What is SPS?

The Society of Physics Students is a club that provides a variety of things to students interested in physics. SPS can connect students with social events and volenteer oportunities, help introduce exciting new ideas and experiments, and even provide useful information about on campus research and future career ideas. We meet once a week with a plan set by our officers, but we're very flexible and encourage our members to speak up if they have an idea or information on a possible future event. We welcome anyone interested in Physics to attend one of our meetings.

What We Do

Community Outreach

We interact with the community by hosting fundraisers and participating in community outreach events such as our Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream event and Evening in Science benefit. When we go to events such as the Evening in Science, we bring physics demos for people to interect with, and we educate them about the facinating science behnd them. Our goal is to get people thinking and get interested in physics.

Demo Nights

At least once a semester, SPS hosts a physics demo night for our members. These are the same demos that are shown to students in lecture, but they can have a more hands-on experience during these events. This event is hosted during our usual meeting time, and will be put on the schedule as soon as its planned.

Picture of the jumping hoop experiment at demo night.The picture is a Demo night experiment showing the conservation of angular momentumPicture of the rubens tube experiment at demo night

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Club Trips

SPS tries to go on a club trip once a year. We've travel to different labratories that interest the group, as well a trip to the other SPS in Missoula. These trips are decided on by the general group, and the officers fine tune plans and provide a rough schedule.

This picture is the SPS group at Idaho's national laboratoryThis picture is the SPS infront of the control center at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory.This picture is the SPS group infront of the main laser at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave ObservatoryThis picture is the SPS group at the main control hub of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory

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Academic Advice

The club does a lot to help its members academically through advice and presentations. Throughout the semester, many students will present on the research they've done. These presentations discuss not only the subject of their research, but how to get into similar research and who to contact.

Professors and professionals are also brought into the club to discuss a future in physics. They talk about their career in physics and some talk about the decision between going into a career first, or continuing in graduate school.

We also have discussions in the difference between a resume and a ciriculum vitae, and how to create one. Towards the end of the year, we have a town hall discussion about classes and underclassmen can ask for advice on which classes to take in the upcoming semester.

Fun Social Events

The club isn't just volenteering and presentations, we have many fun meetings where the officers plan fun events for the members. We host game nights, meme nights, and sometimes even rent out the recreation center to bowl at the SUB. We also have an annual competition with the Math Club for the Best Major Trophy!