We are very happy to announce that this year’s EPS HEPP Outreach Prize has been awarded  to Uta Bilow and Ken Cecire, coordinators of the International Masterclasses, and Sascha Mehlhase, IPPOG representative from the ATLAS Experiment:

 "The 2021 Outreach Prize for outstanding achievement in outreach, including education and the promotion of diversity, in connection with High Energy Physics and/or Particle Astrophysics is awarded to Uta Bilow and Kenneth Cecire for the long-term coordination and major expansion of the International Particle Physics Master Classes to include a range of modern methods and exercises, and connecting scientists from all the major LHC and Fermilab experiments to school pupils across the world; and to Sascha Mehlhase for the design and creation of the ATLAS detector and other interlocking-brick models, creating an international outreach program that reaches to an unusually young audience.”

The Particle Physics Masterclasses programme has been IPPOG’s flagship activity for almost 20 years. Research institutes and universities around the world invite students and their teachers for a day-long programme to experience life at the forefront of basic research. The programme gives students the opportunity to become a particle physicist for a day by analysing real data collected by the experiments at the CERN LHC and other particle physics facilities (e.g. Japanese Belle II, American MINERvA neutrino or particle cancer therapy masterclasses). The International Masterclasses (IMC) run every Spring and attract each year more than 13 000 high school students in 60 countries. The programme offers authentic experience and is a valuable addition to physics education at school, thus stimulating the students’ interest in science.

The outreach programme ‘Build Your Own Particle Detector’ have been set-up in 2011, reaching in particular (though not exclusively) a very young audience. The model of the ATLAS experiment is made entirely of LEGO bricks. It illustrates all details, from the muon and magnet system to the innermost pixel detector and is a great eye-catcher for all generations.

IPPOG is proud, that with the well-deserved recognition of dedication to education and outreach in particle physics, be it IPPOG’s flagship activity or other successful outreach activities, such as ATLAS LEGO models, the importance of particle physics outreach in general and IPPOG Collaboration itself are being recognized as well.   

 

Congratulations to all three and many thanks for all of the great contributions they have made and continue to make to particle physics outreach and education around the world! Their work is an inspiration to all of us.

 

Link: https://www.eps.org/blogpost/751263/371188/The-2021-EPS-HEPP-Prizes-are-announced

 

All prizes will be awarded in a ceremony on July 26, 2021 during the virtual EPS-HEP 2021 conference: https://www.eps-hep2021.eu/