Physics Open House

Prospective student, Dat Nguyen checks out one of the demonstration tables

Every fall, the Physics Open House uses hands on demonstrations to inform undecided undergraduates about the possibilities of a physics major. This year more than 120 students viewed demonstrations, heard lectures and took tours of various physics research and teaching laboratories. According to Professor Prisca Cushman, the Open House coordinator, the event is an opportunity "to demonstrate the broad range of employment options available to physics graduates, whether they go on to graduate school or not."

The Society of Physics Students took turns manning an information table and giving tours of various lab facilities. On one tour of the Experimental and Modern Methods Laboratories, Kurt Wick showed a prospective major, Army Nuddin, first how a Geiger counter is used and then the working lab where students learn to build their own experimental equipment. "It's a lot more technical than I thought," Nuddin commented as the tour concluded. "I didn't realize you would have to build your own equipment."

While students snacked on pizza, they listened to lectures by University of Minnesota physics alumni such as Dr. Stephen J. Willett, who explained how he uses his undergraduate physics degree in his job at Eastman Kodak.

The open house gave undergraduates a chance to meet with School of Physics and Astronomy faculty, graduate students and undergraduate physics majors. Although many of the attendees were undecided on their majors, some, like Stephanie Mma, an aerospace engineering major, were thinking of adding physics as a double major. Tour leaders like Dave Engebretson used the occasion to recruit undergraduates to work in research laboratories. "It's an excellent opportunity for everyone. It's a good experience for an undergrad, much better than working stocking shelves, and it's always good to have more people working in the lab." Engebretson is part of Paul Crowell's Spin Dynamics and Magneto-optics laboratory, and gave a demonstration of an infrared laser and the properties of liquid nitrogen used to cool semiconductors to low temperatures.