News From the APS Meeting in Hawaii

Last week, I spent four days in Hawaii attending a joint conference of the American Physics Society and the Physics Society of Japan as part of the Conference Experience for Undergraduates (CEU) program.  Staying at the Hilton Waikoloa Village hotel (http://www.hiltonwaikoloavillage.com/ ), I attended presentations on nuclear structure, the quark-gluon structure of the proton, and others.  I took an afternoon off one day to travel around the island, where I saw the light of glowing lava reflecting off steam clouds.  It was about that time that I become annoyed with myself for forgetting a camera.

Friday, I presented a poster showing the research that I did over the summer, along with over 100 other undergraduate students from across the country and Japan.  I was able to see what sort of research other undergraduates do and compare it to my own experience.  Also, I learned what sort of questions other researchers ask as professors looked at the posters.  All in all, it was a fun learning experience, and I look forward to attending similar conferences in the future.

Eric Lunderberg, Hope College