---
title: "Notre Dame QuarkNet Center"
chunk: 6/6
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_QuarkNet_Center"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:16:56.689192+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

In 2023, Kenneth Cecire spoke at the 38th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2023) in Nagoya, Japan. The talk detailed the building of Cosmic Watches at the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center. Invented by Spencer Axani of MIT, the Cosmic Watch is an inexpensive cosmic ray detector that can be utilized in high school and university physics classes. Before, the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center had a long-term project to build and test larger, tabletop size cosmic ray detectors for use in the classroom. In an effort provide less expensive units that could make up a class set of detectors, Notre Dame QuarkNet teacher Dan Kallenberg of Adams High School had spearheaded the construction of several Cosmic Watches during the summer of 2019. In 2020, just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cecire and Kallenberg, along with collaborator Joel Klammer, were part of an "Accel Kitchen" workshop held at the Hiroo Gakuen school in Tokyo where they performed Cosmic Watch experiments and demonstrations. In 2022, Kallenberg, with help from Senior Technician Daniel Ruggiero and summer students, built 48 Cosmic Watches that would be provided to local and national QuarkNet teachers for testing. Miki Ohtsuka, a visiting teacher from Waseda Honjo Senior High School in Japan, also contributed to the 2022 summer session and cosmic watch construction. In 2023, testing of the Cosmic Watches was performed by high school students Maggie Karban of the Trinity School at Greenlawn and Rowan McNeely of New Prairie High School in New Carlisle, Indiana. Testing involved using stacked Cosmic Watches in order to determine coincidence rates where both detectors are triggered, measuring the angle of particle hits from the zenith, and measuring cosmic ray hits when detectors are separated vertically. Other projects involved taking detectors and performing measurements on different floors of two buildings on the Notre Dame campus.

=== ASP workshop ===
In 2024, the Notre Dame QuarkNet Center participated in the African School of Fundamental Physics and Applications (ASP) biennial workshop in Morocco. The ASP hosted about 80 African undergraduate and graduate students for a two-week workshop. Ken Cecire traveled to Morocco to help with the workshop. Cecire had meant to attend in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic had halted the trip. Cecire shared several hands-on demonstrations of particle physics and probability concepts. QuarkNet staff teacher Shane Wood recalled his participation in a recent ASP activity and how he was struck by the similarities and challenges of teaching students in Africa and the United States.

=== Post-2023 funding ===
QuarkNet funding was up for renewal in 2023. Mitch Wayne submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2022 seeking to renew QuarkNet funding for another five-year period. In his January 2023 presentation to the QuarkNet Advisory Board Meeting, Wayne noted that the program had supported its teachers full time even during the COVID-19 pandemic. The NSF agreed to a three-year funding extension. According to the NSF program officer, reducing the program from five to three years was a "shot across the bow." The main issue was the perceived lack of discussion in the proposal to address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) among students and teachers in the QuarkNet program. At the May 2025 QuarkNet Advisory Board Meeting, a discussion was held concerning Trump administration cuts to NSF science education in-progress grants. In particular, the potential for 50% cuts in funding along with the viability of hosting QuarkNet for 2026 was addressed. If the 2026 year couldn't be funded, ways to "gracefully/effectively" close out the program were discussed.

== See also ==
Notre Dame College of Science

== References ==

== External links ==
Notre Dame QuarkNet Center (NDQC)
Notre Dame College of Science, Notre Dame QuarkNet Center
Google Site: Notre Dame QuarkNet Center
I2U2 e-Labs
YouTube: TheDVT3