SPS Zone Meeting
April 19, 2024 to April 20, 2024
Santa Clara, CA
Meeting host: By:Prof. Betty Young
SPS Chapter:
SPS Zone 18 Meeting Santa Clara University (SCU)
April 19-20, 2024
Friday, April 19
5:15 PM Check-In, Badges
6:00 PM Welcome from SCU SPS hosts: Dr. Betty Young, Ivar Rydstrom (senior), Leo Illing (junior)
6:05 PM Welcome from SPS Zone 18 Councilor: Dr. Chad Kishimoto (USD); Soumay Garg (UC Berkeley) 6:15 PM “The Physics of Drag Racing” – Invited talk, Dr. Geoff Fox and Bob Fox
7:15 PM Pizza and Games (SCDI 2302 - SPS Room Area on 2nd floor)
Saturday, April 20
9:15 AM Check-In, Coffee & Tea Available
10:00 AM "Opportunities in Climate Technology for Physics Majors” – Invited talk, Rob Stallman
11:00 AM “Rubin Observatory and the Legacy Survey in Space and Time (LSST)” – Invited talk, Dr. Andy Rasmussen 12:00 PM Group Photo
12:10 PM Lunch
1:00 PM “Next Generation Measurments of the Cosmic Microwave Background + Advice from a Grad Student” –
Invited talk, Dr. Grace Chesmore 2:00 PM Grad Student / Alumni Panel (Grace Chesmore, Weston Tierney, Andres Franco Valiente, Alexander Shtov) 2:30 PM Message from SPS National - Great Opportunities for Young Physicists (Dr. Chad Kishimoto)
3:00 PM How do you SPS? (Multi-group roundtable discussions) 4:00 PM Meeting Wrap-Up; Looking Forward
4:15 PM Adjourn
For those interested:
4:30 PM Physics Lab tours
5:30 PM Local (no-host) dinner options
Attendees - 46 registered attendees (39 attended; 13 from outside SCU paid $15 registration fee)
- 26 Santa Clara University
- 6 UC Berkeley
- 7 University of San Diego
- 2 Ohlone College
- 4 SF State
- 1 San Jose State University
Suggestions for planning the next zone meeting:
- Get better commitment from speakers that science talks will focus on physics, not just personal experiences and life advice
- Confirm by email if schools actually intend to participate, if registered. (We had 7 no-shows that cost $$.)
- Would be great to directly transfer travel assistance funds from the National SPS account to school(s) that are using them rather than giving the full National SPS support funds to the host university. If that is really tough to do then OK as-is, but universities cannot easily transfer funds to other universities.
