Zone 10 Spring 2003 Meeting
February 21-22, 2003
Rhodes College, Memphis TN
Zone 10 Spring 2003 Meeting February 21-22, 2003 Rhodes College, Memphis TN | |
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Click onthe links below for a photographic journal of the day.
Breakfast: Wake up and get ready for fun!
SPS chapter newsflashes: an officer or representative from each chapter had the opportunity to tell us about his or her chapter's activities and introduce members.
Dr. Alex Filippenko's plenary address
The Accelerating Cosmos: "Dark Energy" in the Beginning and Now
or A Universe from Nothing: The standard Big Bang theory is very successful at explaining many observed aspects of the Universe. On the other hand, it has no natural explanation for the geometrical flatness of the Universe, its extreme homogeneity, and several other properties. These problems are solved with a popular modification to the standard theory known as inflation: in its first brief moments of existence, the Universe experienced an epoch of accelerated, exponential expansion, becoming arbitrarily large because of the effects of repulsive "dark energy." Curiously, observations of distant exploding stars suggest that the present-day Universe appears to have started a new era of accelerated expansion, again driven by some mysterious form of dark energy. Analogies will be given to help clarify these strange concepts.
"What the heck is it contest?": we tried hard to guess what those pieces of physics equipment were. Congrats to the winners!
Lunch! We ate, we talked, and we learned the antiquated art of using a Slide Rule (conclusion: that's nice, but calculators are better!).
Graduate school forum: representatives from a variety of graduate programs were available to talk to students about opportunities at their schools.
The Final Schedule with abstracts
| FRIDAY, 21 February | ||
| Time | Event | Location |
| 6:00-7:00pm | Registration | Crane Lobby |
| 6:30-7:00pm | Refreshments | Crane Lobby |
| 7:00-9:30pm | The Peyton Rhodes Lecture in Physics: Dr. Alex Filippenko | Ballroom |
| SATURDAY, 22 February | ||
| Time | Event | Location |
| 7:30-8:30am | Breakfast and Registration | FJ Lobby |
| 8:30-9:30am | Welcome and SPS Chapter Introductions
| FJB |
| 10:00-11:30am | Keynote Address: Dr. Alex Filippenko | FJB |
| 11:30am-1:00pm | Lunch & "The Slide Rules!" - Dr. Jack Streete | Hyde Hall |
| 1:00-2:30pm | Student Presentation Session I | FJA |
| 1:00-2:30pm | Student Presentation Session II | FJB |
| 2:45-4:00pm | Graduate School Forum
| GIS Lab |
| 4:00-5:15pm | Plenary Address: Dr. Tom Marshall | FJB |
| 5:15-6:00pm | Zone 10 Business meeting: SPS opportunities for you! | FJB |
| 6:00-6:30pm | Closing Remarks & Awards | FJB |
| 6:30pm-? | Dinner BBQ | FJ Lobby |
"What the Heck Is It?" Contest going on all day Saturday in FJ114. | ||