2022 Virtual Lecture Tour

Click here for the schedule of talks and full details about each speaker (abstract and biography).

The 2022 CAP Lecture Tour is an influential and energizing event for undergraduate students in physics departments across Canada. The Tour features presentations that span a wide range of current topics in physics.

This year, the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) Undergraduate Lectures will be offered in a hybrid format from the end of January to the end of March (about one talk per week). Following a selection process based on input from undergraduate students from CAP member departments, six physicists from across the country will be chosen to present their lecture at one host institution within each of the six CAP regions.

The talks will be streamed live to CAP’s YouTube channel (CAPhys) in order to ensure easy access to all. They will be presented in either English or French, with subtitles in the other language where possible.

While the talks are designed for undergraduate students, the sessions are open to anyone who wishes to attend. Attendees will have the opportunity to submit questions, both before and during each talk.

Organization

Each speaker will present once to undergraduates at a host institution, with their talk livestreamed on the CAP YouTube channel so they are available to all undergraduate students across Canada.

A call for speaker nominations was issued on Monday, October 18, 2021; nominations should be submitted to the CAP Office by 12h00 EDT on Tuesday, November 9, 2021.

A list of speakers will be developed by the Lecture Tour Committee, following which undergraduates within each member department across Canada will be invited to identify their top three choices.  The final list of six speakers will be chosen using the input received. Once the speakers are confirmed, the lecture dates and locations will be finalized and posted on the CAP website.  Department and institutional members are requested to promote the lecture to their students.

To meet the tour’s objective of enhancing the visibility of the CAP and of promoting student memberships, it is essential that all speakers be willing to act as ambassadors for the association. A brief set of slides introducing the CAP and the Lecture Tour sponsors will be provided to the host institution’s Friend of CAP or the lecture tour regional coordinator for presentation during the introduction to the lecture speaker.

The planning milestones for the 2022 CAP Lecture Tour are as follows:

2021

  • October 18: Call to CAP members, department members, corporate members, and institutional partners for speaker nominations using this form.
  • October 31, 23h59 EDT: Deadline for submission of speaker nominations.
  • November 8: List of speakers and abstracts available on the Web. Invitation to CAP member departments to have their undergraduate students review the speaker list to identify their top three choices.  These are then submitted to the National Coordinator via a poll link accessible to each department.
  • November 8:  Call to Heads and Chairs of CAP member departments to consider hosting their regional CAP lecture tour speaker.
  • December 8, 23h59 EST: Deadline for CAP member departments to submit their students’ top 3 choices using the poll link accessible to each department as well as an expression of interest to host their regional speaker if applicable.
  • December 13: National organizing committee meets to identify lecture tour schedule, make final selection of six speakers as well as the host departments for each regional talk.  Regional coordinators contact selected speakers and host institutions.
  • December 15: Deadline for selected speakers and host institutions to confirm their participation.
  • December 17: National Coordinator finalizes tour schedule (speaker, location, dates) and notifies speakers and host institutions.
  • December 21: Lecture tour schedule posted on the website and a NewsFlash is issued to all members.

2022

  • January – April: The CAP Lecture Tour takes place at host departments, livestreamed to the community.  Recordings are made and posted on the CAP YouTube channel when available.
  • May 31: Deadline for speakers to submit all expense claims to the CAP office.