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March 28, 2017

PhysCon 2016

By Candice Fazar, Associate Professor of Physics

This past November, physics students Matthew VanNiekerk, Jared Sittig, Brady Bermingham and Meghan Taylor joined alumnus Katie Hollowood and me (physics professor Candice Fazar) at the largest meeting for undergraduate physics students in the country. Hosted by Sigma Pi Sigma, the honor society of the Society of Physics Students, nearly 1200 were in attendance at the Hyatt Regency near Silicon Valley, CA to explore the theme Unifying Fields: Science Driving Innovation at the quadrennial congress known as PhysCon.  Occurring only once every four years, this event only happens once in a college career and thanks to some generous donations from alumni, administration and friends we were able to attend.

We spent the weekend learning about cutting edge physics research, networking with other colleges and professionals and pondering the future of physics with amazing food and like-minded company. Speakers such as Nobel Laureate Eric Cornell, 2016 Tate Medalist for International Leadership Neil Turok and LIGO pioneer Patrick Brady talked about the impact of gravitational waves and “big physics” on the physics community’s understanding of our place in the universe. Together in groups we discussed social issues and the impact that we as a physics community can have using technology in new innovative ways to solve common problems.  Brady shared, “We had the opportunity to use our creativity and problem solving skills with one another in active workshops!  Also, presenting my research poster gave me experience in building my technical communication skills.”   In addition to the research posters there was some amazing physics inspired artwork.  

As a group we became like a family, bonding over shared physics stories and experiences only a trip to PhysCon could bring. We visited the Golden Gate Bridge and took ourselves on a mini tour of San Francisco.  Brady and Meghan were privileged to take a tour of Google X.  We all enjoyed amazing food and the many opportunities to “geek out” and have fun with physics.  We saw in a very tangible manner what it is like to be part of a greater community.  Jared commented, “A whole new field of physics opened right before my eyes and a community of 1200 students was reaching out their hands to welcome me into the exploration.”  From all of us who were able to participate in this experience, a heartfelt thank you to Neal Redmond and Dave Basinger for your generous support.

For more information about PhysCon visit http://www.sigmapisigma.org/sigmapisigma/congress/2016.


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