Physics major at UofL elected by chapters of student organization in four states as representative on Society of Physics Students National Council.
May 30, 2014, Louisville, KY – Kyle Steffen, a physics major in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Louisville, has just been elected to serve as a student representative on the National Council of the Society of Physics Students. In his nomination statement, he stressed the importance of improving communication among scientific organization and the public. The Society of Physics Students (SPS) is a professional association designed for students and membership is open to anyone interested in physics. SPS operates within the American Institute of Physics (AIP), an umbrella organization for professional physical science societies. The Society of Physics Students is governed by a National Council, comprised of a Director from the Education division of the AIP, an elected President of SPS, an elected President of Sigma Pi Sigma, the National Honor Society for Physics, and an elected faculty and student representative from each of 18 geographical zones. Faculty representatives, known as Zone Councilors, serve 3-year terms and can be reelected once. Student representatives, known as Associate Zone Councilors, serve 1-year terms and can be reelected. The National Council meets annually in Washington, DC, and regularly via video conference. Elections of Councilors take place in the spring to select those who will serve in the following academic year. Each chapter is allowed one vote for each position. The University of Louisville is in a geographical region known as Zone 8, including all of Kentucky and most of Tennesse, Indiana, and Illinois. This regions contains 50 SPS chapters. According to Dr. Christopher L. Davis: “Kyle is a conscientious and talented student. It’s a great honor that he has been selected by his peers as a national representative, but I can’t say that it is a surprise.” Mr. Steffen is in a five-year BS/MS degree program in physics and has just completed the Bachelors portion of that program. In addition to serving as Associate Zone Councilor on the National Council, Mr. Steffen will be Vice President of the award-winning local chapter of SPS. As an undergraduate, he performed research in theoretical atomic physics and as a masters student will do his research work in high energy particle physics. In his spare time, he is an avid drummer.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. David N. Brown
UofL Department of Physics & Astronomy
502-852-6790
david.brown"at"louisville.edu
