National SPS Membership

Please consider joining the national SPS! You'll become connected to a national network of physicists and receive journals and a membership in an affiliated organization as well (e.g. The American Geophysical Union). The physics department will reimburse the $20 membership for the first 10 students that join. You can find the appropriate forms here.

SPS Information

Seven Roles for SPS

1. Encouraging undergraduate research experience as a teaching tool.
2. Promoting science literacy and appreciation through physics outreach programs to grades K-12 and the general public.
3. Through SPS alumni and the members of Sigma Pi Sigma, the Society maintains the only institutionalized structure the physics community has for communicating with the "friends of physics" that exist throughout all walks of life in society.
4. The SPS provides an effective signpost for educating the student on the many career options, in addition to traditional physics, that come with a degree in physics.
5. The active SPS chapter is an especially effective student recruitment and retention tool for the physics department.
6. The SPS is a gateway society to the other professional societies in physics.
7. The SPS provides training for leadership. Through SPS activities, students' professional development, communication skills, leadership qualities, and professional networking is enhanced in ways that cannot be realized in course work alone.

What is SPS?

The Society of Physics Students (SPS) is a professional physics association explicitly designed for students. Membership, through collegiate chapters, is open to anyone interested in physics. The only requirement for membership is that you be inte4rested in physics. Besides physics majors, our members include majors in chemistry, computer science, engineering, geology, mathematics, medicine, and other fields. Within the SPS, Sigma Pi Sigma, a nationally recognized scholastic honor society, elects members on the basis of outstanding academic achievement. This two-in-one Society operates within the American Institute of Physics (AIP).

The SPS is essentially a self-governing Society created to serve the interests of physics undergraduate and graduate students. It was formed in April 1968, from the union of the AIP Student Sections and Sigma Pi Sigma. The Student Sections had been established by SIP. Sigma Pi Sigma originated as a local honor society at Davidson College, North Carolina in 1921.

At present there are over600 active chapters of SPS on campuses across the country. Approximately 6,000 students take part in the chapter activities, making SPS the fourth largest physics society in the country. Over 400 chapters include the honor society as part of their activities. Total membership in Sigma Pi Sigma, including alumni, exceeds 58,000.

To the individual student

Your SPS chapter is largely autonomous. Only those items specified in the national SPS constitution are limiting factors. The constitution can be amended only on recommendation of the National Council followed by approval from two-thirds of the SPS chapters. Thus SPS is your society and deserves your active participation and support. We urge you to use your membership in SPS to participate in the physics community, both on your own campus and on the regional and national levels.

Why join SPS?

The SPS exists to help students transform themselves into contributing member of the professional community. Course work develops only one range o skills. Other skills needed to flourish professionally include effective communication and personal interactions, leadership experience, establishing a personal network of contacts, presenting scholarly work in professional meeting and journals, and outreach services to the campus and local communities.

Locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally, the SPS offers the opportunity for these important enrichments to the student's experience.

1. LOCALLY, there are chapter meetings, where students may make presentations, invite local guest speakers, plan science outreach programs, or organize a departmental picnic or a science film-festival. Chapter meetings are limited only by the imaginations of the members!
2. SPS members may apply for one of the annual SPS Scholarships awarded for the senior year of study. The chapter may apply or a Marsh White Award and a Sigma Pi Sigma Undergraduate Research Award. The Marsh White Award funds science outreach programs in the local community. The Sigma Pi Sigma award supports research projects conducted by the chapter.

REGIONALLY, the SPS is organized into 18 Zones. At the semi-annual Zone meetings, students from many chapters meet to enjoy fellowship, present research papers, tour laboratories, hear nationally known distinguished guest speakers, an exchange ideas on topics of mutual interest, such as ideas for science outreach to grades K-12, or career options besides physics that are open to one with a physics degree. Attending Zone meetings is the most effective way to build and maintain a healthy chapter.

AIP and SPS placement services are available to members of SPS. Starting in the 1995-96 academic year, some Zone meetings will include a placement center, linking new recipients of BS/BS degrees with potential employers.

Members of SPS receive Physics Today, the publication sent to all members of AIP Member Societies; the Journal of Undergraduate Research in Physics, whe4re students research is published; and the SPS Newsletter, published five times per year, which covers local, regional, and national PSS activities and includes the latest job information. They may subscribe at special member rates to AIP and Member Society journals including: American Journal of Physics, The Physics Teacher, Applied Physics Letters, Journal of Applied Physics, The Journal of Chemical Physics, Computers in Physics, Journal of Mathematical Physics, the Physics of Fluids, the Review of Scientific Instruments, Physics of Plasmas, the Industrial Physics, and Chaos. Return to menu

NATIONALLY the policies of SPS are set by the National Council, which is elected by chapters within geographic zones. Faculty members are nominated by chapter to represent their Zones as Councilors. If elected they will serve for tree-year terms. The President of the National Council and the President of SPS are elected by the chapters for Two-year terms. Associate Councilors, students themselves, are also nominated by the chapters and are elected for one-year terms. Both Councilors an Associate Councilors participate in Zone Activities and in the annual policy-making meeting of the Council.

SPS chapters with a Sigma Pi Sigma chapter award recognition and distinction to students who have achieved high scholarship, by electing them to membership in Sigma Pi Sigma.

INTERNATIONALLY, the SPS sends two students per year to represent the USA in the International Conference of Physics Students (ICPS). There are also a few SPS chapters outside the USA. Return to menu

What does it cost? To cover, in part, the cost of the Society's services, members pay annual national dues of $15.00. Return to menu

What is AIP? The American Institute of Physics was founded in 1931 as a membership corporation of the leading societies in the field of physics. It combines into one operating agency those functions on behalf of physics which can best be done by the societies jointly. Its purpose is the advancement and diffusion of the knowledge of physics and its applications to human welfare. It is a major publisher or scientific journals. Return to menu

How is a chapter formed? All that's needed is a group of interested students, a faculty advisor, and the approval of the physics department to petition for an SPS chapter. Petition forms are available from the National Office. A chapter can be established at any accredited college or university. Only a chapter at a college or university offering a physics major is eligible to form an SPS chapter. Return to menu

How does Sigma Pi Sigma Function? Sigma Pi Sigma is a nationally recognized scholastic honor society within SPS. It is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies and is an affiliated society of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Membership is limited by the national SPS constitution to individuals who have completed at least three semester courses in physics that can be credited towards a physics major and who are in the upper one-third of their class in general scholarship. Higher standards can be set by local bylaws. A separate pamphlet that describes the honor society is available. Return to menu

SPS Address and Phone Number
Society of Physics Students
American Institute of Physics
One Physics Ellipse
College Park, MD 20740
TEL: (301) 209-3007
FAX: (301) 209-0839
Return to menu