SPS has not been hiding this semester, although it may seem that way! Because the physics building is such an exciting hub of activity, the last few SPS meetings have been displaced from the normal, beloved NPB 2205, but expect meetings to be returning there in the future. Despite the wacky relocations, SPS has managed to get a few things done:

Meeting Wednesday
January 23:
The normal SPS room (NPB 2205) was booked. Who knew there"d be other people in the physics building so late at night?!?! So, this first meeting of the new semester took place in the smaller of the two lecture halls. This was perhaps somewhat more convenient because the normally free and therefore delicious pizza could be enjoyed while sitting down at a desk, instead of precariously balancing it in your lap. This increased the order of magnitude of the deliciousness by one. The main topic of the night was REUs. Professor Ingerset, who heads the UF Research Experience for Undergraduates program gave general advice for applying to REUs. SPS also has a new listserv that will be replacing its old one. To join, simply send an e-mail with a blank subject line to listserv@lists.ufl.edu. In the body type “Subscribe spsmembers-L” (not including the quotes). This is the only way to ensure that you receive e-mails from SPS, as the old list will no longer be used.



Research Opportunity For Undergraduates

Monday February 4:
Again, NPB 2205 was booked, so (with at least some advance notice this time) this meeting took place in another meeting room upstairs in NPB. There was of course, free, delicious pizza, again made much better by the available table space. Professors Lee and Hebard are both looking for undergraduates to work in their laboratories, and spoke to that effect. Dr. Lee works in low temperature physics, and Dr. Hebard works in condensed matter. Feynman Lecture

February 19:
Barring any surprises, the SPS is returning home to NPB 2205 to show another of the Richard Feynman Messenger Lectures at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, February 19. The last few years, Dr. Hirschfeld has been showing these lectures to his Theoretical Physics students in the fall, but there has been enough interest that he"s decided to show them in the spring, too. And who"s going to say no to a night of free pizza and a free physics lecture on old, reely, film? These lectures aren"t very mathematical in nature, and tend to give insight into physics in terms that are fairly easy to understand and very thought provoking.