Author: sosolik

The Dept. of Physics and Astronomy hosted the latest meeting of the Southeastern Laboratory Astrophysics Community (SELAC) from May 13-16, 2019 at the Madren Conference Center. The meeting kicked off on Monday, May 13th with a graduate student symposium featuring graduate student presenters as well as panel discussions from faculty who discussed job and research opportunities in the field of laboratory astrophysics. The full SELAC meeting ran from Tuesday-Thursday and featured speakers from several of our Southeastern colleagues as well as from NIST-Gaithersburg, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the National Ignition Facility. Participants took time for a short outing into the South Carolina Botanical Gardens and the meeting closed with a vibrant discussion of future plans for the community to bring additional laboratory astrophysics opportunities to the Southeast.

The annual meeting of the Physics Teacher Education Coalition or PhysTEC was held March 2-3, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts and Clemson University had a seat at the table for the first time. Attending the PhysTEC 2019 meeting were Profs. Sean Brittain and Chad Sosolik, who gave a presentation on their 3-year project with the Laurens County school districts entitled “STEM Training for K­-12 Teachers: A Pilot Program in Upstate South Carolina”.

The Dept. of Physics and Astronomy became  a PhysTEC member institution this past Fall as part of its ongoing effort to recognize and enhance the teaching and outreach components of its mission. PhysTEC, which was founded in 2001, is a network of institutions committed to developing and promoting excellence in physics and physical science teacher preparation. The organization operates as a partnership between the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT).

At PhysTEC 2019, attendees learned about ongoing efforts to improve physics teacher education at the undergraduate level, many of which may find their way onto the Clemson University campus. These include the UTeach Model and the Get the Facts Out initiative, which is focused on addressing the misperceptions and lack of knowledge that many students and professional physicists have about the teaching profession.