Physics classes across an ocean
CEVALE2VE: Venezuelan physicists abroad teaching students at home by videoconference, and what grew out of it.
A classroom with five instructors
Most of us had left Venezuela to train and intended to come back. CEVALE2VE was a way to come back before coming back: a virtual centre where Venezuelan physicists working at CERN and in institutes abroad taught courses by videoconference to students at universities in the country.
A session had one instructor, but colleagues joined from several countries to answer questions and expand a point; a reporter from BBC Mundo who attended a class in Caracas noted that five in one classroom was already a crowd. For the students it was physics, and also the sight of other Venezuelans doing it in the best laboratories in the world.
Exhibit 1DiagramRead left to right
Physicists abroad, students at home
One video call joined people in several countries to a classroom in Venezuela. What came out of it is listed on the right.
What grew out of it
The report records a participant who, after the first course, went on to study particle physics and obtained an internship at CERN in 2015. We presented the project at the ICHEP conference in 2016. Two years later the same thread led to ATLAS Open Data in Venezuelan classrooms and to a master’s thesis defended across three countries.
Looking at it from 2026, CEVALE2VE is the first version of something I keep building: a network of people who are far apart, a shared set of tools, and a reason to meet every week. The young researchers’ network I now serve, and CoAfina, are its descendants.
Exhibit 2TimelineFilled points are my milestones; hollow points are the context they sit in
A thread, 2015 to 2018
- 2015A participant reaches CERNAfter the first course, one student took up particle physics and obtained an internship at CERN.Source
- 2016CEVALE2VE at ICHEPSource
- 2017Caracas: the course explained at the French Embassy6 October 2017, with the ambassador, Franco-Venezuelan institutions and the directors of the UCV and USB physics schools: two years of courses with credits at UCV, ULA and USB, also followed at IVIC and in Colombia.Source
- 2018ATLAS Open Data in Venezuelan classroomsTeaching with real data, and a thesis defended across three countries.Source
Exhibit 3PeopleCredit where the work was shared
People
- Reina CamachoCo-founder of CEVALE2VE.
Exhibit 4ResourcesOpen the thing itself, not a description of it
Where to go from here
- ArticleBBC Mundo report on CEVALE2VE, republished by La Naciónlanacion.com.ar
- TalkCEVALE2VE presentation at ICHEP, 2016indico.cern.ch
- ProfileATLAS author biography naming me co-founder of CEVALE2VEatlas.cern
- ArticleSociedad Franco Venezolana de Ingenieros y Científicos, 2017: the embassy meeting where the online course was presentedsfvic.wordpress.com