The Grove City College Physics Club has once again won an Outstanding Chapter Award from the Society of Physics Students (SPS) National Office.
The College SPS chapter, advised by Dr. DJ Wagner, professor of Physics, has been recognized for its excellence as a top-tier student-led physical sciences organization for four years in a row and 11 times over the last 14 years. The designation is given to fewer than 10 percent of all SPS chapters at colleges and universities in the United States and internationally.
The chapter says it is “a community of students who are tight-knit as friends and lovers of physics, enthusiastic in their desire to share with others – both potential future physicists and the general public – their excitement for understanding how the world works and devoted to serving the student body and the larger community surrounding their college.”
SPS chapters are evaluated on their level of interaction with the campus community, the professional physics community, the public, and with SPS national programs. The Outstanding Chapter Award recognizes high levels of outreach as well as unique approaches to fulfilling the mission of SPS to “help students transform themselves into contributing members of the professional community.”
The Grove City College chapter holds regular meetings and hosts many events to encourage fellowship among members and advance the study of physics on campus. It sponsors trips to Physcon, the national congress for physics students, brings speakers to campus, and encourages student research. The chapter is very active in the community. In addition to holding an annual Physics Day that traditionally brings area schoolchildren to campus for fun and informative activities demonstrating physics, the group helps local residents with yard work and other tasks through its Rent-a-Student fundraiser.
The SPS is a professional association designed for students and membership is open to anyone interested in physics and related fields. SPS operates within the American Institute of Physics (AIP), an umbrella organization for professional physical science societies.