Zone Meeting Highlights: Zone 18

Our zone 18 SPS meeting brought together students from all over California. We met at the University of California, Berkeley, where the fun began on a Friday afternoon with a tour of one of the brightest synchrotron light sources in the world, the Advanced Light Source Facility at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL). On Saturday morning the main events of the meeting kicked off with an introduction and overview of how SPS operates at a national level. A campus tour, a student poster session, and a physics careers workshop followed. In the careers workshop the students explored the possibilities a physics degree opens up beyond academia. The day concluded with presentations from two special guest speakers. Dr. Natalie Roe, head of the physics division at LBNL, shared her journey as a physicist working in a na-tional lab. Finally, UC Berkeley physics professor and dean of undergraduate studies Dr. Bob Jacobsen gave an inspiring talk that encouraged students to explore their interests and get involved with research. He emphasized that you do not need to know what you are going to do for the rest of your life to be successful. //