Education
The CERN-SOLVAY EDucation Programme
Large-scale research facilities often captivate the attention of the general public. This presents both an opportunity and a challenge. While CERN's notoriety makes our laboratory ideally suited to inspire young generations about STEM, being in high demand used to force us to turn down a very large number of potential participants to our educational activities.
In parallel with the opening of our new flagship centre for education and outreach, CERN Science Gateway, we launched a new hybrid education programme for international high-school students, with the support of the Belgian chemistry company Solvay to address this issue.
We designed the CERN-Solvay Education Programme so it would combine the unique advantages of online and on-site learning, and succeed in fostering the interest in STEM fields and STEM careers of highschoolers from around the world. We structured it around three levels of content, each successive level making a deeper impact on a more focused audience.
The first level's goal is to trigger teenagers' interest in STEM. I designed short education videos... specifically produced not to look like a typical science video. They pair a DIY activity with an aspect of CERN's research or technology – showing that the core concepts of science are the same in a kitchen sink or in the largest particle detectors in the world, and enticing teenagers to "discover their inner scientist". The videos have gathered 1.5+ M views on Instagram Reels.
The second level develops the students' passion for physics. I created an interactive online physics course consisting of explainer videos with self-grading quizzes. Each video focuses on a specific chapter of the advanced high-school / early undergraduate physics curriculum, and shows how it is applied at CERN. On average, our videos have gathered 10 k views each on YouTube. We delivered 1750 course certificates for a total of 3000 enrolled students, leading to a 60 % completion rate of 60%, particularly high in the context of MOOCs.
The third level transforms the students' careers through their participation in a week-long residential camp, open to the most motivated students of the online course. They perform hands-on science activities, meet scientists, follow lectures, visit research facilities, and bond with other like-minded students from various cultures across the globe. We processed 650+ applications from 80+ countries for the 30 camp spots during each application period.
Teaching Assistant at Brown UNIVERSITy
I was a teaching assistant for a semester at Brown University's School of Engineering, for the Fluid Mechanics course. Here are some of the reviews the students left me:
"He was a great TA. His section examples were very helpful. His explanations in office hours were amazing as well. Thank you for a great job! " • "Guillaume was helpful and understanding. His recorded sample problems were easy to follow and cleared some doubts." • "Guillaume is a brilliant [TA] with respect for physics foundations that make it a pleasure to study with him. He took interest in exploring topics together."