Students in the Pre-College STEM program at Shoreham-Wading River High School had a taste of astrophysics when they participated in the IceCube Masterclass at Stony Brook University. During the program, the students spoke with scientists at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole (via Zoom), created their own cloud chambers and detected radiation via their cloud chambers and Geiger counters.

The IceCube Masterclass program, which began in 2014 at select locations around the world, invites young students, our future scientists, to learn about particle astrophysics by doing real research. The IceCube Masterclass is a one-day event where high school students learn about astrophysics through lectures and hands-on analysis of data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole. The day’s schedule generally includes lunch with IceCube researchers and opportunities to discuss results in virtual meetings.