May 29, 2008

Greetings!

Whether you’ve just finished finals or just starting them, take a break to ponder some of the items below…

On a personal note, we’re coming up on our 20th wedding anniversary this week (and over 13 years of wedded bliss, as Susan likes to joke---hey! Two out of three ain’t bad!); that wooshing sound you hear is us high-tailing it out of the DC rat-race to some bucolic setting where we can ruminate on ruminants…or something like that…so if my writing seems a little rushed, you’ll know why.

Take care,
Gary

1) Wanted: Assistant Editors for The Nucleus this summer---$250 stipend…If you’ve already seen what The Nucleus has to offer, you’re a good candidate; if you haven’t, check it out and see if you are interested (see waaaay below for details)…

2) Wanted: Chapter reports, with pictures! Email ‘em, snailmail ’em, ponyexpress ‘em… Whatever works for you---we want to know about what you chapter pulled off this year…and it’s true that a picture is worth a thousand words.

3) Check out the student ethics resources on the SPS website...

…and an interesting case study on tenure issues that your professor might face, for example: http://www.spsnational.org/governance/ethics/tenure.pdf

4) On-line tutoring is a challenge, especially in physics…but tutors are needed---so be a tutor, get paid, and feel good, http://www.tutor.com/apply

Already, over 100 SPS members have started the tutor sign-up process---keep it going, I think it's worth it, and so do the others that are now tutors. So, be an on-line physics tutor; it's the perfect part-time physics job!---SPS has partnered with Tutor.com to bring better physics to more students across the country. If you're interested in becoming an on-line physics or math tutor, apply at http://www.tutor.com/apply/

5) Trying to decide on a grad school? Wondering where to look for your first physics job? Need a mentor for that hard career decision? http://www.mentornet.net/

SPS has expanded it's partnership with MentorNet so that now all SPS student members can be partnered with a mentor regardless of which school they attend! If you want to bounce things off of an experienced mentor for a few months or more, check out MentorNet and the new partnership arrangement with SPS, http://www.mentornet.net/

If you’re in a position to serve as a Mentor, even better, they are looking for a few good scientists!

6) And if you’re from New York…or New Jersey, or anywhere, really… here are a couple of items that might interest you…

Dear NY SPS Members,

We are writing you today to ask that you sign up as a member of the New York State Section of the American Physical Society (NYSSAPS). When you became a member of SPS, you had a choice of joining a Member Society of your choice. If you chose the APS (American Physical Society), you might not have known that there is a section in New York State which you could join at no charge.

The main activity of the NYS Section is to present a topically specific symposium each semester. This semester we co-presented a symposium at Cornell University entitled Accelerator Physics. Eighty one undergraduate students from colleges and universities across New York State attended. Seventeen of them presented research posters that were judged and we gave out $600.00. Furthermore, we subsidize the attendance of students at these symposia. We help pay for transportation and lodging costs. Banquet tickets are half price. There are no registration costs for student attendees.

We would like to encourage more student participation at these symposia. We would like to increase the cash awards for research posters. Our problem is that there are a large number of SPS or Sigma Pi Sigma students we do not know about. If we could get them to join the NYSSAPS at no cost, they would get advance notice of our meetings, a direct line to apply for student support, and the ability to plan well in advance to attend a symposium where the topics are very current and the internationally renowned speakers are informed that the largest component of the audience is undergraduates.

Enrolling in the NYSSAPS is extremely simple. You can join online or email your request to membership@aps.org. To join online, you will need to use your APS web username and password or create one before you join. Go to http://www.aps.org/membership/units/join-unit.cfm and either select “Join an APS Unit Online” or “Need APS Web Username?” To create a web account, you will need your APS id number which is on the APS News or Physics Today mailing label above your name.
Joining is easy and free. Please consider doing this and we hope to see a large number of you in Corning next fall when Corning Glass will be hosting the symposium - Optics and Materials Science, a Celebration of Corning’s 100 Years in Research.

Sincerely yours,
Gary White and The NYSSAPS Executive Board

And now finally for the last item…
New Jersey Representative seeks Legislative Assistant interested in working to develop science-based initiatives and long-term projects related to science. An ideal candidate should have excellent written and verbal communication skills, creativity, a desire to be proactive, a positive attitude, a good sense of humor, a proven ability to prioritize, as well as an ability to work well in a fast paced, team-oriented environment. A degree in the physical sciences is preferred. Other legislative duties will be subject to a candidate's experience, qualifications, and office requirements. Salary is commensurate with experience. Please forward résumé, two writing samples and three references to NJ12ResumeInbox@mail.house.gov.

