After our SPS zone 14 meeting, an attendee was overheard remarking, “Geez, I thought he was a graduate student!” He was talking about Evan Shapiro, an undergraduate researcher and president of the SPS chapter at the University of Colorado Denver, who gave a talk at the meeting. Kudos to Evan for representing his department and research group so well!

Our spring meeting was held in collaboration with the Colorado–Wyoming section of the American Association of Physics Teachers. The keynote speaker was Shapiro’s advisor Dr. Doug Shepherd, who uses light to investigate biomolecules. There were eight other contributed presentations by faculty and students representing six other institutions in Colorado. Dr. Wendy Adams, faculty member from the University of Northern Colorado, gave a mini physics education research (PER) workshop. “People find it easier to learn about topics that interest them,” she said. “Recent neuroscience research has demonstrated that memory is improved when learning about material we are curious about.” She used these findings to make the case that a student’s initial contact to physical phenomena should take place in a fun, curiosity-inducing, and thereby motivating laboratory setting, with follow-up occurring later in the classroom. //

For information on the joint MSUDenver/UCD SPS chapter, see http://spsdenver.blogspot.com/.