Students from around the country were given a glimpse of what it is like to work in some of the most high-profile fields of physics during the World Expert Lecture Series (WELS) Symposium on Astrophysics, Particle Physics, and Nuclear Physics held on 20 November 2023 at Lecture Hall B of the Physical Sciences Building. 

The event, organized by the Physics Division of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Physics of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), featured talks on topics ranging from microgravity experiments and microsatellite design to early-universe cosmology and the newly instituted Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA).The symposium's main speaker, Dr. Alan Cornell, a theoretical particle physicist at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, introduced the audience to the study of the universe through the fundamental particles that constitute matter. He also discussed dark energy and dark matter, which are some of the open questions being investigated in large-scale experimental facilities such as the Large Hadron Collider and the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory.

The symposium, moreover, featured a presentation by William Kevin Abran, a UPLB BS Applied Physics student, on his experiment on the rotation of dumbbell-shaped objects that was recently performed in microgravity at the International Space Station.

The other speakers were Rock Christian Tomas, instructor at the UPLB College of Engineering and Agro-industrial Technology, who presented the UPLB Space Satellite Research Team’s CubeSat design that won second place in PhilSA’s Nanosat Mission Idea Contest; Dr. Allan Alinea, head of the Physics Department’s Astrophysics, Particle Physics, and Nuclear Physics research cluster, who elucidated the interlocking of cosmology and particle physics in the birth of the universe; and Dr. Paul Leonard Atchong Hilario, Supervising Research Specialist at PhilSA, who told the story of the country’s space agency, from the Philippines’ early foray into astronomy to PhilSA’s establishment as spearhead of the Philippines’ national space program. 

More than a hundred high school and college students and teachers participated in the event, which was also streamed live on Zoom and Youtube.

WELS is a grant program by the University of the Philippines (UP) System that seeks to bring in world leaders and artists from the academe, government, and industry to give special lectures or performances to UP students, faculty, and staff to enlighten and inspire. 

The symposium kicked off a series of related events in the following days, including a museum-style exhibit presented by PHYSIKA UP Applied Physics Society at the UPLB Student Union Building on the physics of nuclear bombs and nuclear fallout as well as a career talk by Dr. Cornell regarding physics graduates' professional prospects in astrophysics, particle physics, and nuclear physics.

(ERA Beronio)