2022 Medal Winners | francais

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The 2022 Allan Carswell Physics Educator Scholarship

is awarded to

Éloïse Faehndrich

"Truly I feel honoured to be a recipient. Winning this scholarship feels like both a gift to be treasured and a responsibility to be fulfilled. I'm so excited to start walking alongside students and together look around at this beautiful and crazy and unbelievable world we live in and invite them into the art of asking questions." winner quote

The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) is pleased to announce that the 2022 Allan Carswell Physics Educator Scholarship is awarded to Éloïse Faehndrich, UBC, in recognition of her excellent academic record as well as her proven passion for and skill at physics and physics pedagogy. She has done outstanding work over the years with young people, providing her with invaluable experience that will serve her well in her future career in education. Éloïse cites the love of mystery as one of the things that drew her to physics. As a teacher, she hopes to "engage students in that aspect of learning where mystery meets wonder.’'. announcement

When I was a kid my dream job was to be a detective. I loved solving mysteries; fitting puzzle pieces together to figure out problems. All my birthday parties consisted of detective-themed scavenger hunts, with invitations written in morse code or invisible lemon juice. Unravelling mysteries enthralled me.

While I no longer dream of being a detective, that love of mysteries is what drew me to physics. Physics explores things that are on the edge of human knowledge; it maps out the unknown regions on the atomic as well as cosmic level. The fact that an oscillating electromagnetic wave/particle emitted from stars millions of years ago can teach us so much about the universe, is simply astounding. Physicists are truly detectives at their finest: collecting clues from every nook of the universe and piecing them together to paint a picture of how this world works.

To me, the beginning of solving any mystery, or any problem, is learning; is education. It is the foundation of putting together a puzzle. You must both know what pieces you have, and also figure out how to connect them. I want to be a teacher so that I can engage students in that aspect of learning where mystery meets wonder. I want to invite students into the art of asking questions.

The Dr. Allan Ian Carswell Scholarship will enable me to do this. My desire is to apply all that I learn from my professors to my practicum. I want to learn to implement intriguing lesson plans and get students excited about physics. In order to be fully present to this program, I will not have the capacity to work alongside school this year. This scholarship would give me the time and space to become the best physics teacher I can be. nominator citation

ABOUT the Scholarship

The Allan Carswell Physics Educator Scholarships, valued at up to $5000 each, are awarded annually to one or two physics students with a strong academic record and a demonstrated passion for physics and physics pedagogy. With the help of the Allan Carswell Physics Educator Scholarship, the winners will pursue a career in physics education at the secondary school level.

The Allan Carswell Physics Educator Scholarships were set up by the CAP and the CAP Foundation with a generous endowment from the Carswell Family Foundation to raise awareness at all levels of society that physics education is a vital, highly valued and rewarding career path while reinforcing the fact that a major in physics is valuable for many careers, not just research. Educators at all levels are crucial in that they must provide students of all genders and backgrounds with the passion, confidence and science literacy that will inspire them to seek out and succeed in gaining a physics education at the university level. These scholarships were first awarded in 2020. medal description

ABOUT the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP)

The Canadian Association of Physicists, founded in 1945, is a professional association representing over 1600 individual physicists and physics students in Canada, the U.S. and overseas, as well as a number of Corporate, Institutional, and Departmental Members. In addition to its learned activities, the CAP, through its charitable arm - the CAP Foundation, also undertakes a number of activities intended to encourage students to pursue a career in physics. cap description

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For more information, please contact:

Mrs. Francine Ford, Executive Director
Canadian Association of Physicists
Tel: 343-361-3326
E-mail: execdir@cap.ca
www.cap.cacap contact and joint contact