Williams Physics Department Hosts New England Meetings of Physical Society and Physics Teachers

Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., April 3, 2003 — The physics department will host the 2003 Joint Spring Meeting of the New England Sections of the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) on Friday and Saturday, April 11 and 12.

The goal of the conference is to promote, disseminate, and advance the knowledge, application, and teaching of physics.

Registration is open to the public; the cost is $40. Sessions will be held in various locations in the Science Center. For more information, call the Williams College physics department at (413) 597-2482 or on the web at www.williams.edu/physics/aps/.

The Friday sessions, which begin at 2:30 p.m., will focus on “Quantum Bits” with talks by Williams physicist William Wootters, David Branning of the University of Illinois, and David Mermin of Cornell University.

Saturday morning speakers will address “Ultrafast Pulses Beyond the Visible Spectrum” with Xi-Cheng Zhang of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Phil Buksbaum of the University of Michigan; and “The Teaching of Physics” with Stuart Crampton of Williams and John Hubisz of North Carolina State University.

There will be a series of workshops on Saturday afternoon on “Chaos,” “Capturing Real-World Motions In Three-Dimensions: A New Tool to Create New Curricula for the Study of Motion,” “New and Hot Items from Pasco,” “Calculators in Physics for Beginners,” “A Spread of PhysicsSpreadsheets,” and “Circular Motion and the Looping Coaster, Featuring Handhelds and Probeware.”

Richard Wilson, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics, Emeritus, at Harvard University, who has worked on a variety of projects in his 50-year career in nuclear and particle physics, will give the after-dinner talk on Friday on the “Role of Physicists in Public Policy.” A poster session will precede the dinner at the Williams Inn. To conclude the evening, there will be a social event, primarily for student attendees, hosted by the local chapter of the Society of Physics Students.

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