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Physics Camp Outreach

We are back in 2026! After four successful summer programs in 2022-2025 (25+ students from 12 high schools participated each year and gave overwhelmingly positive feedback), we will run the program again in 2026. In a series of lectures on quantum physics, Oakland University Professor Evgeniy Khain will discuss revolutionary ideas in physics that were developed in the beginning of the 20th century. We will focus on the Nobel Prize-winning research of many scientists, including the work of Einstein, Rutherford, and Bohr. How do objects absorb and emit light, and what are the mysteries of the structure of the atom? These intriguing questions will be answered both theoretically and in lab demonstrations. Additionally, OU physics faculty will present their scientific research and discuss possible research opportunities for high school students in the coming academic year.

Before registering for the program, please complete and submit the Google interest form found here.
  • Dates and time: weekdays 1–4:30 p.m., June 22 – July 2, 2026.
  • $300 registration fee. Need-based scholarships are available.
  • Open to rising juniors, rising seniors and graduating seniors who received an A or B in AP Calculus or in an equivalent IB math class. Knowledge of AP Physics is a plus.

Registration

Schedule

Physics Summer Program for High School Students
Introduction to Quantum Physics and Research Opportunities
June 22–July 2, 2026 (no classes June 27-28), 1–4:30 p.m.
Oakland University — Hannah Hall, room 220

Schedule

(All the quantum physics lectures are taught by Prof. Evgeniy Khain)

Monday, June 22

  • Welcome: Opening remarks by Associate Dean Prof. Fabia Battistuzzi. Introduction to Summer Program.
  • Quantum Physics, lecture 1: Electric forces and electric fields. J. J. Thomson: discovery of the electron and the first model of an atom (1906 Nobel Prize in Physics). E. Rutherford (1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry) and his scattering experiments (1909-1911). Random walk model (activity with coins) and why Thomson’s model is wrong.
  • Research seminar and lab tour: Artem Litvinenko, Ising machines.

Tuesday, June 23

  • Quantum Physics, lecture 2: Rutherford introduces a novel model: nucleus and orbiting electrons. Charged particles moving with acceleration emit radiation (light). What is light? Wave properties of light and double-slit experiment. 
  • Demonstration: Rao Bidthanapally, Multi-slit experiment.
  • Research seminar: Prof. Alberto Rojo, Physics in everyday life.

Wednesday, June 24

  • Quantum Physics, lecture 3a: Particle properties of light: Photoelectric effect and its theoretical explanation by Einstein in 1905 (1921 Nobel Prize in Physics). 
  • Demonstration: Rao Bidthanapally, Photoelectric effect.
  • Quantum Physics, lecture 3b: How is light emitted in Rutherford’s atom? The model is wrong again. Discrete atomic spectrum. N. Bohr’s revolutionary ideas in quantum physics (1922 Nobel Prize in Physics). Emission and absorption spectra. A few words on Bohr’s model (1913).  
  • Research seminar: Ilias Cholis, Dark matter and how we search for it.

Thursday, June 25

  • Quantum Physics, lecture 4a: Bohr’s model. The correspondence principle: quantum or classical?
  • Demonstration: Rao Bidthanapally, Measuring the emission spectrum of helium.
  • Quantum Physics, lecture 4b: Back to wave properties of light: Bragg X-ray diffraction (1915 Nobel Prize in Physics).
  • Research seminar and lab tour: Prof. Evgeniy Khain, Statistical physics and cell migration. 

Friday, June 26

  • Quantum Physics, lecture 5a: Wave-particle duality of … particles! L. de Broglie’s ideas (1924) and wave nature of electrons (1929 Nobel Prize in Physics). Electron diffraction (1937 Nobel Prize in Physics). 
  • Demonstration: Rao Bidthanapally, Electron diffraction experiment.
  • Quantum Physics, lecture 5b: Double-slit experiment with electrons. Wave function. Bohr’s model is wrong! A few words on hydrogen atom. Pauli exclusion principle (1945 Nobel Prize in Physics) and the periodic table.
  • Research seminar: Prof. Yang Xia, Physics of MRI.

Monday, June 29

  • Quantum Physics, lecture 6a: A moving particle in a potential: classical physics vs quantum physics. Quantum tunneling. The periodic table and a brief theory of alpha-decay.
  • Quantum Physics, lecture 6b: Thermal (blackbody) radiation: how hot objects emit energy. Experimental observations.
  • College career path 1: Tali Khain, UM alum + PhD at U. Chicago + Postdoc at Harvard (zoom talk).

Tuesday, June 30

  • Quantum Physics, lecture 7: Thermal (blackbody) radiation. Classical physics calculations and ultraviolet catastrophe. Introducing quantum physics, Planck’s calculations (1918 Nobel Prize in Physics). Verifying Wien’s law (1911 Nobel Prize in Physics). Stefan-Boltzmann law and how physicists compute integrals.
  • Research seminar: Alexander Rusakov, Computational chemistry.

Wednesday, July 1

  • Quiz: Topics in quantum physics.
  • Overview of physics classes at OU.
  • College career path 2: Daniel Khain, UM alum + software engineer (zoom talk).

Thursday, July 2

  • Research seminar: Evgeniy Khain, Spread of epidemic on networks.
  • Program wrap-up: certificates, pizza (HH 220 and HH 233).

Department of Physics

Mathematics and Science Center, Room 190
146 Library Drive
Rochester, MI 48309
(location map)
(248) 370-3416
Fax: (248) 370-3408
[email protected]

Department Chair:
Professor Andrei Slavin

Society of Physics Students:
Office: 288 Hannah Hall (HH)

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