Society of Physics Students Zone 12 Meeting at the University of Kansas

Contribution List

5. Advice for Graduate School Visits

Ian Lewis (The University of Kansas)

In this write up, I give advice for visiting graduate schools as you decide on which to attend. This lists a series of questions to ask students/faculty and what information you should be getting from them. This is a highly personalized take on this whole process, so please also seek advice from your mentors.

1. An introduction to Variable Star Observing

Ms Emily Trail (SWOSU)

As long as mankind has studied the cosmos, there’s still much to be learned about it. One type of heavenly body astronomers worldwide are still trying to decipher is variable stars. They are named as such due to their tendency to change brightness from Earth’s point of view, regularly or irregularly. Some of these stars don’t actually change brightness, but merely appear to change brightness...

4. Constructing Unmanned Aerial Systems

Mr Daniel Gassen (Southwestern Oklahoma State University)

For various projects the SWOSU Physics Club has needed an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) for aerial photography and other purposes. Rather than purchase one, we decided to build one based on the designs and software of Joop Brokking and the Arduino microcontroller. Our first attempt was a self-leveling drone that weighed about 2.7 lbs. (including the battery) and was about 19 inches from motor...

6. Graduate School Admission Process

Christophe Royon (The University of Kansas (US))

An overview of the graduate school admission process at the University of Kansas Department of Physics & Astronomy. Much of this advice is general and can be applied to applying to most graduate schools. However, be careful, some of it is very specific for the University of Kansas Department of Physics & Astronomy. For example, Kansas has de-emphasized the GRE, while this is not true...

2. High Powered Rocketry

Mr Brock Mason (Southwestern Oklahoma State University)

Since 2017, the Kloudbusters Rocketry Club in Argonia, Kansas has put on a rocketry competition open to Colleges and Universities. The goal is to fly a rocket to a minimum of 8000 feet and safely return the rocket to the ground, and its payload, a golf ball, to a specified location near the launch site. In order to reach 8000 feet, competition rockets need to reach speeds near or above the...

3. The Dobsonian Telescope: An Outreach Exploration Part IV

Mr Cameron Cinnamon (Southwestern Oklahoma State University)

We have reclaimed optical equipment from some of our older, unusable telescopes, which has been incorporated into new portable Dobsonian telescopes. First, we built a new Dobsonian base for a broken telescope. This took several attempts before we had a smoothly functioning piece of equipment, and we learned through trial and error how to be extremely precise with our measurements. Then, we...