utah-state-university-sps-chapter-report

2011-­‐12  Society  of  Physics  Students   ANNUAL  CHAPTER  REPORT    Chapter  Information   SPS  ZONE   15   SPS  Chapter  Number   7579   School  Name   Utah  State  University   Chapter  Advisor   David  Peak   Email   david.peak@usu.edu     Part  1:  Our  chapter’s  interactions  with  our  campus  community   Date: July 07/08/11 August Week of Aug 25 08/31/11 September 09/07/11 09/09/11 09/13/11 09/15/11 09/19/11 09/28/11 October 10/01/11 10/13/11 10/15/11 10/22/11 10/27/11 10/28/11 10/29/11 November 11/12/11 11/17/11 January 01/25/11 February 02/11/12 March 03/03/12 Activity # Attended # SPS 100 20 1000 200 10 10 SPS Opening Social 200 Aggie Care Day (Outreach) 350 Cupcake with a Scientist (College of 500 Science Opening Social) Haunted Lab Planning Meeting Homecoming Street Painting (Aggie Physicists All Space Time) Haunted Lab Planning Meeting 15 10 Space Shuttle Launch Party Physics Classes Recruiting Day on the Quad with ASUSU Pot Luck and Science Unwrapped LIGO Meeting Haunted Lab Planning Meeting Haunted Lab Assembly Meeting Haunted Lab Assembly Meeting Turn all of the Faculty Photos into Haunted Photos Haunted Labs Haunted Labs Clean Up Football Game Vortex Cannon Girl Scouts with Kappa Delta 20 15 10 600 15000 100 20 10 12 70 14 Hot Chocolate and Activity Night 10 T Shirt Cannon Building and Testing 10 SHPE NASA Space Science Day 216 CHAPTER  NAME  &  #  HERE  Annual  Chapter  Report  for  the  year  2011-­‐2012   03/20/12 April 04/03/12 04/26/12 05/05/12 Demos in the TSC Lounge 50 Dr Toni Sauncy gave the Physics Departments Colloquium Department Awards Luncheon Commencement 40 12 100 10 22 18,466 333 Totals Campus organizations we worked with: ASUSU Athletics (The university mascot, Big Blue, used our vortex cannon at a football game) GAS Team AIAA College of Science Senator and Science Unwrapped Team USU Chemistry Club Kappa Delta Sorority SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers) Notes:    (1)  This  year  we  collaborated  with  the  USU  Chemistry  Club  in  producing  Haunted  Lab  Night   (2)  The  athletic  department  utilized  our  large  vortex  cannon  for  crowd  entertainment  during  the  San  Jose   State  football  game  (which  undoubtedly  contributed  to  our  34-­‐33  victory)   (3)    We  were  pleased  to  host  Professor  Toni  Sauncy  (SPS  National  Council  President)  to  give  a  department   colloquium  on  April  3  entitled  “SPS:  Building  communities  for  students  and  their  mentors.”     Year-­‐opening  social:  plastic  glass  tower   competition     Annual  Chapter  Report,  page  2   CHAPTER  NAME  &  #  HERE  Annual  Chapter  Report  for  the  year  2011-­‐2012   Year-­‐opening  social:  blowin’  in  the  wind         Annual  Chapter  Report,  page  3   Year-­‐opening  social:  electrifying!   Haunted  Labs:  poster   CHAPTER  NAME  &  #  HERE  Annual  Chapter  Report  for  the  year  2011-­‐2012   Haunted  Labs:  the  new  faculty  photo  directory       Annual  Chapter  Report,  page  4   Haunted  Labs:  the  entrance—scary  discharges   CHAPTER  NAME  &  #  HERE  Annual  Chapter  Report  for  the  year  2011-­‐2012   Haunted  Labs:  going  up?       