Summer winds down for the 2010 SPS Interns
From working on Capitol Hill to preparing science kits for middle school students, the 12 SPS summer interns have been busy! They gave their closing presentations at the home of SPS National, the American Center for Physics, on Tuesday, August 3rd. To see their introductions, journals, and photos, visit the 2010 Intern Page.

Intros & Journals | Photos & Video | About the Program | Previous Interns

SPS Outstanding Students to attend ICPS in Graz, Austria
The 2010 SPS Outstanding Students Award recipients, Anya Burkart, from Creighton University, and Daniel Glass, from Elon University (pictured here), will represent the United States and SPS and present their research at the 2010 International Conference of Physics Students (ICPS), August 17-23, 2010, in Graz, Austria. Expenses for transportation, room, board, and meeting registration will be paid by SPS and it's parent organization, the American Institute of Physics.

Award Details | 2010 ICPS Website

Laser Fist Bump: Taming Photons Since 1960

In the Spring issue, we continue our celebration of LaserFest not only with a laser fist bump, but also with an examination of how SPS members are actually using lasers in their research (see page 10). Plus, there’s a follow-up on outcomes from the 2008 Sigma Pi Sigma Congress; features on SPS awards, meetings, and outreach; a behind-the-scenes look at the sitcom “Big Bang Theory,” and much more.

Read more | Laserfest website | SPS 2010: Exciting the Imagination

 

What is Involved in Getting a Ph.D. Abroad?
Find out first-hand from SPS member Anna Quider, a third year graduate student in astrophysics at the University of Cambridge, UK. Anna is blogging about her experiences as an American-trained student working towards a physics Ph.D in the United Kingdom. Her goal is to give US physics students an idea of what it’s like to study abroad for a graduate degree, as she knew very little about life as an international grad student before she became one.

Meet Anna | Read the Blog | More student publications

SciGirls aims to change how girls think about science
Every girl can be a SciGirl with a groundbreaking new TV show and interactive website that will transform the way tween girls look at science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The empowering series has the right formula to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers with an engaging combination of actual girls exploring real-world science and math alongside successful female mentors in the field – plus an online destination unlike any other where young viewers can share their own exciting ideas and projects. Why not look for ways to incorporate SciGirls in your SPS outreach activities?

Watch an Episode of SciGirls | Resources for Teachers | Resources for Parents

Lasers and Social Media are Hot in Portland
Unseasonably cool weather in Portland, OR, was a welcome relief from soaring summer temperatures on the East Coast for SPS national office staff and several SPS Interns, Shane Allison, Linda Henneberg, Jasdeep Maggo, and Foha Rafiq, who attended the AAPT Summer Meeting, July 17-21. So what was hot in Portland?

SPS Intern Foha Rafiq: A Glimpse into the World of Physics Teachers

Does That Involve Acoustics?
By John Boyle, Brigham Young University
Acoustics is HUGE and endlessly interesting. I enjoyed this conference because of the inherent interdisciplinary nature of every presentation and field of research. On paper, relatively few attendees could claim the title Acoustician or Professor of Acoustics. Musicians, surgeons, micro-biologists, marine biologists, geologists, linguists, engineers, federal crash investigators, shipbuilders, audiologists, you name it, they were at the conference.

LaserFest at Southern Miss
The 2010 SPS Zone 10 Meeting was held on March 26-27, 2010 on the Hattiesburg campus of the University of Southern Mississippi. LaserFest at Southern Miss was chosen as the meeting theme to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the laser. The meeting included a plenary lecture on "Lasers and Their Applications" by Dr. Brian Patterson of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Dr. Patterson gave a spectacular presentation on the history of the laser, how it works, and various Air Force projects that make use of lasers, such as the Starfire Optical Range and the Airborne Laser.

The 2009 AGU Fall Meeting
By Michael Towle, University of Memphis
Before I attended the Fall 2009 Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), my professors and fellow graduate students who had attended AGU in previous years gushed about how big it was. Sure, the official website stated that over 16,000 geophysicists would present their research. My mind has trouble processing and visualizing large numbers on a sheet of paper, so I thought, “How big could this rodeo actually get?” Upon arriving at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, I immediately discovered that AGU was incomprehensibly epic in scale.

Putting a New Face on Physics
By Krystle Williams, 2007-08 SPS National Council
"What will the physics community look like 10 years from now? What should it look like? With the adoption of the theme “Future Faces of Physics,” these are the questions the Society of Physics Students (SPS) is encouraging you to ask yourself."

SPS Council member Krystle Williams brings SPS's 2008 theme Future Faces of Physics to Symmetry readers. Symmetry is a magazine about particle physics and its connections to other aspects of life and science, from interdisciplinary collaborations to policy to culture. It is published by Fermilab and Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

Read Krystle's article in Symmetry | SPS Future Faces of Physics Initiative

Future Faces of Physics Jeopardy
With the theme Future Faces of Physics, (FFP) SPS is raising visibility and focus on issues of student diversity in physics. Future Faces of Physics Jeopardy is centered on this theme...try it out with friends or at your next SPS meeting!

If you would like to request a free FFP meeting kit that includes the Jeopardy game, please contact SPS. You can also compile your own kit.

Play FFP Jeopardy | FFP Meeting Kit

The first man-made nuclear explosion
By L. Worth Seagondollar, Co-Founder of SPS and Professor Emeritus, North Carolina State University
This talk describes one of the greatest war-time experiences possible for a young graduate student in the 1940's, including an eye-witness account of the Trinity Test in the New Mexico desert. Near-catastrophic accidents, working with armed guards watching, Enrico Fermi asking you to come to his office—these are unforgettable adventures.

Full Transcript | Video Highlights

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