Sophia Noya | Staff Writer
Physics students and professors alike had some friendly competition at the Stocker Astroscience Center during the annual Society of Physics Students and Sigma Pi Sigma trivia night last Thursday.
Forming four teams, attendees put to test their knowledge of astronomy, physics, history and more.
“It’s a team bonding event,” said Charalampos Alexander Korfiatis, physics major and SPS event coordinator, “I wanted to bring the club members closer to the professors, and with each other”.
SPS and Sigma Pi Sigma are two separate organizations, but they frequently collaborate. The clubs often hold joint weekly gatherings, including potlucks, group study sessions, and community outreach events.
“We help with networking, helping each other study, and we offer a community where you can feel that you’re with like-minded people,” said Ash Moussa, physics and math double major and SPS president.
Recently, SPS and Sigma Pi Sigma have struggled to fight against a proposed aquatic center that would be built on Site 11, almost right beside the Stocker Astroscience Center– a location they insist would leave the observatory unusable.
Despite the Board of Trustees approving the aquatic center, both clubs continue to protest against it.
“Adding a pool in front of a telescope that has been here for years and is used for global research would completely ruin the possibility of more amazing work happening here on campus,” explained Jade Irizarry, physics major, Sigma Pi Sigma event coordinator, and president of the Astronomy Club.
She continued: “It would bring in light pollution, it’d have chemicals that affect the telescope, the heat distortion from the pool would affect the night sky, and it could even potentially damage the telescope. We’ve been trying to get more signatures for our petition against it”.
SPS President Ash Moussa accepts a trivia response| Sophia Noya, PantherNow
Moussa emphasized the importance and often unnoticed beauty of physics.
“Physics explains everything around us. It’s very inviting to everyone, it doesn’t matter what language you speak,” she said. “Physics and science is the language of the cosmos.”
The Society of Physics Students and Sigma Pi Sigma have weekly Thursday meetings in the Stocker Astroscience Center in room 101. Their upcoming events are posted on their Instagram and Panther Connect accounts.
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