Annual  Chapter  Report,  page  5   Haunted  Labs:  the  hall  of  masks     CHAPTER  NAME  &  #  HERE  Annual  Chapter  Report  for  the  year  2011-­‐2012   Haunted  Labs:  a  typical  organic  lab  for  Chem  Club   students       Annual  Chapter  Report,  page  6   Football  fans  get  a  blast  from  the  USU  SPS   “mother-­‐of-­‐all”  vortex  cannons     CHAPTER  NAME  &  #  HERE  Annual  Chapter  Report  for  the  year  2011-­‐2012   Katie  Breivik  receives  one  of  our  Outstanding   Senior  awards  from  Department  Head  Jan  Sojka         Annual  Chapter  Report,  page  7       Some  of  our  22  graduating  seniors:  dignified  SPSers   all   CHAPTER  NAME  &  #  HERE  Annual  Chapter  Report  for  the  year  2011-­‐2012   Part  2:  Our  Chapter’s  interactions  with  the  professional  physics   community  outside  the  college/university     • ✚ PROFESSIONAL  PRESENTATIONS          (*  SPS  student;    outstanding  presentation  award)   CEDAR  Program  of  NSF,  July  2011     T  Martin*,  M  J  Taylor,  D  Pautet,  and  M  J  Jarvis,  “Comparison  of  Long-­‐period  to  Short-­‐Period  Gravity  Waves   Over  Petrolina,  Brazil  and  Halley,  Antarctica”,  MLTG-­‐02  (2011)     J  R  Pugmire*,  M  J  Taylor,  and  Y  Zhao,  “Mesospheric  Temperature  Variability  Over  The  Andes  Mountains”,   MLTG-­‐11  (2011)     Olson,  M  E.*,  Fejer,  B  G.,  and  Chau,  J.L.,  “Equatorial  zonal  plasma  drift  effects  during  sudden  stratospheric   warming  events”,  EQIT-­‐03  (2011)     B.D  Tracy*,  B.G  Fejer,  and  J.L  Chau  “Lunar  Tidal  effects  of  the  equatorial  vertical  drifts  over  Jicamarca”,  EQIT-­‐ 11  (2011)     Jennifer  Meehan*,  W  Kent  Tobiska,  Robert  Schunk,  Jan  Sojka,  Herb  Carlson,  Vince  Eccles,  Don  Rice,  Jared   Fulgham,  Landry  Heaton*,  Larry  Gardner,  Ludger  Scherliess,  Lie  Zhu,  Chris  Tschan,  Dave  Bouwer,  and  Rian   Shelley,  “New  space  weather  products  for  HF  radio,  GPS  navigation,  and  aviation”,  DATA-­‐01  (2011)     American  Physical  Society—4  Corners  Section,  October  2011     Amberly  Evans*,  Gregory  Wilson*,  and  J.R  Dennison,  “Temperature  Dependence  of  SiO2  Electron-­‐Induced   Luminescence”,  BAPS.2011.4CF.M3.1  (2011)     Brett  Bostrom*,  David  Allred,  and  R  Steven  Turley,  “The  design  and  use  of  a  planetary  in  a  sputtering  system”,   BAPS.2011.4CF.E1.5  (2011)      Jordan  Rozum*,  Matt  Garlock,  Shane  L  Larson,  and  Bradley  W  Carroll,  “Observational  Bias  as  an  Explanation   for  Distributions  of  Galaxy  Inclination  Angles”,  BAPS.2011.4CF.F1.22  (2011)     Neal  Criddle*✚,  Michael  Taylor,  Dominique  Pautet,  and  Yucheng  Zhao,  “Seasonal  Variability  and  Dynamics  of   Mesospheric  Gravity  Waves  Over  the  Andes”,  BAPS.2011.4CF.F1.27  (2011)       Rachel  Ward*✚ ,  “Comparison  of  Polar  Mesospheric  Clouds  in  Northern  2007  and  Southern  2007-­‐2008   Seasons”,  BAPS.2011.4CF.F1.28  (2011)     Zachary  Butterfield*,  Brett  Bostrom*,  and  Titus  Yuan,  “Studying  the  Upper  Atmosphere  Using  a  Sodium   LIDAR”,  BAPS.2011.4CF.F1.34  (2011)     Gregory  Wilson*,  Amberly  Evans*,  and  J.R  Dennison,  “Electron  Energy  Dependent  Charging  Effects  of   Multilayered  Dielectric  Materials”,  BAPS.2011.4CF.M3.1  (2011)   Annual  Chapter  