Category: Section minutes and records

2026 Idaho/Utah Section Report

Section Representative: Larry K. Smith, Snow College Department of Physics

The 1983 section bylaws had been lost for decades. A copy was recovered and examined. It was determined they needed updating, so Larry Smith wrote a draft which was discussed and then approved at the section meeting.

Section Meeting: The 2026 meeting of the Idaho/Utah section was held at the University of Utah on  April 10–11 in Salt Lake City, with about 50 attending. On the evening of Friday, April 10, a banquet was held with a popular demo show afterwards. Demos where shared by many people representing various institutions. A good time was had by all. 

On Saturday, April 11, Rhett Zollinger, section president and planner and organizer of the conference, welcomed everyone. The section meeting was held in conjunction with a regular make-n-take workshop the U of U provides for area high school teachers.

The keynote speaker was Nick Borys who spoke about “Advancing Quantum Technologies Through New Materials.” Parallel workshop sessions were then held.

After lunch a section business meeting was held at 1:00. We approved some revised section bylaws and elected a full new slate of officers (which we’ve previously been unable to do since COVID). A spreadsheet showing the history of all section meetings was also shown.

Cheryl Davis at Brigham Young University will be the new section president and will host the 2027 meeting. 

Two sessions of parallel talks were held in the afternoon.

President Zollinger did a wonderful job planning and hosting the meeting.

Current Officers (terms all start Spring 2026)

Section Representative: Kim Nielsen, Utah Valley University (3-year term)

Section President: Cheryl Davis, Brigham Young University-Provo (1-year term) 

Section President-Elect: Katie Devine, College of Idaho (1-year term)

Section Vice President: Steve Hart, Snow College (1-year term)

Section Past President: Rhett Zollinger, University of Utah (1-year term)

Section Secretary/Treasurer: Adam Beehler, University of Utah (2-year term)

Next Section Meeting: Brigham Young University in Spring 2027, planned by Cheryl Davis.

2025 Idaho/Utah Section Report

Section Representative: Larry K. Smith, Snow College Department of Physics

Section Meeting: The 2025 meeting of the Idaho/Utah section was held at Brigham Young University – Idaho on  March 28–29 in Rexburg, Idaho, with about 50 attending. On the evening of Friday, March 28, a banquet was held with a popular demo show afterwards. Demos where shared by many people representing various institutions. A good time was had by all. 

On Saturday, March 29, Matt Zachreson, planner and organizer of the conference, welcomed everyone. 

Lunch was concurrent with a poster session and the section business meeting was held at 1:00. COVID-19 (and the cancellation of section meetings 2020, 2021, and 2022) derailed the planning of future meetings and the list of expected section officers. Rhett Zollinger (U of U) will become the next president and host in 2026.

Next Section Meeting: University of Utah in April of 2026 planned by Rhett Zollinger. We plan to vote on updates to the section bylaws to better plan for section office holders in the future.

2024 Idaho/Utah Section Report

Section Representative: Larry K. Smith, Snow College Department of Physics

Section Meeting: The 2024 meeting of the Idaho/Utah section was held at Utah Valley University (UVU) April 12–13, 2024, with about 50 attending. On the evening of Friday, April 12, a banquet was held with a popular demo show afterwards. Most of the demos were done by UVU faculty, but others also brought some demos to share. A good time was had by all. 

On Saturday, April 13, Dustin Shipp, planner and organizer of the conference, welcomed everyone, followed by a message from Duane Merrill, past National AAPT President. President Merrill counseled us as AAPT to focus on physics teaching and not get distracted by peripheral issues. Kent L. Gee of BYU gave a fascinating keynote address about high amplitude acoustics from explosions to rockets to volcanoes. Parallel breakout sessions were held in the morning and afternoon with good attendance. 

Lunch was concurrent with a poster session and the section business meeting was held at 1:00. COVID-19 (and the cancellation of section meetings 2020, 2021, and 2022) derailed the planning of future meetings and the list of expected section officers. At the conference Matt Zachreson of BYU-I volunteered to host the meeting in 2025 if no one else was available. After the meeting that plan of action was confirmed. Matt will be the section President until the end of the 2025 spring section meeting and then Rhett Zollinger (U of U) will become the next president and host in 2026.

Next Section Meeting: BYU-Idaho in spring of 2025 hosted by Matt Zachreson.

Section Representative: Larry K. Smith, Snow College Department of Physics

The Idaho/Utah Section of AAPT had a good year in 2023, post-COVID. 

Section Meeting: We had our annual section meeting at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls, Idaho on April 14–15, 2023, with the ever-popular demo show in the afternoon, some telescope viewing and a planetarium show in the evening.

The next morning there was an invited talk from a biologist with ties to physics and then parallel breakout sessions. 

