Physics Club and Outreach

The Physics Club is a student organization for anyone who thinks physics is "phun."  Meetings are held every two weeks.

The year is filled with activities, beginning with the display of a 111-foot pendulum in the Superior Dome during laptop distribution. A courageous few may even be able to swing on the pendulum.

The fall semester includes a hike through the bog near Presque Isle Park to investigate the paranormal Paulding lights. Members also attend the Undergraduate Research Symposium at Argonne National Laboratory outside of Chicago. Students are encouraged to present their research projects at the conference.  

Some very successful outreach programs have involved interactions between Physics Club members and students at Sandy Knoll Elementary School. Another important outreach activity is NMU's Seaborg Center Science Olympiad, held each February. The competition is open to middle and high school students. During the Olympiad, NMU physics students and faculty assist with various competitions in math and science.

Additionally, NMU physics students and faculty have been involved in Project Kaleidoscope, a day of scientific and hobby activities at NMU's Superior Dome. Elementary school students and teachers are also invited to NMU to participate in astronomical activities to supplement their study of the solar system. NMU physics faculty visit high school physics classes in the area to introduce students to new concepts and experiments.

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WINTER 2013 ACTIVITIES:

The Physics Club met with medical physicists and toured the radiation oncology area at Marquette General Hospital. 

An alumna, Dr, Micha Kilburn, visited with members of the Physics Club in March. She has a PhD in nuclear physics from Michigan State University.  Dr. Kilburn works as an Outreach Coordinator at Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics at the University of Notre Dame. 

In the past month, students from the Physics Club have volunteered at Science Olympiad and provided pendulum demonstrations/rides for children who attended Project Kaleidoscope, an annual event for children held at NMU's Superior Dome. 

Physics Club students plan to provide active physics demos for the K-4 grade students at Sandy Knoll Elementary school in April. 

FALL 2012 ACTIVITIES:

In October, members of the Physics club visited the Mackinac Bridge near St. Ignace, MI.  Last year, the club was given a presentation by the bridge engineer, Ms. Kim Nowack. She went over the history of the need for traffic between the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. She went over how the use of ferry boats and how eventually the need for a bridge was realized and the creation of the Mackinac Bridge Authority. She covered the construction of the bridge and the maintenance of the bridge both annually and at prescribed intervals such as every 5 or 10 years. Students learned about new initiatives that happen at the bridge. The crowning part of the trip however was when two students were taken to the top of one of the bridge towers and the rest were taken down to the anchor piers below the bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

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Students and faculty from the NMU Physics Club stopped for nourishment before taking on the mystery of the Paulding Light near Watersmeet, MI, in September. The club has made the trip to this well-known Upper Peninsula attraction for several years. In the picture, Kylee Branning views the site with a telescope while Dr. David Lucas and Amelia Shirtz watch.