Report,  page  8   CHAPTER  NAME  &  #  HERE  Annual  Chapter  Report  for  the  year  2011-­‐2012     Doug  Ball*✚,  Fred  Walker,  and  Joe  Ngai,  “Fuel  from  Water:  Nano-­‐structured  oxide  semiconductor  composites   for  photocatalysis”,  BAPS.2011.4CF.M3.5  (2011)     American  Geophysical  Union,  December  2011     Johnson,  L*,  Ball,  D*,  Peak,  D,  Larson,  S  L,  Larson,  M,  and  Sojka,  JJ,  “Engaging  Undergraduates  in  Innovative   Science  Outreach”,  Abstract  ED41B-­‐0526  presented  at  2011  Fall  Meeting,  AGU,  San  Francisco,  Calif.,  5-­‐9  Dec     (SPS  special  session)     Zhao,  Y,  Taylor,  M  J,  Pautet,  P,  Pugmire,  J*,  Pendleton,  W  R,  Franke,  S  J,  and  Scheer,  J,  “Investigating  Seasonal   Oscillations  in  Mesospheric  Temperatures  at  Low  and  Mid-­‐latitudes,”  Abstract  SA51B-­‐1932  presented  at  2011   Fall  Meeting,  AGU,  San  Francisco,  Calif.,  5-­‐9  Dec     Sojka,  J  J,  Schunk,  R  W,  Gardner,  L  C,  Scherliess,  L,  Rice,  D,  Tobiska,  W,  Heaton,  L  E*,  and  Fulgham,  J  A,   “Substitution  of  Ionosonde  Data  for  GPS  TEC  Data  in  GAIM-­‐GM:  A  Regional  Study,”  Abstract  SA21A-­‐1868   presented  at  2011  Fall  Meeting,  AGU,  San  Francisco,  Calif.,  5-­‐9  Dec     Taylor,  M  J,  Pautet,  P,  Zhao,  Y,  Pugmire,  J*,  Criddle,  N*,  Swenson,  G  R,  Liu,  A  Z,  and  Hecht,  J  H,  “Investigating   gravity  waves  and  mesospheric  temperature  variability  over  the  Andes  Mountains,”  Abstract  SA23B-­‐03   presented  at  2011  Fall  Meeting,  AGU,  San  Francisco,  Calif.,  5-­‐9  Dec     Sojka,  J  J,  David,  M,  Jensen,  J  B*,  and  Schunk,  R  W,  “Ionospheric  Change  and  Solar  EUV  Irradiance”  (Invited),   Abstract  GC22A-­‐03  presented  at  2011  Fall  Meeting,  AGU,  San  Francisco,  Calif.,  5-­‐9  Dec     Nielsen,  K,  Taylor,  M  J,  Collins,  R  L,  Irving,  B  K,  Negale,  M*,  Siskind,  D  E,  Eckermann,  S  D,  Hoppel,  K,  Harvey,  V,   and  Russell,  J  M,  “Inter-­‐hemispheric  Comparison  of  Mesospheric  Short-­‐period  Gravity  Wave  Propagation,”   Abstract  SA51A-­‐1916  presented  at  2011  Fall  Meeting,  AGU,  San  Francisco,  Calif.,  5-­‐9  Dec     Acoustical  Society  of  America,  October  2011     Kristina  M  Sorensen*  and  Timothy  E  Doyle,  “Ultrasonic  analysis  of  breast  tissue  for  pathology  classification”,   J  Acoust  Soc  Am.,  130,  2428  (2011)     • REFEREED  PUBLICATIONS     Dennison,  J.R.,  Evans,  A.*,  Fullmer,  D.*,  and  Hodges,  J.L.,  “Charge-­‐Enhanced  Contamination  and  Environmental   Degradation  of  MISSE-­‐6  SUSpECS  Materials”,  IEEE  Transactions  on  Plasma  Science,  40,  254  -­‐  261  (2012)     Evans,  A.*  and  Dennison,  J.R.,  “The  Effects  of  Surface  Modification  on  Spacecraft  Charging  Parameters”,  IEEE   Transactions  on  Plasma  Science,  40,  305  -­‐  310  (2012)     Wilson,  G.