Zone 5 Meeting

One of the highlights of the 2015 zone 5 meeting in October was the Great T-Shirt Giveaway. Dr. John Hubisz of North Carolina State had collected more than 75 physics-themed T-shirts over the years. He decided to give them away at our meeting. Lucky students received one or two T-shirts of their choosing.

The meeting was held at Davidson College in conjunction with the fall meeting of the North Carolina section of the American Association of Physics Teachers. Thirty undergraduates from institutions across the state—Wingate University, UNC Asheville, UNC Charlotte, Catawba Valley Community College, and Davidson College—attended the meeting. Ten presented research posters.

After returning from a hearty lunch, students convened in the basement of the physics building to hear three guest speakers: Davidson physics alumni Evan Welchman, Jessie Barrick, and Grace Watt. The guests first spoke about their undergraduate experiences as physics majors, emphasizing how the problem-solving skills acquired as young physicists carried over into post-undergraduate lives in academia and beyond. The floor was then opened for students to ask the panel questions. Topics ranged from undergraduate stressors (How well did the students perform on the physics GRE? What resources did they consult in searching for graduate programs?) to the pragmatic (Have the students in the PhD programs been able to sustain relationships? Was undergraduate research experience worth it?). The event was a success for younger students and upperclassmen alike. //