• Are you curious about how the world works?
• Do you want to acquire problem-solving skills that will help you throughout your career and life?
• Do you want the chance to do real research into the areas that you find the most fascinating?
• Are you interested in objects and their interactions from subatomic scales to the size of the universe?

If so, then physics and astronomy could be the right program for you. Join us at the WOW orientation - Welcome Orientation for Women - to learn more about the programs UBC Phsycis & Astronomy has to offer!

The upcoming WOW event is on Thursday, January 5, 2012.

 

About WOW - Welcome Orientation for Women
Why we are doing this
What you can do with a Physics & Astronomy degree

About WOW

The Welcome Orientation for Women (WOW) is a one day introduction session for women interested in physics & astronomy. Participants will have the opportunity to participate in hands-on activities, interact with professors from the UBC Department of Physics & Astronomy, visit university labs, and meet current students to learn about their projects. WOW aims to reach about 100 young women in first-year university or final years of high school. We want to introduce the UBC physics and astronomy department and programs, show that women make an important contribution to the department, and give you the chance to interact with women and men at different stages of physics/astronomy careers both in and out of academia through a panel discussion and lab tours. We hope you will be encouraged by this event to give serious consideration to joining our department for an undergraduate degree.

 

Why we are doing this

Although big strides have been made in recent years, most physics and astronomy departments in North America still lag behind in terms of women enrollment in their various programs. Large numbers of first-year female students are required to take a first-year physics course. To most, this limited interaction with our department gives no idea of the career options opened by our degrees, or that our department strongly welcomes and supports female students. Hence the idea of having a PhysAstro "Welcome Orientation for Women!" was suggested and is organized by our own students.

 

What you can do with a Physics & Astronomy degree

A degree from one of our programs will open up to you a vast array of possible jobs. These range from physicist and astronomer jobs in academia and research institutes; to physics and science teachers; to engineers working at the forefront of research and development in all big companies; to medical physicists working with and in hospitals to develop the newest imaging technologies using MRI, X-rays, PET scans, etc. and thus making huge contributions to prevention and cure of serious diseases; to biophysicists developing techniques to study, understand and manipulate DNA and proteins; to business leaders, such as CEOs of your own start-up company; to programmers developing software and powerful visualization tools for weather forecasting, financial products, educational software, the games industry; to science editors, advisers and writers for a plethora of TV programs, movies, newspapers; and so on and so forth.