Physics Club Activities Click to see a larger image.

Student Physics Society - Seven Roles
Background image - Ring Nebula M57 by Chris Gallick

Upcoming Events and Ongoing Projects

  • The next regular meeting of the Physics Club will be on Thursday, September 20, at 11:30 am in Science 120.  On the agenda:

    * pizza
    * 5 minute video on nanotechnology - cool prize-winning research
            by 17 year old Mariangela Lisanti, 
    * hovercraft project
    * intramural teams
    * club photograph (digital - for this Web page)
    * 7 minute video on four topics - tour of the International Space Station,
         a supermassive blackhole (Sagittarius A*) at the center of the Milky Way galaxy,
         "Tumbleweed" (6 meter instrumental ball for exploring on Mars),
         and time-lapse thermal imaging of the Earth via satellite
2001-2002 Officers

Christmas party - Dec. 21, 2000
Pause for picture before eating the pizza ! Cecilia brought these homemade Christmas cookies - accelerator rings, stars, ...

Click for a large image
Club Photo taken September 14, 2000.
Front row:  Burim Neziroski, Cy Henningsen, Pat Watts.
Standing:  Adam Geske, Bob Hoffmann, Bruce McCart, 
Brice Corrigan, Cecilia Vogel, Matt Fisher, Kinsey
Olson, Chris Gallick, and Nathan Atterberry. 

Outreach program -  4th grade class at Franklin Elem. School, Moline, Apr. 5, 2001
Pat Watts, Adam Geske, Bob Hoffmann, Brice Corrigan

Club members took a field trip to Fermilab and to the Adler Planetarium in Chicago on Saturday, March 31, 2001.  In the right-hand picture: Row 1 - David Renneke, Bob Hoffmann, Cy Henningsen, Nate Atterberry, Kevin Mahoney. Row 2 - Cecilia Vogel, Andrea Jaeger, Derek Strom, Pat Watts, and Brice Corrigan.

Click for a larger image

Sigma Pi Sigma Honor Banquet - March 28, 2001

Nathan Atterberry, Karen Andeen, Robert Hoffmann, Adam Geske, and Patrick Watts.  The guest speaker was David Levy, "Conveying the
Excitement of Science".

Outreach program - 6th grade class at Butterworth Elem. School, Moline, Feb. 5, 2001
Chris Gallick, Andrea Jaeger, Pat Watts, Derek Strom, Matt Fisher Chris, Derek and Pat Andrea and Derek
   
Highlights from 1999-2000

       The two photos on the left were taken at the fireworks show on May 7, 2000.   The other three were taken
       at the Pyrotechnics Class on April 29, 2000.  Click on any of the photos to see a larger image.
At Mike Farrier's fireworks show - May 7, 2000 Looking across the pond at the fireworks show - May 7, 2000 Lee Carkner (center) and Marsha Smith (right) Left to right: Wes Calvert, Jim Schuetz, Andrea Jaeger Cecilia Vogel launching a rocket at Ericson field
  • Dr. Thomas Rossing of the physics department at Northern Illinois University was on campus on April 6, 2000.    He was our guest at the Sigma Pi Sigma honor banquet that evening and then gave a public lecture on "Acoustics of Caribbean Steel Drums" in Science 102 at 7:00 pm.
  • Members of the Physics Club made posters for the April 6-7, 2000 observatory open house in conjunction with the Conjunction of Planets.
  • On Feb. 17, 2000, the Physics Club watched the 52 minute video,  "If We Had No Moon".
  • The observatory was open to the public to view the total eclipse of the moon on the evening of Jan. 20, 2000.  Viewing was fine until about 9:30 when the sky became mostly cloudy.  Totality was from 10:04 to 11:22 pm.  Members of the Physics Club helped with the telescopes and a number of other things related to the Planetarium program and the moon slide show in the John Deere Lecture Hall.

These photos were taken during the lunar eclipse on Jan. 20, 2000 

Outreach program - Franklin, Moline
In the John Deere Lecture Hall On the circle drive west of the planetarium
  • Plans  to watch the Geminid meteor shower at 10:00 pm on December 13, 1999, and the Quadranid meteor shower at 2:00 am on Jan. 4, 2000, were cancelled because of cloudy weather.
  • There was a good turnout for the Leonid Meteor Shower program on Nov. 17-18.  We didn't see any impacts on the moon using the telescope in the observatory but we looked at a number of other things.  Students, physics faculty and their spouses all enjoyed watching the meteors in the country from about 11:30 pm to 1:45 am with mild temperatures around 50 degrees.  The moon set and we had a great view of the Orion Nebula (M42/M43) with the 8" telescope.  Special thanks for the hot chocolate and hot cider provided by Andrea Jaeger and Cecilia Vogel.
  • Thanks to all of you who helped with the ISAAPT meeting on Oct. 29-30, 1999 - Andrea Jaeger, Chris Gallick, Wes Calvert, Joel Biskie, Derek Strom, Craig Cwik, and Tiffany Tobler.  Your assistance was extremely valuable - making signs, making name tags, decorating 108, conducting tours on both days, working at the registration desk, and helping people use the 8" telescope set up on the sidewalk.  You guys were great!
  • Daily Sunsor UVB report - Mid-day UV measurements taken with a hand-held digital detector are currently being taken every day at Augustana and sent in by e-mail by Dr. Renneke

Some Physics Links

Physics Outreach Programs at Other Schools

SPS Chapters, Zones and Programs

Home pages:  Physics | Astronomy | Augustana | Science at Augustana

David R. Renneke - phrenneke@augustana.edu
Cecilia J. Vogel - phvogel@augustana.edu
Last modified: September 17, 2001