Physics and Astronomy

Forty-one teams took part this week in the “2009 Physics Bridge Challenge,” an annual Popsicle stick bridge-building competition hosted by the Society of Physics Students, with the winning entry holding more than 38 pounds of sand.

The Society of Physics Students held its 3rd annual Great Pumpkin Smash on Nov. 8 on the field by the driving range with pleasant weather that eluded organizers one week earlier when rain forced a postponement from the originally scheduled date.

Faculty and students from the Elon University Department of Physics attended the Oct. 23-24 regional meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers at UNC-Pembroke. The semi-annual conference brings together physics educators from universities, community colleges, and high schools to discuss teaching techniques and to review student research.

Featuring work by top scholars from around the world, Global Perspectives on Science and Spirituality, a new book edited by Elon University professor Pranab Das, has been published with essays on an array of approaches to science and religion grounded in spiritual traditions ranging from Daoism to Eastern Orthodoxy and treating many scientific disciplines.

Two Elon University faculty recently participated in a debate panel June 11-14 at Barnard College during the 9th Annual Summer Institute on Reacting to the Past.

Kyle Altmann and Elon alumnus Thad Norman are two of the co-authors on a paper published in the Journal of Applied Physics.