Society of Physics Students

The Society of Physics Students (SPS) is a professional association with international participation, granting membership through college chapters with the only requirement that the student member be interested in physics. [ [http://www.aip.org/education/sps/info/membership.htm SPS Member Info] ] All college majors are welcome to join SPS, but the highest representation tends to come from majors in the natural sciences, engineering, and medicine. Within the SPS is Sigma Pi Sigma, a nationally recognized scholastic honor society. SPS is a member society of the American Institute of Physics. [ [http://www.aip.org/aip/ About AIP] ]

National organization

The SPS National Council decides the policies of SPS. It is made up of 36 members, elected by chapters from one of 18 geographic zones. Each Zone represents a section of the country and is represented by a faculty Councilor and a student Associate Councilor. Both Councilors and Associate Councilors participate in zone activities and in the annual policy-making meeting of the Council. The Director of SPS is Gary White, a salaried physicist designated by AIP to administer the National Office's services and programs for SPS members. [ [http://www.aip.org/education/sps/info/nationalcouncil.htm SPS National Council] ] [ [http://www.aip.org/education/sps/info/2005council_report.htm Recent SPS National Council Meeting News] ]

Services and activities

SPS strives to shape students into contributing members of the professional scientific community with the philosophy that since college courses only develop a particular range of skills in a student, it is important to develop other skills including effective written and verbal communication, leadership experience, professional networking, presenting scholarly work in professional meetings and journals, and educational outreach to the campus and local communities. [ [http://www.aip.org/education/sps/info/membership.htm SPS Mission and Membership Info.] ]

To promote these goals, SPS allows students to take part in professional membership societies, receive peer-reviewed journals, present research, [ [http://www.jurp.org/ Presenting Research through SPS] ] and obtain scholarships, [ [http://www.aip.org/education/sps/programs/spsscholarships.htm SPS Scholarship Programs] ] and receive awards as incentives for excellent performance. [ [http://www.aip.org/education/sps/programs/spsawards.htm SPS Awards Programs] ] Further, SPS supports several publications, [ [http://www.aip.org/education/sps/publications/spspubs.htm SPS Pubs] ] and SPS members stay involved with public science issues, education, and outreach. [ [http://www.aip.org/education/sps/societynews/feature.htm SPS Feature Article: Teach For America] ] [ [http://www.aps.org/educ/coe/index.cfm SPS Digital Library Participation] ] [ [http://quarknet.fnal.gov/forms/sampoutreach.html Wonderlab Prototype Support] ] [ [http://www.absolutezerocampaign.org/national_partners/index.htm Absolute Zero Partnership] ]

Outreach projects

The latest SPS outreach project, the SPS Outreach Catalyst Kit (SOCK), is modeled after a similar successful outreach effort at an SPS Zone meeting at Northwestern State University of Louisiana. SOCKs are designed for SPS Chapters and collegiate physics departments to use in outreach presentations to local elementary, middle and high school students. The presentations and contents of the first SOCK were spearheaded by the 2001 SPS national intern Mark Lentz, to teach about properties of light. [ [http://www.aip.org/education/sps/programs/socks.htm SPS SOCKS Program] ]

References