A number of workshops will take place in the afternoon of Thursday, August 10th. Information about the proposed activities will be updated at this page as we get closer to August.

ICPS participants will be asked to register for one workshop upon their arrival in Turin, hence we encourage participants to consider their preferences beforehand.


Web workshop COMSOL

COMSOL Multiphysics® is a finite element analysis package which allows the study of physical processes where coupled phenomena are of particular interest.

During ICPS 2017, will host two interactive web workshops in multiphysics simulation. During the first session, you will see the capabilities and workflow of the COMSOL Multiphysics® software. The second session will be focused on High-Frequency Electromagnetics modeling, as an example of more advanced applications.

You will leave with new skills to work on your own applications using a free two-week COMSOL Multiphysics® trial that will be made available to you once you get to Turin.

We recommend you to install your free two-week trial license of the COMSOL Multiphysics® software as soon as it is made available to you and to bring your laptop to the event, in order to get the most out of it. Unable to bring a laptop to the workshop? No worries; you can still follow along with the demonstrations.

During this web workshop, we will discuss:

Intro to COMSOL Multiphysics®

  • Get an introduction to the capabilities and the fundamental modeling workflow of COMSOL Multiphysics®
  • Watch a live presentation of the entire analysis process via a practical example
  • See how quick and easy it is to turn your sophisticated model into a specialized application that any engineer can use

Modeling High-Frequency Electromagnetics

  • Modeling techniques applicable to antennas, waveguides, cavities, and filters
  • Microwave and laser heating
  • Photonics, plasmonics, and metamaterials
  • Ray tracing through optical systems

In order to take part in this workshop, please register at this page.

You can download the slides here and here.


Arduino Microcontrollers Workshop

This session will offer an opportunity to learn about Arduino microcontrollers, which originated in the town of Ivrea– not far from the city of Turin!

Arduino is an open source company that produces both hardware and software allowing the construction of digital devices with interactive (sensing) capabilities. Arduino boards are internationally applauded as ideal means to learn about microcontrollers and general programming in electronic applications.

During this workshop at ICPS 2017, we will have a number of Arduino kits for groups of participants to practice. Download of the Arduino software is free and available at this website.

ICPS participants who wish to take part in this workshop are encouraged to explore the material at the page above prior to the event; however, the workshop will also provide an opportunity to learn about Arduino from scratch for those who prefer!


Getting to grips with Unix and the Linux family

Linux operating systems are dominant in scientific research and their differences with more user-friendly commercial operating systems can be discouraging for newcomers. In this workshop we will try to bridge the gap between common personal computing and basics of Unix-like systems.

At this end of this session, you can expect:

  • To have an overview of the history of computer science
  • To understand the general functioning and similarities of Unix-like systems
  • To be able to distinguish the features of different Linux distributions
  • To be able to use basic Linux commands
  • To know how to build your own operating system
  • To hack the NSA
  • To produce the worst software bug EVER

For the purposes of this workshop, installation of a Linux distribution on a personal laptop is recommended, but not necessary: participants will be able to simply follow the workshop activities if they wish, even though hands-on practice is strongly encouraged. Guides to install a Linux operating system on a personal laptop can be found all over the internet; for complete beginners we would recommend Linux Mint (Cinnamon Edition), which can be downloaded here and installed following the official documentation.

Disclaimer: ICPS organizers will not be able to help with installations, as they are not qualified (nor paid) to take any risk on someone else’s computer. However, you should have no trouble going through the above tutorial by yourself!

Are you already familiar with Linux and you would like to share your experiences? The workshop organizers would love to hear from you! We would appreciate hands-on demonstrators for this session. Please email Giulio to express interest in volunteering.

You can download the slides, the challenge problems and their solutions.


A Glimpse of Data Science Applications with AizoOn

Why should a physicist be interested in data science? On the one hand, physics and data science are longtime partners: statistics, data visualization and sometimes also machine learning are used to understand the results of every scientific experiment, from laboratory classes during undergraduate education to experiments at CERN. The more complex and bigger the experiment, the more challenging and intriguing it becomes to mine the results and discover patterns. On the other hand, physicists have the mathematical knowledge and scientific mindset which allows to find solutions to the complex problems that industries face in order to advance their business. In this workshop the AizoOn data science team will present several practical cases they worked on and you will be able to get a taste of the process that translates a business problem into a Data Science one.


Scientific Publishing from an Editor’s Point of View

By Andrea Taroni – Chief Editor, Nature Physics

Sharing scientific results is an important and challenging part of a physicist’s work. In this session, Dr. Taroni will share his experience in scientific publishing as part of one of the largest scientific publishing companies in our field.

What are the elements that a high-quality journal looks for in submitted articles? Quality is certainly the main criterion, but it is also important to explain the results clearly, keeping in mind what is the expected audience.

Dr. Taroni will illustrate good practices for the submission of scientific articles, also sharing his personal views on the editorial process. The talk will be followed by a Q&A session open to ICPS participants and researchers from the University of Turin and the Polytechnic of Turin.