Come to Congress!

With the 2016 Quadrennial Physics Congress (PhysCon) less than a year away, your planning committee has been working hard to get things ready. You should also start planning now for your trip to San Francisco from November 3–5, 2016. We can’t wait to meet you in Silicon Valley!

We’ve already had a sneak peek at some of the tour sites. Tying into this year’s theme, “Unifying Fields: Science Driving Innovation,” attendees will choose between a visit to the SLAC National Accelerator Lab, NASA Ames Research Center, or Google’s secretive lab X.

Congress itself will feature a slate of talks that continue its tradition of diverse and influential speakers. Confirmed speakers include astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Nobel laureate Eric Cornell, Stanford dean of engineering Persis Drell, and physicist S. James Gates.

Attendees and their peers from across the country will also learn-by-doing in workshops such as “PR for Physicists,” “Taking Your Chapter to the Next Level,” “Building Up the Community,” and “Careers for Physicists.” You will be able to question expert panels in “Physicists in the World” and “Life as a Graduate Student.” Closing out the 2016 Congress will be a workshop focused on action: specifically, what SPSers will bring away from PhysCon to their local chapters and individual careers.

Students can also attend the “Breakfast with the Scientists” and meet in small groups with physicists who have taken many career paths. Friday night will feature a dance party, and an art contest will showcase the bridge between physics and the visual arts.

Keep an eye on The SPS Observer for more information about fundraising ideas, announcements about additional exciting speakers, and when and how to register. Talk to your chapter leaders about your chapter’s plans, or become a leader and help develop those plans.

See you in San Francisco! //