Greetings, SPS Leaders:
It's gonna be one of the best physics meetings ever...February 13-17, 2010 in DC, a joint meeting of AAPT and APS, and it overlaps (temporally and spatially!) with the annual NSBP/NSHP meeting...and there are at least two ways to get travel support--- from SPS directly or from APS directly---until the funds are depleted; choose from one below...
Every physics student in the country should consider finding a way to go to this meeting in my humble, but expert, opinion. SPS and APS are partnering to provide $200 travel award assistance for undergraduate presenters, so students should get their request in today...abstract deadline is tomorrow, October 23rd at 5pm, so don't wait to the end of the work day!
Converts make the best zealots, or so I've heard...My advisor didn't really believe in being part of a physics society, and I never knew about the benefits of networking with other physicists and presenting research at a national meeting as a physics student, so when I attended my first national physics meeting, it was eye-opening and I became a convert, so to speak---and I'm a zealot about students going to physics meetings.
Where else are you going to find out so much about physics careers, grad school, cutting edge research, middle-of-the-road research, and get to experience Physics Jeopardy fun to boot? Join us if you can! I've included a few other opportunities for your chapter and members below as well...Gary
1) $200 awards for undergraduate presenters at February APS meeting in DC...deadline tomorrow, details below!
2) Research funding for your chapter (up to $2000--Nov. 15th deadline)
http://www.spsnational.org/programs/awards/research.htm3) Outreach funding for your chapter (up to $300--Nov. 15th deadline)
http://www.spsnational.org/programs/awards/white.htm
4) Got your chapter's Galileoscope yet? Check your advisor's snail mail from SPS...
5) Students from your chapter presenting at AAS in January? Some travel assistance is available, see below for details
6) SPS is looking for a few good reporters for upcoming meetings, $200 travel stipends available, see http://www.spsnational.org/programs/awards/reporter.htm
7) Do your students need advice as they prepare to graduate? ...a mentor for those hard career decisions? http://www.mentornet.net/
8) Physics tutors (on-line, paying positions) are needed--- http://www.tutor.com/apply
9) Connect with other physicists!
a.On Facebook: SPS group, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2204772911
b.On The Nucleus http://www.the-nucleus.org (check out the "GRE question of the Week" forum)
c.On YouTube: Eye-witness account of Nuclear Explosion http://www.youtube.com/user/SPSnational
d.On Twitter, http://twitter.com/SPSwebster
e.On Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/spsnational/
Here's the long version of the items above (some very long! Sorry...):
1) To apply for an SPS travel award, there are three basic steps:
a)submit your abstract to APS as usual by tomorrow's deadline (5pm Oct. 23rd), http://abs.aps.org/
b)complete a W9 form http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf
c)send both your abstract AND W9 form to sps aip org or fax both to 301-209-0839
If you are not able to complete the W9 form for some reason, contact lquijada aip org and we will work with you to develop an alternative plan. SPS is also seeking a few students to serve as SPS Reporters, with a comparable stipend, contact Kendra Rand, krand aip org, for more information.
Or apply to APS directly for a travel award as described in the message below:
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We are excited to announce that once again, the APS is providing a limited number of travel awards to help more undergraduates experience the excitement of presenting at the April 2010 APS meeting and the March 2010 APS meeting. The April in 2010 is being held in conjunction with the Winter meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers in Washington DC on February 13-17, 2010.
Since we know interacting with peers at sessions and events is a very important aspect of the experience, we are working with the Society of Physics students and the APS April program committee to provide a variety of activities and sessions for the undergraduate participants. A rough plan of events is available on the Future Physicist Days 2010 website (follow the links from http://www.aps.org/programs/education/conferences/index.cfm). As details of the schedules come together, the website will be updated. Undergraduate epitomes listing all events throughout the meeting will be available at as soon as the session schedules are finalized.
As always, there is no registration fee for undergraduate students at the APS meetings. However, in order to qualify for the limited number of $200 travel supplements, students must submit their abstract on time and e-mail a copy of that abstract to Cathy Mader (mader hope edu) by the abstract submission deadline. Travel supplements will be awarded in the order in which completed applications are received. Details about the travel award application process are available on the Future Physicist Days website (follow the links from http://www.aps.org/programs/education/conferences/index.cfm).
The most important detail is that applicants must submit their abstract online by the APS meeting abstract submission deadline: October 23rd, 2009 for April or November 20th, 2009 for March.We look forward to seeing you at the meeting! Cathy Mader, Hope College
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This is Gary again...
