex-like state known as a circle pit.

References
[1] Jesse L. Silverberg, Matthew Bierbaum, James P. Sethna, Itai Cohen, Collective Motion of Moshers at Heavy Metal Concerts, arXiv:1302.1886 [physics.soc-ph]

Link
Mosh pits and Circle pits: Collective motion at heavy metal concerts

Education, General Mathematics

e-Mentoring Network in the Mathematical Sciences

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maths blog

Ricardo Cortez of Tulane University, and Dagan Karp of Harvey Mudd College have set up a blog that address questions that students, postdoctoral researchers and junior faculty may have regarding their advancement in mathematics. The blog is part of the American Mathematical Society blogs and I am sure will become a very useful resource.

cortez
Ricardo Cortez		 Karp
Dagan Karp

An extract from the first post

Two years ago, at the 2011 Joint Mathematics Meetings in New Orleans, I attended a panel discussion sponsored by the MAA. The session title was “Good intentions are necessary but not sufficient: Steps toward best practices in mentoring underrepresented students” and one of the goals of the session was to propose specific ideas that could be implemented as a result of the comments made by panelists and participants. In other words, there was a desire to go beyond offering opinions and advice. There was a desire to come up with concrete actions. I really liked the idea.

Ricardo Cortez, Building a community of mentors

Link
e-Mentoring Network in the Mathematical Sciences

Education, General Mathematics, Physics

Lords publishes report on Open Access

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The House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee has published a report focusing on the implementation of the Government Open Access policy.

lords
The debating chamber of the House of Lords in the Palace of Westminster

Things the report covers includes arrangements for article processing charge funds, international issues and risks for learned societies, such as the Institute of Physics and the London Mathematical Society.

Link
The implementation of open access (Opens PDF)

Education, Interviews, Physics

Quantum Life: How Physics Can Revolutionise Biology.

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Prof. Jim Al-Khalili, an expert on nuclear physics, spoke at the Royal Institution about the role of quantum physics in biology. The video is embedded below.

[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwgQVZju1ZM&feature=player_embedded]

I know that Prof. Al-Khalili is working on the interface of quantum mechanics and biology.

Recently I have become more interested in a new field called quantum biology, where we are gathering evidence for biological phenomena at the cellular level that seem to work according to the strange rules of quantum mechanics. My interest (and I have a great grad student working with me on this at the moment) is in modelling mathematically genetic mutations in DNA that seem to take place because of a quantum mechanism called quantum tunneling. In fact, this whole area is the subject of my next book that I am currently working on.

From An interview with Jim Al-Khalili

Education

You need a postgraduate degree today

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According to the The Sutton Trust, the increase in number of postgraduate courses available in the UK, including masters degree, has meant that it is increasingly difficult for recent graduates with just a primary degree to enter the workplace.

A new Sutton Trust report, The Postgraduate Premium highlights this. You can find the report by following this link.

According to the report, 11% of 26-60 year-olds in the workforce now holds a postgraduate qualification, up from 4% in 1996.

The Sutton Trust is concerned that bright graduates from low and middle income backgrounds are increasingly priced out of postgraduate study, so these changes could widen income differentials and reduce opportunities for social mobility.

The Sutton Trust
The Sutton Trust is a foundation dedicated to improving social mobility through education. It has published over 120 research studies and funded and evaluated hundreds of programmes for young people of all ages, from early years through to Access to the Professions.

Link
Postgraduates earn £200,00 premium as basic degree no longer enough (The Sutton Trust)

Education, General, Physics

How quantum physics democratised music, a lecture by lecture by Professor Sir Michael Berry

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How quantum physics democratised music

Date: Monday 4th March 2013
Venue: Institute of Physics, 76 Portland Place, London, W1B 1NT
Time: 18.30 (registration from 18.00)

sir berry
Professor Sir Michael Berry

“Connections between physics, technological invention, and aspects of human life that seem far from science, are both unexpected and unexpectedly common. And rather than flowing one way – from physics to gadgets – the connections form an intricate and subtle web, linking all aspects of human culture in a way that eludes our convenient intellectual categories.”

The lecture is free to attend and is open to all, physicists and non-physicists alike. You need to register at http://publiclectures2013.iop.org

The poster for the lecture can be found here (opens a PDF).

Note
The original message is from
Angela Townsend
Development Administration & HE Curriculum Support
Institute of Physics