Saturday Morning Lecture - UBC

We are Made of Starstuff: Producing Heavy Elements in Astrophysics - Nicole Vassh (TRIUMF)

Your cellphone vs. the Universe: how Environmental Radiation Interacts with Microelectronics - Camille Bélanger-Champagne (TRIUMF)

Cosmic rays that bombard electronic devices can cause a variety of problems that can be hard to predict, difficult to detect, and tricky to mitigate. In this talk, we will discuss how cosmic ray radiation interacts with electronic devices in a variety of environments, from deep space mission vehicles to the cell phone in your pocket. We will then talk about mitigation strategies, and how particle accelerators such as TRIUMF’s 520-MeV cyclotron are used by engineers and researchers to understand these issues and reduce the risk of electronic failures in critical systems.