September 10, 2008
Greetings, honor society members!
Did you know that you can register now for the Sigma Pi Sigma Congress?
You can sign up for the art contest or submit an abstract to present a poster at the meeting?
Be a citizen scientist, join us at the Sigma Pi Sigma Congress!
Make a difference using your physics background and your Sigma Pi Sigma membership by choosing from the three option below---after that reflect on two following opportunities that you also might find interesting.
So, take one (or more) from menu A and one from menu B---for the low, low price of zero dollars! Details follow below,
Take care,
Gary
Menu A
- Participate in the Sigma Pi Sigma Congress at FermiLab, Nov. 6-8, 2008.
- Be adopted! High-school classrooms learn what a day in the life of a physics-trained professional is like, see www.AdoptaPhysicist.org
- Virtual mentors for college science students needed today, www.mentornet.net
Menu B
- Check out this new, free on-line publication, "Physics"
- Physics BS jobs at LIGO! http://www2.recruitingcenter.net/clients/CalTech/publicjobs/controller.cfm?jbaction=JobProfile&Job_Id=14492&esid=az
and
http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/LIGO_web/sidebar/employment.html
- And check out other physics Bachelor's jobs on the SPS website thru Physics Today Career Network.
Gary White
Director, Society of Physics Students
Sigma Pi Sigma Director and Associate Director of Education
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse
College Park, MD 20740
Tel: 301-209-3013
Fax: 301-209-0839
Here are the details:
1) It's a rare physics meeting that brings together students, faculty, and physicists who have moved into other sectors of the real world, and the Congress does better than most!
Hear Nobelist Leon Lederman on scientific citizenship, Margaret Murnane on her path to cutting edge optical science, and Fred Jerome and Rodger Taylor on Einstein and racism.
Participate by mapping your own career trajectory in the poster sessions, submitting a photograph into the art contest, or voting on the recommendations for The Society during the citizenship workshops.
Read more about the Congress here. Your chapter can apply to be SPS Reporters and get some travel funding. The Sigma Pi Sigma Congress...It promises to be the physics event of 2008
If you are planning to attend as a Sigma Pi Sigma alumnus, now is a great time to contact your chapter and see how things are going, and to volunteer as a "One & One" voting delegate at the Congress. If you'd like current contact information for your chapter, please write to Kendra Rand at krand@aip.org.
-The One & One Campaign-
At the Congress, attendees will formulate recommendations for action by the Society and its members on issues of scientific citizenship. These will be taken to a vote of endorsement. Each chapter in attendance will receive up to two votes, ideally one vote to a student delegate and one vote to an alumnus delegate. Therefore, all chapters are encouraged to send a minimum of "One & One" to the 2008 Congress, one student and one alumnus. Of course, every chapter should send as many students and alumni as possible to engage the important questions of scientific citizenship!
For more on the "One & One" Campaign and the latest meeting information, please visit: http://www.sigmapisigma.org/congress/2008/
2) Adopt-a-Physicist is lead by Kendra Rand, SPS Program Coordinator---here is her take on this really cool program:
As you know, today's physicists aren't cookie-cutter Einsteins, constantly bent over notebooks or blackboards. Many people with physics degrees are "hidden" physicists that work outside of a traditional lab or university setting. Today's physicist degree holders are professors, journalists, computer programmers, engineers, mothers, fathers, and rock climbers from a variety of backgrounds.
Adopt-a-Physicist aims to introduce high school physics students to the variety of options open to people with degrees in physics (bachelor's degrees or higher), and give students a chance to interact with "real" people that have physics degrees. It does this by connecting high school classes with physics graduates via online message boards for a 3-week period. In this supervised forum students and physicists can talk freely about careers, school, work, and more. The Fall 2008 session will take place Sept. 29 - Oct. 17.
If you're interested in participating in this program, sign up to be "adopted" as a physicist today! Spaces are limited and fill up quickly. http://www.adoptaphysicist.org/
Kendra Rand, SPS Program Coordinator
3) Virtual mentors needed now! Sigma Pi Sigma has partnered with MentorNet, the experts in science career advice; see http://www.mentornet.net/
Do you have what it takes to be a mentor of physics students? MentorNet is the award-winning nonprofit e-mentoring network that addresses the retention and success of those in engineering, science and mathematics, particularly but not exclusively women and other underrepresented groups. Founded in 1997, MentorNet provides highly motivated protΘgΘs from many of the world's top colleges and universities with positive, one-on-one, email-based mentoring relationships with mentors from industry and academia. In addition, the MentorNet Community provides opportunities to connect with others from around the world who are interested in diversifying engineering and science.
Established in your career? Then sign up to be a mentor today; make sure and mention your Sigma Pi Sigma membership...
Just starting out? Then see what MentorNet has to offer you below...
What Does MentorNet Offer?
The MentorNet Community, where members can take advantage of:
MentorNet's award-winning One-on-One Mentoring Programs, pairing community college, undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs and untenured faculty with mentors for email-based mentoring relationships.
The MentorNet E-Forum: web-based discussion groups for anyone interested in topics such as Work/Life Balance, Job Searching, and Graduate School.
Resources for and about mentoring, diversity, and careers in engineering and science.
A Resume Database for students seeking jobs or internships.
MentorNet Results
The first and largest program of its kind, MentorNet takes mentoring to a higher level. Backed by an extensive network of some of some of the world's largest companies, top colleges and universities, and professional societies, MentorNet pairs protΘgΘs and mentors from all 50 U.S. states and 55 countries on 6 continents.
Sigma Pi Sigma is proud to partner with MentorNet; let me know what you think!
4) Check out this message from the APS Editor- in-Chief below, about this new on-line publication, Physics:
****************************************************************
Dear SPS Member,
I'm writing to make you aware of a new, free, online publication of
the American Physical Society, called "Physics" http://physics.aps.org.
Every week, APS publishes almost 400 articles, each being of interest
to a large or small group of physicists. It is easy to overlook an
important article, and many papers are written at a level that only
experts can understand. In "Physics" we select a few outstanding
articles each week, and invite an expert to write an introductory
piece, called a "Viewpoint", that explains the context and background
of the selected article. This helps non-specialists and students to
understand and appreciate the new research article. If you get
interested and want to read the original journal article, we also make
it free to download from the "Physics" website. "Physics" also
includes condensed review articles, called "Trends", that explain a
field or area in which there has recently been a lot of research, and
point out what is interesting about the field and where it might go
with further work. "Synopses" of other important articles in our
journals are written by our editors to highlight papers that they feel
have special importance or interest.
We have developed "Physics" with students in mind. Many of you have
only recently joined the physics community, and may not have chosen a
field for further study. The "Viewpoint" and "Trend" articles can
help you to learn, not from a textbook, but from what active
physicists are working on and find exciting. Some of the articles
will be easy for you to understand, and some more challenging, but we
hope that you will be able to get from each a feeling for the
excitement of learning and discovery that a career in physics will
bring.
"Physics" is a new adventure for us, and we hope you will take a look
at http://physics.aps.org. Please send us your comments and
suggestions for improvement to physics@aps.org
Sincerely,
Gene D. Sprouse,
Distinguished Professor of Physics(on leave), Stony Brook University
and Editor in Chief, American Physical Society
