The Section meeting for Spring 2013 of the Idaho-Utah Section of the AAPT will be held March 15th and 16th at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The Society of Physics Students will be holding its regional meeting at the same time.
Presenters:
Contributed talks are welcome from all aspects of physics education. Oral presentations will be limited to 15 minutes, including questions. Poster presentations are also invited.
Please submit an abstract with title and author information to Phil Matheson at phil.matheson@uvu.edu no later than March 5th.
Contributions are welcome from all physics faculty particularly from high school faculty. This meeting is also an excellent venue for students interested in physics pedagogy and learning . Topics on “best practices”, student learning and effective program and classroom assessment are especially welcome. Presentations of novel physics programs, laboratories, physics demonstrations and discussions about conceptual physics are highly encouraged.
In addition, dissemination papers on current physics topics are welcome, where such information would be of use, and interest in the student classroom experience. For example, information related to advances in fundamental physics such as the discovery of the Higgs Boson, embody a great deal of subtle physics. Similarly, topics such as climate change and energy use contain a great deal of interesting physics. Presentation of such information and ideas as would enhance educational aims are welcome.
Registration:
In person registration will be held between 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM, Friday, March 15th in the Atrium of the Science Building at UVU, and again from 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM Saturday, March 16th. Participants may also register at the SPS reception held Friday from 4:00 PM until 6:00 PM at the Hampton Inn and Suites.
Participants may also pre-register online at
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDVxQWFOOEwzT0J0anhfQjNYNTkwbUE6MQ#gid=0
Housing:
Rooms at $74/night are available at Hampton Inns and Suites, 851 West 1250 South in Orem.
The hotel is directly across the street from UVU. A pedestrian tunnel now links the south side of the busy University Parkway where the hotel is located, to the north side of the street where UVU is located, making for an easy walk.
Pre-reservations may be made at the $74/night rate by calling 801-426-8500. Please use the reservation code “BYU” to obtain the low rate. (We’ll not elaborate on why the code is “BYU” and not “UVU”!)
A link to the online hotel registration is pending
Parking:
Utah Valley University will be enjoying Spring Break during the AAPT meeting, and parking on campus will be unrestricted.
Information about UVU:
Utah Valley University is just off of I-15 at exit 269. Please visit http://www.uvu.edu/visitors/visit/index.html for addition information and maps.
The UVU Physics Department is quite young. It has graduated just over 60 students since 2004 (its first graduating class). The department’s graduates have been accepted to many graduate programs and several UVU physics alumni have their PhDs and are well established in research careers. The department has ten full time faculty. The faculty are active in several research areas including thermal acoustics, geophysics, medical physics, astronomy and aeronomy.
UVU has grown tremendously during the last decade and during the 2011-2012 academic year had the largest student body count of any of the institutions of higher education in the state of Utah. (The University of Utah has reclaimed that distinction for the present.)
