Shaw-IAU Workshops by the OAE

Competitions create an educational opportunity for students of all backgrounds. In this talk I will discuss data that shows that by participating in competitions, students can learn to feel like scientists, get to know interesting peers from other countries, learn from each other, solve fun challenges, learn the value of teamwork, and have an overall fun and rewarding experience. Awareness of the existence of the competitions can motivate a student to start learning the subject, and good results in competitions have resulted in college admission and retention of interest in research.

About Ioana Zelko

Ioana Zelko is a Postdoctoral Researcher at UCLA studying strong lensing applications to dark matter. She completed my PhD degree in 2021 at the Harvard University - Center for
Astrophysics (dissertation title: "Stardust and Cosmology") under the supervision of Prof. Douglas Finkbeiner, and obtained her bachelor of science in physics at MIT. Originally from Romania, her interest in scientific research and future career path came as a benefit of her participation and results in numerous science competitions in highschool, including IPhO, IOAA, IAO, IJSO.

Watch a recording of this talk (external link)