*  and  Dennison,  J.R.,  “Approximation  of  Range  in  Materials  as  a  Function  of  Incident  Electron   Energy”,  IEEE  Transactions  on  Plasma  Science,  40,  291  -­‐  297  (2012)       Annual  Chapter  Report,  page  9   CHAPTER  NAME  &  #  HERE  Annual  Chapter  Report  for  the  year  2011-­‐2012   Hazboun,  SH*  and  Wheeler,  JT,  “A  systematic  construction  of  curved  space:  a  gravitational  gauge  theory  with   symplectic  form”,  Journal  of  Physics,  doi:10.1088/1742-­‐6596/1/012013  (2012)     B  G  Fejer,  B  D  Tracy*,  M  E  Olson*,  and  J  L  Chau,  “Enhanced  lunar  semidiurnal  equatorial  vertical  plasma   drifts  during  sudden  stratospheric  warmings”,  Geophysical  Research  Letters,  doi:10.1029/2011GL049788   (2011)     Vern  P  Hart*,  Timothy  E  Doyle,  Michael  J  Taylor,  Brent  L  Carruth,  Pierre-­‐Dominique  Pautet,  and  Yucheng   Zhao,  “Three-­‐dimensional  tomographic  reconstruction  of  mesospheric  airglow  structures  using  two-­‐station   ground-­‐based  image  measurements”,  Applied  Optics,  51,  963-­‐974  (2012)     Timothy  E  Doyle,  Rachel  E  Factor,  Christina  L  Ellefson,  Kristina  M  Sorensen*,  Brady  J  Ambrose*,  Jeffrey  B   Goodrich*,  Vern  P  Hart*,  Scott  C  Jensen*,  Hemang  Patel,  and  Leigh  A  Neumayer,  “High-­‐frequency  ultrasound   for  intraoperative  margin  assessments  in  breast  conservation  surgery:  a  feasibility  study”,  BMC  Cancer,   doi:10.1186/1471-­‐2407-­‐11-­‐444  (2011)     Kim  Nielsen,  Gerald  E  Nedoluha,  Amal  Chandran,  Loren  C  Chang,  Jodie  Barker-­‐Tvedtnes*,  Michael  J  Taylor,   Nick  J  Mitchell,  Alyn  Lambert,  Michael  J  Schwartz,  and  James  M  Russell,  “On  the  origin  of  mid-­‐latitude   mesospheric  clouds:  The  July  2009  cloud  outbreak”,  Journal  of  Atmospheric  and  Solar-­‐Terrestrial  Physics,  73,   2118–2124     Vince  Eccles,  Jonathan  Thompson*,  Jan  J  Sojka,  Hien  Vo,  and  Sixto  Gonzalez,  “Assessment  of  Ionospheric   Models  package  for  the  Community  Coordinated  Modeling  Center:  Climatology”,  Space  Weather,   doi:10.1029/2010SW000596  (2011)     Vince  Eccles,  Hien  Vo,  Jonathan  Thompson*,  Sixto  Gonzalez,  and  Jan  J  Sojka,  “Database  of  electron  density   profiles  from  Arecibo  Radar  Observatory  for  the  assessment  of  ionospheric  models”,  Space  Weather,   doi:10.1029/2010SW000591  (2011)     • PUBLIC  OUTREACH  DEMONSTRATION  SHOW  AT  THE  AMERICAN  PHYSICAL  SOCIETY—DIVISION  OF   PLASMA  PHYSICS,  NOVEMBER  2011     By  invitation  of  APS  DPP,  USU  SPS  helped  produce  a  two-­‐day  demo  show  for  the  public,  collaborating  with   BYU,  Columbia  U,  the  Contemporary  Physics  Education  Project,  General  Atomics,  ITER,  U  of  Rochester,   Lawrence  Livermore  National  Lab,  and  MIT,  November  17-­‐18,  2011   Note:    Due  largely  to  our  active  undergraduate  research  and  SPS-­‐based  educational  outreach  programs,  USU   was  named  as  one  of  the  inaugural  (2012)  recipients  of  the  American  Physical  Society’s  Department  of   Distinction  Award  for  Improving  Undergraduate  Physics  Education    http://www.aps.org/programs/education/undergrad/faculty/awardees.cfm           Annual  Chapter  Report,  page  10   CHAPTER  NAME  &  #  HERE  Annual  Chapter  Report  for  the  year  2011-­‐2012   Part  3:  Our  chapter’s  interactions  with  SPS  National  and  participation  in   SPS  National  Programs     • • • • • •   SPS  Outstanding  Chapter  Award  (2011):  USU  SPS  named  Outstanding  Chapter  for  6th  consecutive  year   SPS  Leadership  Scholarship  (2012):  Linsey  Johnson  applied—currently  under  review   Associate  Zone  Councilor  (2012):  Linsey  Johnson  was  nominated—not  elected   SPS  Outstanding  Student  Award  for  Undergraduate  Research  (2012):  Rachel  Ward  applied—was   selected  as  one  of  the  two  recipients  for  this  year   SPS  Outstanding  Chapter  Advisor  Award  (2012):  Brian  Tracy  has  submitted  a  nomination—currently   under  review   Sigma  Pi  Sigma  Chapter  Project  Award  (2012):  Doug  Ball  applied—received  a  Chapter  Award  (see   below)     Notes:    (1)  After  15  years  of  dormancy,  USU  SPS  was  revived  in  2005    Every  year  since,  the  chapter  has   been  named  “Outstanding”  by  National  SPS    The  National  SPS  website  has  said  of  us:  “USU's  SPS  Chapter   exhibits  a  depth  and  breadth  of  activities,  from  research  to  outreach  to  service,  that  every  chapter  in  the   country  would  do  well  to  emulate.”   (2)  Previous  USU  Leadership  Scholars  are:  Jodie  Barker-­‐Tvedtnes  (2008),  Robert  Call  (2010),  and  Lance   Petersen  (2010)   (3)  Rachel  Ward  is  the  third  USU  student  to  receive  SPS  recognition  for  Outstanding  Undergraduate   Research:    Jodie  Barker-­‐Tvedtnes  was  a  recipient  in  2008  and  Sydney  Chamberlin  was  an  honorable   mention  in  2009           Part  4:  Our  chapter’s  interaction  with  the  off-­‐campus  public  community     Date: July 07/25/11 August 08/11-13/11 September 09/23/11 09/30/11 October 10/07/11 10/07/11 10/18/11 10/19/11 10/25/11 10/28/11 November 11/02/11 11/02/11 11/11/11 Activity # Attended # SPS City of Logan Pioneer Day Celebration (Utah state holiday) 1000 20 Cache County Fair Outreach with the StarHouse Discovery Center 1000 10 Swaner Eco Center Science Unwrapped Park City Public Observatory Star Party 90 70 13 Woodruff Elementary Kindergarten Outreach “What it's like to be a scientist?” Science Unwrapped Lasers and LIGO nd Bridger Elementary Grade Cub Scout Belt Loop Presentation th River Heights Grade Weather Presentation Ellis Elementary Kindergarten 155 430 20 50 47 50 26 Cedar Ridge Middle School Career Fair Hillcrest Elementary After School Science Club Public Observatory Star Party 50 25 200 2 Annual  Chapter  Report,  page  11   CHAPTER  NAME  &  #  HERE  Annual  Chapter  Report  for  the  year  2011-­‐2012   11/16/11 11/17-18/11 11/17/11 December 12/08/11 February 02/14/12 02/15/12 02/17/12 02/22/12 March 03/07/12 03/22/12 03/29/12 03/29/12 April 04/27/12 May 05/18/12 Hillcrest Elementary After School Science Club APS Plasma Conference in SLC All Day Outreach with universities from around the country Girl Scouts with Kappa Delta 25 2000 10 100 20 Study Physics in College INTECH High School Demos at Hillcrest Science Fair Demos at Mount Logan Middle School all Day Hillcrest Elementary After School Science Club 30 200 420 30 6 10 Hillcrest Elementary After School Science Club Judge Nibley Elementary Science Fair America Reads Presentation White Pine Middle School Bear River Mental Health Demos (Adult Outreach) 29 25 25 Science Unwrapped Death from the Sky 450 20 Physics Day at Lagoon Amusement Park 5600 30 12,141 211 Cache Valley Learning Center Totals   Pioneer  Day  in  the  Park:    So  many  cool  demos     [Pioneer  Day  is  a  Utah  state  holiday  celebrated   on  July  24    In  Logan,  several  thousand  show  up   for  all  kinds  of  festivities,  including  SPS  hands-­‐ on  exhibits.]     