40
REGISTRATION
7 a.m.–4 p.m. Grand Ballroom Foyer
Spouse/Guest Scenic Boat Tour of Winter Park, FL
9 a.m.–2 p.m. offsite
Kindle Raffle 10:15 a.m. Exhibit Hall
First Timers’ Gathering 12–1 p.m. Salon 4
Early Career Professionals Speed Networking
12:30–2 p.m. Salon 10
H.S. Physics Teachers Day Luncheon
1–2 p.m. Salon 14
SPS Awards Reception 6–7:30 p.m. Salon 14
High School Share-a-Thon 8:30–10 p.m. Salon 4
AAPT Council Meeting 8:30–10 p.m. Ballroom C
COMMITTEE MEETINGS, 12–1:45 p.m.
–History & Philosophy
Salon 6
–Laboratories
Salon 11
–Pre-High School Education Salon 7
–Physics in Two-Year Colleges Salon 9
–Research in Physics Education (RiPE) Salon 8
Commercial WorkshopS, 12–1 p.m.
–CW01: Perimeter Institute Salon 13
–CW05: Expert TA
Salon 12
Commercial Workshop, 2–3 p.m.
–CW02: Perimeter Institute Salon 13
Afternoon Break, Exhibits 4 p.m. Exhibit Hall
Gift Card Raffle 4:15 p.m. Exhibit Hall
COMMITTEE MEETINGS, 6-7:30 p.m.
–Apparatus
Salon 3
–International Physics Education Salon 6
–Physics in High Schools
Salon 4
–Professional Concerns
Salon 13
–Space Science and Astronomy Salon 12
Plenary: Don Pettit 7:30–8:30 p.m. Ballroom B
EXHIBIT HALL OPEN:
10 a.m.–5 p.m. Ballroom A
Sunday, January 5
Highlights
Session AA: SPS Research and
Outreach
Location: Salon 3
Sponsor: Committee on Physics in Undergraduate Education
Date: Sunday, January 5
Time: 2–4 p.m.
Presider: Toni Sauncy
AA01:
2-2:30 p.m. SPS Mather Internship: US House of
Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and
Technology
Invited – Nikki L. Sanford, American Institute of Physics-SPS, 9035 Spice-
wood Run, Bel Alton, MD 20611;
As a Society of Physics Student Mather Intern, I worked in the US House
of Representatives’ Committee on Science Space and Technology. Nobel
Laureate Physicist John Mather created this program to promote aware-
ness of science policy among young physicists. In the Science Committee,
I was directly involved in the legislative process through research projects,
working with staff, and attending committee hearings and markups. I will
discuss my experiences on Capitol Hill and interactions with Congress-
men, staff, and experts in the scientific community. A physics/scientific
background, along with opportunities from this SPS Internship with
Congress has been extremely applicable and beneficial to my future career
path and current studies at William and Mary Law School.
AA02:
2:30-2:40 p.m. Undergraduate Research Component
within College Physics Course
Contributed – Irina Struganova, Valencia College, Orlando, FL 32811;
I would like to share my experience of incorporating mini research proj-
ects in an honors college physics course. Students were given an option to
choose to work on one of the following projects: Kepler Mission, Diffrac-
tion of Electrons, Photoelectric Effect, or the Cavendish Experiment. As-
signments included learning basic physics principles related to the project,
the history and the significance of a particular experiment, conducting a
modern version of the experiment and/or the data analysis, and writing a
paper. Developed guidelines and resources, as well as students’ accom-
plishments, will be presented.
AA03:
2:40-2:50 p.m. Undergraduates Creating a High-
Performance Computer Cluster
Contributed – Scott C. Garland,* Francis Marion University, Florence, SC
29505;
William Dixon, Larry P. Engelhardt, Ginger Bryngelson, Francis Marion
University
Galen Collier Clemson University
We present the student-led creation and management of Francis Marion
University’s new Patriot Cluster. Supercomputers have become essential
tools for many computational scientists. Undergraduate access to such
machines can, therefore, boost the competency of computational physics
students who have opportunities to interact with them. For this reason,
the Patriot Cluster’s creation and resources are being used as tools for un-
dergraduate education and research. This project is supported by the NSF
EPSCoR RII Track 1 cooperative agreement awarded to the University of
South Carolina.
*Sponsored by Larry Engelhardt
AA04:
2:50-3 p.m. Using a Semiconductor Defect to Connect
Diffusion Lengths with Lifetimes
Contributed – Ashley Finger, Davidson College, Physics Department, David-
son, NC 28035;
Tim Gfroerer, Davidson College
When a semiconductor absorbs light,
electron-hole pairs are generated and
subsequently recombine. In this study, we
use the light emitted by a semiconduc-
