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Astronomy, etc. were discussed. The hands-on sessions for the analysis of solar data, conducted in the afternoons, were guided by Sreejith Padhinjatteri, Abhishek Rajhans, and Vishal Upendran (all from IUCAA). The many questions which the participants asked, and the long discussions which ensued after each session were the highlights of the workshop. The feedback from the students indicated that they were highly appreciative of the systematically structured lecture sessions, the interesting and educative hands-on sessions, and also of the excellent arrangements for the workshop including the different ethnic food varieties during the workshop. The participants visited Wayanad on the last day afternoon with nostalgic memories of the evergreen forests and the exotic views of the place, and with an enhanced knowledge of the Sun, 'the star in our backyard'. The programme was coordinated by Durgesh Tripathi, and Joe Jacob. The local organising committee constituted for the workshop was headed by Sreejith C.S., with Shibina. T., Jayesh George, Fibin Varghese, Sunil John, Joby N.G., PramodK.S., and BijuK.G. as themembers. Indian Association of Physics Teachers – Under-Graduate Camp in Physics and Astronomy BITS-Pilani, K.K. Birla Goa Campus organized a Winter Camp in Physics and Astronomy, during December 19 – 22, 2019. The Indian Association of Physics Teachers – Under-Graduate Camp in Physics (IAPT – UGCP), was jointly funded by IUCAA;IAPT, Kanpur; IAPT – Goa Regional Council (GRC); and BITS – Pilani, Goa Campus. It was primarily targeted towards under- graduate students pursuing their final year BSc in Physics. Students from among the top 40 in the national level merit list of NGP Examinees of January 2019, and students in the top 3rd or 4th rank from seven colleges in Goa were selected to attend this camp. Forty-two students attended the camp, of which 16 were from all over India and 26 were from the Colleges in Goa. In addition, there were PhD students, and a couple of faculty members from Carmel College, Goa also attended the camp partially. The inaugural function was graced by Ramesh Pai (formerly from the Department of Physics, Goa University) as the Chief Guest. As he is the President of the IAPT – GRC, he spoke about the various activities in Go a . Ka n d a swamy Su b r ama n i a n , D i p a n k a r Bhattacharya (both from IUCAA), and Arun V. Kulkarni (Department of Physics, BITS -Pilani, Goa Campus) also spoke. They laid out in detail the aims and objectives of the camp, which was to bring meritorious students in contact with active Physics and Astronomy researchers, teachers from Institutions of Eminence, and also to get the participants excited enough to choosing careers in Physics andAstronomy. K.S. Kannan (BITS – Pilani, Goa Campus delivered the vote of thanks. The resource persons covered wide variety of topics in their lectures, not necessarily found in a typical BSc curriculum. Topics covered by the IUCAA resource persons included, IntroductoryAstronomy (4 lectures) by Di panka r Bha t t a cha r ya , F l u i d Dynami c s and Magnetohydrodynamics in Astrophysics (3 lectures) by Kandaswamy Subramanian, and Relativity Theory and the Twin Paradox (3 lectures) by Aseem Paranjape. Topics covered by BITS faculty members included, Theory of Lasers (2 lectures) by Prasad Naik, Quantum Measurement Theory (2 lectures) by Radhika Vathsan, Method of Images in Electrostatics and Magneto-statics (2 lectures) byArun V. Kulkarni, andAtomic and Optical Physics (1 lectures) by Raghunath Ratabole. In addition, there were lectures by the faculty members of the Department of Physics, BITS – Pilani, Goa Campus. Raghurama G. (Director, BITS - Pilani, Goa Campus), who happens to be a physicist, also addressed the participants briefly and offered useful career advice to the students. No. 121 - January 2020 15

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