Annual  Chapter  Report,  page  12   CHAPTER  NAME  &  #  HERE  Annual  Chapter  Report  for  the  year  2011-­‐2012   Climate  Change  Science  Unwrapped:  Linsey   Johnson  explaining  molecular  excitations     [Science  Unwrapped  is  a  monthly  public   audience  event  popularizing  contemporary   science    Attendance  is  usually  about  500  and   includes  ages  from  9  to  90    Presentations  are   followed  by  hands-­‐on  experiences  often  staffed   by  SPS  students.]       Death  from  the  Sky  Science  Unwrapped:  Jeff   Hazboun  explains  what  might  happen  to  you  at   the  Schwarzschild  radius  of  a  black  hole   Death  from  the  Sky  Science  Unwrapped:  A   couple  of  not  so  scary  comets     Annual  Chapter  Report,  page  13   CHAPTER  NAME  &  #  HERE  Annual  Chapter  Report  for  the  year  2011-­‐2012   Lasers  &  LIGO  Science  Unwrapped:  Katie   Breivik  explains  the  collapse  of  a  binary  star   system     With  fifth  graders:    “OK,  raise  your  hand    How   many  think  …?”    Every  year  USU  SPS  visits   dozens  of  elementary,  middle,  and  high  schools   conducting  demo-­‐experiments,  usually   accompanied  by  “what  if”  questions     With  fifth  graders:    The  vortex  cannon  makes   them  stand  up  and  scream!     Annual  Chapter  Report,  page  14   CHAPTER  NAME  &  #  HERE  Annual  Chapter  Report  for  the  year  2011-­‐2012   With  fifth  graders:    “Wow!    What  made  that   ring  jump?”     Physics  day  at  Lagoon:    Robert  Call  at  the  SPS   demo  booth    [Physics  Day  at  Lagoon  is  an   annual  day  of  physics-­‐based  competitions  (such   as  best  measurements  of  ride  accelerations)  at   the  Lagoon  amusement  park    Typical  middle   and  high  school  student  attendance  is  about   7,000.]       Part  5:  Our  chapter’s  other  efforts  to  further  the  SPS  Purpose/Mission       • USU  SPS  Facebook  sites:   http://www.facebook.com/pages/Utah-State-University-SPS-Outreach/152305074796202 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Utah-State-University-Society-of-Physics-Students/109921842398923 •   A  community  of  leaders   o Jinni  Meehan,  an  SPS/ΣΠΣ  graduate  member,  was  appointed  (2012)  director  of  the  annual   Intermountain  West  graduate  research  symposium   o In  the  last  two  years  Lance  Petersen  and  Michael  Stewart  have  held  elected  posts  in  the  USU   student  government   o USU  students  (Jodie  Barker-­‐Tvedtnes  and  Doug  Ball)  have  served  as  associate  zone  councilors   for  three  of  the  last  four  years     Annual  Chapter  Report,  page  15   CHAPTER  NAME  &  #  HERE  Annual  Chapter  Report  for  the  year  2011-­‐2012   • o Since  2006  (and  aided  by  a  “scholarship  competition  bootcamp”  run  by  Professor  Peak),  USU   SPS  students  have  received  a  Fulbright  Student  Scholarship  (Jan  Marie  Andersen,  2007);  a  NASA   Space  Technology  Research  Fellowship  (Amberly  Evans,  2012);  three  NSF  Graduate  Research   Fellowship  