Crescent Student Competes For Canada In Astronomy & Astrophysics

Grade 11 student Felix Yu (pictured, centre) was one of five young people representing Canada at the 2017 International Olympiad for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) held in Thailand in November. High school and first-year university students from 45 countries competed in the event. Scores were based on two written exams and one practical test to observe and identify astronomical objects.

While the Canadians didn’t finish in the top rankings, Felix says it was an exciting experience: “It was great to meet people from different cultures and backgrounds who share a common interest in astrophysics and astronomy.” Now he is looking forward to the 2018 IOAA, as well as preparing to compete for a spot at the next International Physics Olympiad.

Felix says he has always loved physics. “The things I’m interested in are things you can’t see or touch,” he says, “things that are super-far away, like astronomy, or things that are so small that even a microscope can’t see them, like atoms.”

He got involved in the IOAA through his participation in the annual national high school physics contest. Last year, his physics contest results qualified him for the national physics camp, where the top students are selected for Canada’s team at the International Physics Olympiad. Although Felix didn’t make the cut for the team, he took the opportunity to apply for the IOAA instead. His results on the IOAA qualifying exam were the second highest in Canada, qualifying him for Canada’s IOAA team.

“Going from physics to astronomy and astrophysics is relatively easy, because astrophysics is a branch of physics,” says Felix. He says competing on the Canadian physics team is still his goal.

Felix also works with Crescent faculty member Professor Jeff Lee on his research at Baylor University. Professor Lee invited him to be an honorary member of the Baylor graduate research group called EUCOS, which studies early universe cosmology and string theory. “In our current models, classical physics breaks down when you get too close to the early universe,” says Felix. “Certain researchers have proposed using string theory to try to figure that out.”

Felix is named as a contributor on a EUCOS research paper being published by Professor Lee, which is currently in peer review.

“The cool part is that I’m working directly on research that is literally the cutting edge of human knowledge,” says Felix. “And it’s really interesting to see the process of a paper being developed. As a high school student, we aren’t typically exposed to these things. This opportunity is just cool.”
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