The 2024 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 April. Following a selection process based on input from undergraduate students from CAP member departments, several physicists from across the country will be chosen to present their lecture at at least one host institution within each of the six CAP regions, and up to four other satellite institutions.
The host institution talks will be streamed live via zoom 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. Virtual and in-person attendees will have the opportunity to submit questions, both before, during and after each talk.
Organization
Each speaker will present at once to undergraduates at a host institution, with their talk live-streamed via zoom, and later uploaded to the CAP YouTube channel so they are available to all undergraduate students across Canada.
A call for speaker nominations was issued in early September; nominations closed at midnight on October 16th.
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 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 CAP Rep or the lecture tour regional coordinator for presentation during the introduction to the lecture speaker.
The planning milestones for the 2024 CAP Lecture Tour are as follows:
2023
- Early September: Call to CAP members, department members, corporate members, and institutional partners for speaker nominations using this form.
- October 16, 23h59 ET: Deadline for submission of speaker nominations.
- Early November: List of potential speakers and abstracts available on the Web. Invitation to CAP undergraduate affiliates to review the speaker list and identify their top three choices. These are then submitted to the National Coordinator via a poll link accessible to each affiliate.
- Mid-November: Call to Heads and Chairs of CAP member departments to consider hosting their regional CAP lecture tour speaker.
- November 14, 23h59 EST: Deadline for CAP undergraduate affiliates to submit their 3 choices using the poll link accessible to each affiliate.
- Mid-November: National organizing committee meets to identify lecture tour schedule, make final selection of speakers as well as the host departments for each regional talk. Regional coordinators contact selected speakers and host institutions.
- December 2: Deadline for selected speakers and host institutions to confirm their participation.
- Mid-December: National Coordinator finalizes tour schedule (speaker, location, dates) and notifies speakers and host institutions.
- Late December: Lecture tour schedule is posted on the website and a NewsFlash is issued to all members.
2024
- January – April: The CAP Lecture Tour takes place at host and satellite departments, live-streamed 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.