It's been a busy month! In preparation for the upcoming IceCube trip, our team (me, Katey, Kristen, Liz, Scott and Jim) spent nearly two weeks at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls working with Jim Madsen, Steve Stevenoski, and Eric Muhs. The first week was a crash course in astrophysics and particle physics, to help us more fully understand the nature of neutrinos and their detection. The second week we worked with a group of kids from the Upward Bound program in the Twin Cities, a program that helps at-risk students keep their minds engaged over the summer to help them succeed academically.
One big development during the first week in Wisconsin was that I got my travel dates for the South Pole. I will be leaving California at the end of November, the weekend before Thanksgiving, and arriving at the Pole around November 23 ("around" because travel to and from Antarctica is notoriously difficult and subject to change). I will be working with the IceTop sensors and will return to New Zealand on (or around) December 21. I hope to convince my brother to meet me in New Zealand for a family Christmas and New Years... I wouldn't expect a white Christmas in NZ since it is summer in the southern hemisphere! maybe we'll barbecue instead...
Expect journal entries in the near future about River Falls Days, the experience of working with Upward Bound kids, and some of the lessons we helped develop for use with the Upward Bound kids and in our own classrooms.