Feed on   Posts or   Comments 22 November 2009

Zone Meeting Info

The SOCIETY OF PHYSICS STUDENTS at UC SANTA CRUZ

presents

THE 2008 SPS ZONE 18 MEETING

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008

LOCATION: The stunning UC Santa Cruz campus,

in the Baskin Engineering Auditorium

(labeled “Auditorium” on this map).

Where UCSC Physics Majors derive Hamiltonians.

BUT WAIT!

Does “Zone Meeting” sound too formal? Okay, then think of it as

BIG PHYSICS DAY AT UCSC…

…featuring a keynote address by Nobel Laureate Dr. Martin Perl of SLAC.

That’s right: The Society of Physics Students at UCSC is pleased to announce that the 2008 Meeting of SPS Zone 18 (comprising California, Nevada, and Hawaii) will be held on the UC Santa Cruz campus, Saturday, May 3rd, 2008.

And you are personally invited. YES YOU! If you have an interest in physics, and whether you’re an official member of SPS or not, you are cordially invited to join us for the SPS Zone Meeting / BIG PHYSICS DAY AT UCSC.

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YES! You should come.

NO! You don’t need to be an official member of SPS (although you should join just because the SPS is awesome).

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YES! You should sign up to give a 15-minute student presentation on your senior thesis research. Email us to do so.

NO! You don’t have to present. You can just come and watch and participate in the other events.

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YES! You should bring that project you’ve been building, like that rail gun, or trebuchet, or 40 meter diameter cyclotron.

NO! You don’t need to build and bring anything. Just bring yourself!

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The BIG PHYSICS DAY (a.k.a. SPS Zone Meeting at UCSC) exists for TWO REASONS:

1) To bring together all of us physics geeks and nerds from around the region.

2) To give you an excuse to come to Santa Cruz.

This is where we minimize action integrals and calculate Clebsch-Gordan coefficients.

But what is BIG PHYSICS DAY AT UCSC (a.k.a. The 2008 SPS Zone 18 Meeting)?

It’s a day of physics stuff! Stuff like

  • presentations (by both students and keynote faculty speakers)
  • project demos
  • UCSC/SCIPP lab tours
  • food
  • a movie night
  • and a star party!

WAIT! Student presentations?

Yes.

Want to give one? Are you proud of your senior thesis research? Did you attend an REU last summer (or something like an REU)? Then tell the entire region all about your work. Email us to reserve a spot.

The SPS at UCSC is very much looking forward to hosting the SPS Zone Meeting / BIG PHYSICS DAY, but we have one small request: Please let us know you’re coming! Email us, primarily so we can guarantee that you get a lunch.

UPDATE: 4/3/08

If you’re coming from a long-ish distance away, we recommend arriving on Friday, May 2nd, and staying over both nights. Your immediate question is, of course, “BUT WHAT ABOUT LODGING?!?” This is an intelligent question, and there are two good options.

  • 1) HOTELS: Our secretary has gathered some choice hotel recommendations in the area, taking into account both price *and* proximity to campus. They can be found here.
  • 2) CRASH SPACE: No, it’s not the thing you Fourier transform to from dangerous-driver-space (which doesn’t even make sense, since those operators commute!). A few of us dedicated physicists-in-training have apartments and houses with floors and couches and blankets and stuff. If you’re interested in the cheap, do-it-yourself approach, email us and we’ll see what we can do.

UPDATE: 4/8/08

Two important updates:

  • 1) PARKING: Parking on campus is free after 8:30 pm Friday evening, and free all weekend. The closest parking structure is the Core West Parking Structure, but there are always spots in the East Remote Lot, and then a quick shuttle ride to Science Hill. Here is a link to the map.
  • 2) SCHEDULE: We now have a rough schedule for the event, and it has its own page and that page is here!

UPDATE: 4/10/08

We are delighted to be able to reveal the identity of our keynote speaker:

  • Dr. Martin Perl of SLAC, Nobel Laureate for the discovery of the tau lepton

His address will be at 5 PM on the day of the event. We’ve updated the schedule to reflect this. We will announce our UCSC Faculty Opening Speaker very soon, too.

MORE INFO LATER! KEEP CHECKING THIS SITE!