recognitions  (Jan  Marie  Andersen,  2010,  Nathan  Carruth,  2010,  and  Tamara   Jeppson,  2012);  and  15  national  Goldwater  Scholarship  recognitions  (Heidi  Wheelwright,  2006,   Keith  Warnick,  2006,  Jennifer  Albretsen,  2007,  Tamara  Jeppson,  2008,  Jodie  Barker-­‐Tvedtnes,   2007  and  2008,  Sydney  Chamberlin,  2008,  Taren  McKenna,  2009,  BJ  Myers,  2009,  Dan  Fenn,   2010,  Robert  Call,  2010,  Linsey  Johnson,  2011,  Brian  Tracy,  2011,  Jordan  Rozum,  2012,  and   Rachel  Ward,  2012)    Chamberlin  was  also  a  Rhodes  Scholar  finalist  in  2008   o In  fall  2011,  Linsey  Johnson  developed  and  taught  a  university  course,  “Outreach  in  Physics,”   taken  by  12  undergraduates   o As  stated  above,  we  have  had  three  SPS  Leadership  Scholars  (Barker-­‐Tvedtnes,  Call,  and   Petersen)  and  three  Outstanding  Undergraduate  Researcher  citations  (Barker-­‐Tvedtnes,   Chamberlin,  and  Ward)     SPS  in  the  news   o Over  the  last  two  years  Linsey  Johnson  and  Robert  Call  were  interviewed  on  Utah  Public  Radio   discussing  SPS  outreach  activities  associated  with  Science  Unwrapped    Charlie  Sim  and  Doug   Ball  were  interviewed  on  Salt  Lake  TV  station  KSL  concerning  the  “20,000  Bouncy  Ball  Drop”   (see  the  cover  of  the  Spring  2011  SPS  Observer)  and  Physics  Day  at  Lagoon   o The  chapter  has  been  cited  in  a  half  dozen  print  news  stories  over  the  last  three  years  and  was   the  University’s  outstanding  student  organization  in  2011     The  individual  initiative  of  Jodie  Barker-­‐Tvedtnes   created  the  revitalization  of  USU  SPS  in  2005-­‐6    This   photo  of  Jodie  and  her  daughter  Kalila  was  the   centerpiece  image  on  the  National  SPS  website  during   the  International  Year  of  Astronomy  in  2009     Sigma  Pi  Sigma  Activity  Report     • Induction  was  held  April  3,  2012   • 14  new  members  were  inducted     • • •   o This  makes  88  new  inductees  since  2007   Our  guest  speaker  was  Professor  Toni  Sauncy,  President  of  the  SPS  National  Council  (and  new   interim  Director)   About  50  current  members  and  friends  and  family  members  joined  this  year’s  inductees   After  the  ceremony,  officers  Doug  Ball,  Scott  Jensen,  and  Zach  Butterfield  introduced  a  new  Σ ΠΣ   Annual  Chapter  Report,  page  16   CHAPTER  NAME  &  #  HERE  Annual  Chapter  Report  for  the  year  2011-­‐2012   • chapter  program:  Champions  Club   o Designed  to  facilitate  goal  achievement  leading  to  success  in  securing  grad  school  admission   and  obtaining  positions  in  high  school  teaching  and  industrial  employment   Doug  Ball  applied  for  and  received  a  Chapter  Project  Award  to  help  fund  Professor  Sauncy’s  visit     The  induction  ceremony  was  preceded  by  dinner  in   the  University’s  Skyroom  Restaurant           Annual  Chapter  Report,  page  17   New  inductee  Leda  Sox  asserts  that  her  career  goal   is  to  take  Professor  Peak’s  job    In  the  back,   Professors  Jan  Sojka  and  Toni  Sauncy  get  new   inductee  Manuel  Pichardo  to  sign  the  “Red  Book.”   Professor  Sauncy  with  Doug  and  Whitney  Ball