SPS Zone 14 Meeting

Meeting date: Saturday, April 29, 2023

Location: Golden, CO

Reported by: Elizabeth Buchheim, John Taylor, Colorado School of Mines Chapter

ZONE 14 MEETING FOLLOW-UP REPORT

Elizabeth Buchheim, John Taylor

Colorado School of Mines Chapter

Society of Physics Students

1 INTRODUCTION

On April 29th, 2023, the Colorado School of Mines chapter of the Society of Physics Students hosted the annual Zone 14 Meeting. There were approximately 60 attendees at this meeting, hailing from the Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University, CU Boulder, the University of Wyoming, and Denver University.

2 MEETING AGENDA

• 9:30-10:00 Check-in

• 10:00 Welcome and Opening Remarks

• 10:30 Little Shop of Physics Workshop

– Colorado State University showcased the physics demonstrations they use for science outreach in an interactive workshop.

• 11:30 Speaker: Victoria “Cat” Catlett

– Cat works for the Green Bank Observatory and talked about their journey after graduating with a physics degree.

• 12:30 Lunch

• 1:00 Poster Session

– Student volunteers presented research that they were involved with in the form of a poster symposium, allowing the chance for students from different schools to interact in a scientific capacity.

• 2:30 Keynote Speaker: Christina C.C. Willis

– Christina Willis is an employee of ColdQuanta, a Quantum Computing company in Boulder, Colorado. She discussed sustainable networking and the importance of networking for scientists.

• 3:30 Q&A Panel with Dr. Renee Horton and Mines

– Dr. Renee Horton is a physicist who currently works for NASA . She, along with several alumni of the Colorado School of Mines Physics program, answered questions about careers in physics and graduate school.

• 4:30 Closing Remarks and Group Photo

• 5:00 Game Night at the Golden Game Guild (optional)

3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE EVENT PLANNING

Overall, the Zone 14 Meeting was a large success and it was great to host multiple chapters on our campus. As for future recommendations for SPS Zone Meetings, additional notification time would be the biggest request. We weren’t notified about Mines hosting the meeting until February, so if schools could be selected a year out at least, I think that would only ensure proper funding allocations, travel arrangements, and optimal events. Multiple schools from our zone weren’t able to come towards the end, so proper arrangements long before would ensure attendance. Next, additional funding would be preferred, as if the event would have been much larger, we would have had to dip into our own club funds a bit, and since we were towards the end of our fiscal year, it was difficult to budget. Lastly, it would be appreciated if SPS clubs and their zones could connect in other ways more often. Overall, the meeting was an amazing time, and we appreciate all the help from SPS National and our visitor Cat and hope we can host in the future!