More details about Assistant Editors, finally!!!!
Are you interested in making a more significant contribution to The Nucleus? We are looking for interested students to work as Assistant Editors in the collection. The Assistant Editors will be responsible for keeping things running on the site, as well as generating traffic. We are looking for people interested in working in the following areas:

Scholarships Clearinghouse
Research Opportunities Clearinghouse
Outreach and science demos/SOCKs,
Student Clubs,
Future Faces of Physics,
Book Resources,
Lounge Development, and
Blogging.

Associate Editors will receive a $250.00 stipend for work over the summer or during a long semester of the academic year. We are looking to fill positions immediately for the summer, 2008 term. Anyone who is interested should send an e-mail, indicating interest and qualifications, to editor@the-nucleus.org. Please indicate your top three preferences from the list above…even more (tentative) details follow…

Nucleus Assistant Editor Job Descriptions

All assistant editors would be expected to participate weekly in discussion forums of their choosing. In addition, they would each be responsible for one of the areas and associated duties outlined below. Assistant editors will be expected to document all of their activity and report their activity to the collection editor at the end of each month via email.

Assistant editors are strongly encouraged to investigate how tools such as YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, blogs, podcasts, videos, Second Life, etc. could be used in addressing the needs outlined below. The assistant editor might also recruit students/special guests to host discussion threads.

Assistant editors would receive $250.00 per semester, students would be expected to act as assistant editors through the end of the summer, with re-appointment during the 2008-09 possible for effective assistant editors.

Outreach / SOCKs (SPS Outreach Catalyst Kits)
Assistant editors would be responsible for recruiting students/chapters to host discussion threads related to outreach activities. For example, chapters that have won Outstanding Chapter Awards for their outreach programs could be asked to host an outreach advice thread, a SOCK user could host a thread on how to use the SOCK, etc. The moderator would also be responsible for investigating how the Lounge could assess and address student/chapter needs related to SPS outreach activities.

Research Opportunities
The research opportunity search is one of the most popular features on the site. The assistant editor would be responsible for investigating how students that visit the site only for the research opportunity search could be made aware of the other features the site has to offer. In addition, he or she would be responsible for recruiting students to post about their research experiences and to host a discussion thread for students thinking about applying for research experiences.

Scholarships
The assistant editor would be responsible for investigating how students that visit the site only for the scholarship listing could be made aware of the other features the site has to offer. The assistant editor would be expected to add five new scholarships to the database each semester. The assistant editor would also be responsible for investigating how the site could assess and address students needs related to SPS scholarships and monetary needs.

Student Clubs
The assistant editor would be responsible for assessing the number and use of the SPS chapter threads and identifying their value. In addition, he or she would be responsible for investigating the presence of SPS on Facebook and MySpace and recommending to the Nucleus committee whether (and if so, how) SPS national should take advantage of this presence. The assistant editor would also be responsible for investigating how the site could assess and address students needs related to local SPS communication needs.

Future Faces of Physics
The assistant editor would be responsible for assessing how the “Future Faces of Physics” theme could be represented and promoted through the Nucleus. The assistant editor might recruit students/special guests to host discussion threads on diversity-related issues, suggest diversity-related contests to the editor, etc. The assistant editor would also be responsible for investigating how the site could assess and address diversity issues.

Book Resources
The assistant editor would be responsible for integrating new book resources into the collection. This would include integrating existing metadata, assisting in the re-design of the book section, and soliciting and/or writing reviews.

Lounge Development
The assistant editor would be responsible for the continuing development of the Lounge section of the collection. This would include the development of new polls, contests, and challenge problems, as well as ideas for integrating blogs, Facebook, YouTube, etc. into the Lounge.

Blogger
The assistant editor would be responsible for maintaining a blog on the collection. Topics for the blog would be cleared by the collection editor.

Gary White
Director, Sigma Pi Sigma and Society of Physics Students
Assistant Director of Education
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse
College Park, MD 20740
Tel: 301-209-3007
FAX: 301-209-0839