Welcome Back BBQ

This will be held on Thursday 4 August in the Physics Courtyard, 12:30-2pm

National Science Week

We have two exciting events planned for National Science Week:

1. Rocket Science — This is your chance to press the big red button during National Science Week! Rocket Science is a model rockets activity, and will be held on Sunday 14 August at Scienceworks. Entry is free for students
2. Physics in the Pub — The next installment of the PSS’s signature event takes you to the very heart of modern science and technology. Physics in the Pub will be held on Monday 15 August at Pugg Mahones (Carlton) on the theme, “The Tools of Big Science”.
   

Annual General Meeting

The AGM will be held midway through semester 2.  All committee positions will be up for grabs, so this is your chance to step up and make a meaningful contribution to the Society.

More information about all of these events will be available soon. Check out our dedicated National Science Week page at http://unimelbpss.org/index.php/about-the-pss/rocket-science-2011/

The panel will include:
- Andi Horvath — Curator and Science Communicator, Museum Victoria
- Roger Rassool — Experimental Particle Physics Group, University of Melbourne
- Ken Winkle — Director, Australian Venom Research Unit
- Meredith Doig — President, Rationalist Society of Australia

Drag your assignment-sodden… bags… and meet us upstairs at 6:30 to order your parmas, pots and pints (or even jugs, for those so-inclined), to begin the panel discussion at around 7:00.

Just to clarify, the where-and-when:

Where: Pugg Mahones, 171-175 Elgin st Carlton
Date: Monday, May 16th 2011
Time: Begins at 6:30PM
Cost: Free entry. You will need to cover the cost of your own food & drink
All welcome, so bring your friends.

Our Physics in the Pub events are usually quite well attended, and they provide an aspect of personality and real-world insight into the physics that we study every day; so if you haven’t attended before we highly recommend you give it a go!

For those of you with Facebook accounts, please see our corresponding event page for more information and updates:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=200797939955709

Details
Date: Wednesday 20 April
Time: 12-2pm
Venue: Redmond Barry Courtyard
What’s free: Sausages, veggie burgers, beer, soft-drinks

Same deal as usual – turn up, eat and be merry. New members are welcome to join the PSS at the BBQ, so bring along your friends.

In the event of rain the BBQ will still go ahead, since the Redmond Barry Courtyard has plenty of space undercover.

Hope to see you there
— The PSS Committee

The topic for the evening is “Nuclear Power in Australia”.

The discussion will be led by a panel featuring:
- David Jamieson — Head, School of Physics, University of Melbourne
- Matthew Wright — Executive Director, Beyond Zero Emissions
- Gavin Mudd — Faculty of Engineering, Monash University
- Martin Sevior — Experimental Particle Physics, University of Melbourne

Date: Monday 28 March
Time: 6:30pm
Venue: Pugg Mahones. 171 Elgin Street, Carlton (just a short walk from the physics building). We will be in the function room upstairs.

This is a free event, but you will need to cover the cost of your own food and drinks. Hope to see you there!

Our BBQ has two purposes. Firstly, as a way to reunite our old members and acquaint our new members with the club. Secondly, as a Special General Meeting for the currently-vacant committee positions of First-Year Representative and Education Officer.

The purpose of the First-Year Rep is to ensure that first years have a voice in the club. You will need to attend committee meetings held on an irregular basis every few months, but aside from that your duties mostly revolve around giving opinions and eating free food. This position is a good way to get into club management and begin to understand how it all works. The only requirement is that you be a first year physics student.

The second position we need to fill is Education Officer. The Education Officer is responsible for liaising with School of Physics about issues that affect us, and physics students more widely. Education Officers have traditionally also helped organise academic events, like Physics in the Pub.

Notification of a Special General Meeting of the Physics Students’ Society
Date: Wednesday, 9th March, 2011
Time: 12.35 PM
Venue: Redmond Barry Courtyard, University of Melbourne

Come along to enjoy our beer, cider, soft drink, sausages, veggie patties and good company, even if you’re not interested in the election. As usual, the BBQ is free to all members, and if you haven’t already joined the PSS this year, you’re more than welcome to at the BBQ.

See you all there!

The meeting agenda: SGM 2011/01 Agenda
Facebook event page: PSS Opening Barbecue and SGM for 2011!

• Date: Monday, 18^th October, 2010
• Time: 6.30 PM
• Venue: Pugg Mahones, Carlton (175 Elgin St)

Tickets are $10 each (shoot us an email at unimelbpss@gmail.com to book them in advance, or RSVP to the Trivia Night Facebook event), with tables of about 8-10. There’ll be specials, prizes and ample opportunity for embarrassment! This event is open to everyone, including non-members – bring your friends and make a team!

What’s more fun than dipping things in liquid nitrogen and shattering them? Join us on the South Lawn for fun, physics and food.

That’s right…we’re having a liquid nitrogen party!

Bring along some things to smash. Upon freezing, some materials become very brittle, whereas others become rock hard. Things you might like to try are flowers, fruit and balloons. We will provide some things for smashing, but it’s more fun if you can get creative.

Additionally, the committee will attempt to make some liquid nitrogen ice-cream.

A BBQ for PSS members will run alongside the liquid nitrogen party.

Date: Wednesday 20 October 2010

Time: 12-2pm

Venue: South Lawn

Due to the nature of this activity, safety is an important consideration. For this reason we will not be serving alcohol at this event (sorry), and a staff member from the School of Physics will be present to supervise the event. Please come along with the safety of yourself and others in mind.

As always, this event is 100% free for PSS members, and new members are always welcome.

Join us as we head on down to one of Melbourne’s great pubs to discuss physics with the experts in a relaxed social setting.

The topic for the evening is “The Golden Age of Astrophysics”.

The discussion will be led by a panel featuring:
- Andrew Melatos, Astrophysics Group, University of Melbourne
- Jeremy Mould, winner of the 2009 Gruber Prize in Cosmology
- Loren Bruns, Astrophysics Ph.D candidate

Date: Monday 11 October
Time: 6:30pm
Venue: Pugg Mahones. 171 Elgin Street, Carlton (just a short walk from the physics building)

This is a free event, but you will need to cover the cost of your own food and drinks. Hope to see you there!

Details are as follows:

- Date: Tuesday 24 August
- Time: 12-2pm
- Venue: North Court  (NOT the Physics Courtyard)

The topic will be:

Can Physics Change Climate Change?

We’ll look at the people, the projects and the prospects for dealing with climate change through physics and other fields of science and engineering.

Joining us on the evening will be our panel:

• David Jamieson, Head, School of Physics, University of Melbourne
• Grant Schuster, Ernst & Young Sustainability Advisory Services
• Rachel Webster, Astrophysics Group, University of Melbourne
• Simon Torok, Communications, Marine and Atmospheric Research, CSIRO

Details:

• When: 6.30 PM, Monday, 16^th August, 2010
• Where: Pugg Mahones, 171–175 Elgin St, Carlton
  (head about 400 metres past the Earth Sciences building along Elgin St, away from Uni)

All are welcome: we had at least sixty people show up to the previous Physics at the Pub, Can Physics Save the World? and had a great discussion.

There are also some other great National Science Week events running next week, so check out the website and go see some great science.

Also, if you’re around the University on Sunday, remember the PSS will be at the University of Melbourne Open Day, so drop round, say hello and see our awesome demo of the Meissner effect.