Student Perspectives on Physics Meetings

Regional Meetings

Recently Featured Articles

SPS Zone Meetings

The Society of Physics Students (SPS) chapters are divided into 18 geographic zones, and many zones hold meetings each year. SPS offers support at a level of $500 for SPS chapters hosting a zone meeting. Learn more on the “Host a Zone Meeting” page.

Zone 3: Kutztown University, April 2010
Guest speakers on computer programming, organic and inorganic IZO transistors, and research on the Photometry of interacting binary stars

Zone 5: Elon University, Elon, NC, April 2010
Host Chapter Report: Dr. Wolfgang Ketterle speaks "Super fluidity near absolute zero temperatures"

Zone 5: Elon University, Elon, NC, April 2010
SPS Reporter: Graduate school and career opportunity panels, poster sessions, and a lecture on nuclear energy

Zone 10: Southern Mississippi, March 2010
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the laser with "LaserFest at Southern Miss"

Zone 11: Coe College, April 2010
Einsteins life and ethics, physics & research demos, and judging the Iowa Science Olympiad

Zone 16: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, March 2010
Physics volleyball, a night at the observatory, student research, equivariant bifurcation theory, and equipping local communities with physics

Zone 17: Pacific University, Forest Grove, OR, April 2010
Roundtable discussions and presentations on chapter strategies, "Hidden Physicist," and a tour of TriQuint Semiconductor

Zone 18: University of California at Davis, April 2010
A Rubens Tube & the speed of sound, spaghetti towers, Prof. Raymond Chia, and atom smashers

National Meetings

The Society of Physics Students (SPS) offers travel support at a level of $200 for SPS chapters or individual students reporting on a national physics meeting for SPS, and similar levels of support for individuals presenting research at SPS-sponsored sessions at national physics meetings. Learn more about: SPS Reporter Awards | SPS Travel Awards

Recently Featured Articles

2010 AAPT Summer Meeting
		Lasers and Social Media are Hot in Portland By Tracy Schwab, SPS Communications Coordinator Unseasonably cool weather in Portland, OR, was a welcome relief from soaring summer temperatures on the East Coast for SPS national office staff and SPS Interns, Shane Allison, Linda Henneberg, Jasdeep Maggo, and Foha Rafiq. So what was hot in Portland?

		A Glimpse into the World of Physics Teachers By SPS intern Foha Rafiq, University of Denver Being part of the SPS internship program came with many added bonuses. As I am one of the “outreach interns” I was able to attend the 2010 Summer Meeting of AAPT in Portland, Oregon.

Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
		Does That Involve Acoustics? Joint 159th ASA Meeting and Noise-Con 2010 By John Boyle, Brigham Young University Acoustics is HUGE and endlessly interesting. Musicians, surgeons, micro-biologists, marine biologists, geologists, linguists, engineers, federal crash investigators, shipbuilders, audiologists, you name it, they were at this conference.

2010 APS & AAPT Joint Meeting
		Particle Physics, Climate Change, and Dinner with Vera Rubin By Leigha Dickens, University of North Carolina at Asheville Energy and climate science, women and minorities in physics, and dinner with Vera Rubin.

		Where Ideas Meet By Katie Foote, Providence College Attending sessions, networking with faculty and visiting with graduate students, and interviewing the 2010 Excellence in Physics Education Awardee Ronald Thornton of Tufts University.

		Highlights from Washington By Erin Lease, Kutztown University Meeting students from all over the world, learning about efferts to revitalize STEM education, and learning how to advocate for science locally, regionally, and nationally

		One Neutrino’s Trip to Washington D.C. By David Neto, Rhode Island College An entire hotel filled with physicists, sessions on the Larege Hadron Collider (LHC), dark energy, and kind words of advice to an aspiring physicist.

American Astronomical Society (AAS)
		Welcoming 2010 with the 215th AAS Meeting By Christopher Mullins, University of North Texas Brushing elbows with some of the brightest minds in physics, and undergraduate research experiences far too vast to be adequately summarized on a mounted piece of cardboard.

		Taking it all in: The 215th AAS Meeting By Joshua Fuchs, Rhodes College With around 3500 attendees, the 215th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) was the largest astronomy meeting in history.

International Meetings

The Society of Physics Students (SPS) offers travel support for two students to represent SPS and the United States at the International Conference of Physics Students (ICPS), an annual conference of the International Association of Physics Students (IAPS). This is facilitated through the SPS Outstanding Student Award for Undergraduate Research.

Winners receive a $500 honorarium and a $500 award for their SPS Chapter, as well as expenses for transportation, room, board, and registration for the ICPS. In addition, winners are invited to give their research presentation at an SPS Research Session at a national meeting.

In addition, SPS Reporter Awards are occaisonally granted to SPS members reporting from other international meetings.

Recently Featured Articles

2009 Marshall Scholar Reunion and Symposium (California Institute of Technology)
		Space Exploration and Climate Change: An Introduction and Interdisciplinary Discussion by Anna M. Quider, University of Cambridge Many generations of Marshall Scholars, space exploration and climate change.

COSMO '09 (International Conference on Particle Physics and Cosmology, Geneva, Switzerland)
		COSMO '09: Where the Subatomic Meets the Extragalactic by Scott V. Burger, Western Washington University Studying in London, science at CERN, Stephen Hawking on “The Spontaneous Creation of Universes,” and presenting my cosmology research.

2009 ICPS (International Conference of Physics Students)
		XXIV International Conference of Physics Students \| Photo Album by Joshua Fuchs, Rhodes College Traveling to Croatia, amazing guest lectures, presenting my research on “Binary Orbital Motion of Electrically Charged Spheres in Weightlessness,” and making friends from all over the world.

		International Conference of Physics Students by Gabriel Caceres, Augustana College 500 physics students from around the world, meeting a famous astrophysicist, and invitations to return to Europe.