CCNY's Society of Physics Students chapter continues to excel nationally. Physicist Sebastian Franco is the faculty advisor.
For the third year in a row, The City College of New York student chapter of the Society of Physics Students (SPS) is the recipient of an Outstanding Chapter Award from the SPS National Office. The accolade continues recognition of the chapter for its excellence as a top-tier student-led physical sciences organization, a designation given to fewer than 15 percent of all SPS chapters at colleges and universities in the United States and internationally.
“This is the highest level of distinction given to our chapters,” said Brad R. Conrad, director, Society of Physics Students & Sigma Pi Sigma at the American Institute of Physics. “We are consistently amazed each year at how much time, energy, and effort everyone devotes to their departments and local communities.”
The College Park, Maryland-based SPS is a professional association designed for students and membership is open to anyone interested in physics and related fields. SPS operates within the American Institute of Physics (AIP), an umbrella organization for professional physical science societies.
Sebastian Franco, physics professor in the Division of Science, is the faculty advisor of CCNY’s SPS chapter. Lauding Franco and his students, Conrad said: “To have your group named an Outstanding Chapter is a testament to your leadership skills and your ability to foster leadership among your students.”
The CCNY Chapter has been led by student officers Lisa Chan, Michael Gaziani and Veeshan Narinesingh. “This recognition is a high honor for CCNY and for science achievement at the higher education level," said Chan, the chapter’s recent past president.
SPS chapters are evaluated on their level of interaction with the campus community, the professional physics community, the public, and with SPS national programs. The Outstanding Chapter Award recognizes high levels of outreach as well as unique approaches to fulfilling the mission of SPS to “help students transform themselves into contributing members of the professional community.”
The City College chapter was recognized as outstanding for, among other things, its successful “Physics Month” activities between October and November 2019. Open to the campus community and the public, one of its primary goals is to attract prospective physics students to CCNY.
In addition, the chapter’s other outreach efforts have reached more than 650 school high school students, according to Franco.
CCNY is ranked by the American Institute of Physics as one of the top producers of physics graduates in the nation.
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