At the business meeting Brian Pyper ran an election to replace himself and Larry Smith was elected as the new Section Representative for 3 years. 

Next Section Meeting: Dustin Shipp is planning a section meeting at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah on March 14–15.

Spring 2018 Idaho Utah Section report

The annual meeting of the Idaho-Utah Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers was held February Friday/Saturday 23-24 2018 at the BYU-I campus in Rexburg, ID. The local organizer and current president was Matt Zachreson, and the meeting was wonderful, although sparsely attended mainly due to some weather concerns (we had a fairly significant winterstorm come through the area both during the week before and the weekend of the conference). A no-host dinner Friday evening at a local pizza and pasta buffet was followed by the ever popular demo show, where several attendees showed off their favorite physics demos.

Saturday morning a light breakfast led to a morning session of talks and presentations, followed by a mid-morning snack and student poster session. A second session of contributed talks got us through to the luncheon and business meeting, where A spate of elections and announcements were on the agenda. The announcements included a reminder of all the programs and benefits available through AAPT and a reminder that the National Meeting will be held in our section next year, the first one since 2005. The Summer meeting will be held in Provo in 2019. Initial plans were made about garnering section help for the various responsibilities associated with hosting a national meeting. We also made plans for updating the mailing list and encouraging more younger faculty to be involved with the section. Then two important elections resulted in Brian Pyper from BYUI being reelected as the Idaho-Utah Section Representative, and Daryl Macomb from Boise State being elected as president-elect. That means the current list of section officers stands as follows:

Past President: Adam Beehler – UofU

President: Matt Zachreson – BYUI

Vice President: James Coburn – USU

President Elect: Daryl Macomb – BSU

Section Rep: Brian Pyper – BYUI

The section meeting next year will be hosted by USU with James Coburn as the local organizer, and two years from now at BSU with Daryl Macomb as the local organizer.

After lunch there were a few more talks and a handful of short workshops, and the day finished with a planetarium show. Matt Zachreson did a fine job with the meeting and everyone who came had a great time.

Thanks to Rondo Jefferies for the memories!

Idaho/Utah section meetings of AAPT

year         dates                 place                                 institution

1983           Apr. 15                Logan, Utah                      Utah State University     (organizational meeting)

1984           Mar. 17               Boise, Idaho                     Boise State University

1985           Mar. 8-9             Provo, Utah                      Brigham Young University

1986           Mar. 7-8             Pocatello, Idaho             Idaho State University

1987           Mar. 6-7             Ogden, Utah                    Weber State College

1988           Mar. 4-5             Rexburg, Idaho               Ricks College

1989           Mar. 10               Salt Lake City                    University of Utah

1990           Mar. 2-3             Boise, Idaho                     Boise State University

1991           Mar. 1-2             Brigham City, Utah        Utah State Univ./Box Elder H.S.

1992           Mar. 6-7             Pocatello, Idaho             Idaho State University

1993           Mar. 26-27        Provo, Utah                      Brigham Young University

1994           Mar. 11-12        Rexburg, Idaho               Ricks College

1995           Mar. 10-11        Ogden, Utah                    Weber State University

1996           Mar. 1-2             Boise, Idaho                     Boise State University

1997           Mar. 13-14        Salt Lake City, Utah       Westminster College

1998           Mar. 6-7             Pocatello, Idaho             Idaho State University

1999           Mar. 5-6             Logan, Utah                      Utah State University

2000           Apr. 1                  Twin Falls, Idaho             College of Southern Idaho (joint with Idaho Acad. Sci.)

2001           Mar. 1-2             Provo, Utah                      Brigham Young University

2002           Mar. 29-30        Boise, Idaho                     Boise State University

2003           Mar. 28-29        Ogden, Utah                    Weber State University

2004           Mar. 26-27        Pocatello, Idaho             Idaho State University

2005           Mar. 26               Salt Lake City                    University of Utah

2006           Mar. 24-25        Rexburg, Idaho               Brigham Young University-Idaho

2007           Mar. 23-24        Logan, Utah                      Utah State University

2008           Mar. 28-29        Nampa, Idaho                 College of Western Idaho

2009           Mar. 6-7             Provo, Utah                      Brigham Young University

2010           Apr. 30-May1   Pocatello, Idaho             Idaho State University

2011           Mar. 11-12        Ogden, Utah                    Weber State University

2012           Mar. 9-10           Rexburg, Idaho               Brigham Young University-Idaho

2013           Mar 15-16          Orem, Utah                      Utah Valley University

2014           Mar 21-22          Caldwell, ID                      College of Idaho

2015           Mar 13-14          Ephraim, UT                     Snow College

2016                                         Pocatello, ID                     Idaho State University

2017                                         Salt Lake City, UT            University of Utah

2018         Feb 23-24         Rexburg, ID                         BYU-Idaho