OPPORTUNITIES FOR PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY STUDENTS
Department-related involvement:
- Seminar Series - Work with Prof. Bary to invite speakers who will be of particular interest to P&A concentrators. Host speakers for lunch following their presentations, at which you can ask more questions about their presentations or their paths from P&A studies into their current fields.
- Recruitment—Work with Prof. Segall to improve our outreach to prospective students. Meet with prospective students and families to answer questions and give tours of the department. Call admitted students in April to answer questions and encourage them to visit. Assist current students’ recruitment efforts by developing presentations they can give when they visit their high schools at home over breaks.
- Computer coordinator—Suggest improvements and report problems with computers in student lounge and computer classroom.
- Tutors—Serve as a tutor or peer instructor for the introductory physics courses. Contact the instructors before the beginning of each semester to ask if jobs are available.
Outreach activities:
- Outreach to Colgate—Run demo days, sponsor egg drop contests, make liquid nitrogen ice cream, and other fun activities that give physics students a chance to get together and also invite their friends.
- Outreach to community—Meet with visiting school groups (coordinated by Joe Eakin). Make presentations at local schools. Develop new outreach programs, working with interested faculty.
- Outreach to alumni—Increase ties between P&A alumni and the current students. Contact alumni to gather information about careers and experiences since graduation. Ask alumni if they are willing to help current students with job networking. Invite alumni to join a department facebook or linked-in group. Organize outreach events when alumni visit campus for homecoming or other events.
Physics, engineering and Astronomy outside of class:
- NASA—Form a team to propose an experiment for microgravity: http://ssep.ncesse.org/.
- Designing and building projects—Build an LED cube (totally cool--check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mXM-oGggrM---this would be great for our new display area) or a trebuchet (who knows when you'll be called upon to defend the castle?), or a ham radio, or whatever else a group of students is interested in designing and building. Work with department technician Shannon Zachow.
- Conferences—Get together a group and go to a local conference! See http://nyss-aapt.org/ and http://www.aps.org/units/nyss/ (although these don't yet have new meetings posted) and http://aps.org/units/nyss/meetings/student.cfm. Go to the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics http://www.aps.org/programs/women/workshops/cuwip.cfm .
- SPS webpage—Update and improve the SPS website to appeal to current members, the Colgate community, and prospective students.
Having fun (!):
- T-shirt committee—Design and print department t-shirts!
- Sports coordinator—Organize intramural teams.
- Events coordinator—Organize lunches with faculty, department social hours, campus-wide outreach events such as demo days, viewings and discussions of APS webinars on employment and graduate schools (http://aps.org/careers/guidance/webinars/), town-hall meetings with the department, and any other events you think of.
But many of these projects cost money! Where can I get funding?
1.) APS and AAPT for travel to conferences
2.) APS and AAPT for outreach efforts (see http://www.aps.org/programs/outreach/grants/index.cfm and also Bauder fund of the AAPT)
3.) SGA Budget Allocation Committee for events
4.) Center for Learning, Teaching, and Research for conference attendance if you are making a presentation (not just observing)
5.) P&A Department for other needs.