2)Research funding for undergraduate projects(up to $2000--Nov. 15th deadline)
http://www.spsnational.org/programs/awards/research.htm
You could write a short proposal to get funding for your chapter to buy that needed piece of research equipment or perform that next step in a cool research project! From among the proposals submitted by the Chapters, a panel of judges selects the most meritorious and awards up to $2000 to those chapters. The program is funded through income from donations to the honor society of physics, Sigma Pi Sigma, but is open to all active Chapters of the Society of Physics Students. Although each proposal is required to have the endorsement of the SPS Chapter faculty advisor, the advisor acts only in a consultative capacity. The planning and writing of the proposal are the responsibility of the student members. See more details, and past winners, at http://www.spsnational.org/programs/awards/research.htm
3)Outreach funding (up to $300--Nov. 15th deadline)
http://www.spsnational.org/programs/awards/white.htm
The SPS Marsh White Awards are awarded to chapters for physics outreach to grades K-12 and the general public. Chapters are awarded up to $300 maximum, based on their proposal's merits, and a dozen or more are supported each year by SPS. Funded by the donors to the honor society, Sigma Pi Sigma, Marsh W. White Awards are made to Society of Physics Students Chapters "to support projects designed to promote interest in physics among students and the general public." Although each proposal is required to have the endorsement of the SPS Chapter faculty advisor, the advisor acts only in a consulting capacity. The planning and writing of the proposal are the responsibility of the SPS student members. See more details, and past winners, at http://www.spsnational.org/programs/awards/white.htm
4) Got your chapter's Galileoscope yet? Directions for requesting your chapter's telescope were included in the advisor packet that went out a couple of weeks ago, so help her or him dig through that stack of mail, so that your chapter can get one of the coolest science gadgets around.
5) The astronomers are also meeting in DC this winter, January 3-6, 2010, and there's still time to get travel support if you are presenting at the AAS meeting, To apply for an SPS travel award, there are three basic steps:
a)submit your abstract to AAS as usual; late abstracts accepted until Dec. 1, http://aas.org/meetings/aas215 ; if you've already submitted, all the better!
b)complete a W9 form http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf
c)send both your abstract AND W9 form to sps aip org or fax both to 301-209-0839
If you are not able to complete the W9 form for some reason, contact lquijada aip org and we will work with you to develop an alternative plan. SPS is also seeking a few students to serve as SPS Reporters, with a comparable stipend, contact Kendra Rand, krand aip org, for more information.
6) ...not planning to present at any of the upcoming meeting, but still going? SPS is looking for a few good reporters to write about major physics meetings, and there are $200 travel stipends available, see http://www.spsnational.org/programs/awards/reporter.htm
7) Consider MentorNet as a way to help you through those hard decisions: http://www.mentornet.net/
SPS has renewed its partnership with MentorNet; 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!
8) 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/
Tutoring certainly served me well in my undergraduate days---I was honing my physics knowledge, improving my people skills, and making some money and getting the satisfaction of helping others---all in one place, a few hours a week...It is hard to imagine a better part-time job for an undergraduate physics major.
SPS has recently agreed to partner with Tutor.com to try to get more on-line physics tutors. I have looked closely at Tutor.com, and talked to some who have worked for them, and I feel that they are a good company for SPS to be associated with---they need physics tutors and SPS is the place that they looked to find them, so it seems like a good arrangement for all involved. I have reviewed the on-line procedures and it seems to me that many SPS members, especially those who did well in intro physics, should make it through the application process with flying colors.
SPS does receive a modest referral fee if you are accepted as a tutor, so please indicate on the application form that you are associated with SPS, unless that really offends your sensibilities.
Their current tutors list the following benefits:
* Great way to earn extra income;
* Flexible scheduling, 7 days a week between 2pm to 1am eastern time;
* Work from the comfort of home or dorm, all tutoring takes place online;
* Make a difference and help students all over the country; and
* Great resume builder. Opportunity to become mentors and senior mentors in your subject area.
9) Connect with other physicists!
a.On Facebook: SPS group, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2204772911
b.On The Nucleus http://www.the-nucleus.org (check out the "GRE question of the Week" forum)
c.On YouTube: Eye-witness account of Nuclear Explosion http://www.youtube.com/user/SPSnational
d.On Twitter, http://twitter.com/SPSwebster
e.On Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/spsnational/
Thanks, Gary
Gary D. 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