Welcome to the Physics Students’ Society for 2010! And an extra-special welcome to the 138 people who joined the PSS at the Clubs & Societies fair during O-Week.

We thought there was no better way to get the year rolling than with a free barbecue for all our members. Details are as follows:

• Date and Time: Monday 15 March from 12:30 PM until 2 PM
• Venue: Physics Courtyard (under the ramp leading to the Physics Podium)

The barbeque is free for all PSS members, and we’ll have sausages, veggie burgers, beer and soft-drinks available, so come along, enjoy a nice lunch and have a chat to other members of the society.

For all 2009 PSS members, your memberships have now lapsed as per the Clubs and Societies membership regulations. Membership for the Physics Students’ Society in 2010 is just $2 for Union members and $5 for everyone else. You’re welcome to come and renew your memberships at the BBQ.

See you there!

The PSS is eagerly anticipating the arrival of some new faces in 2010! Keep an eye out for us at the Clubs and Societies Carnival. We’ll be there from February 25-26 all day, so come along to our table to join the club or buy an official PSS T-shirt. Just look out for people dressed in purple.

All members joining during O-week will receive a free back issue of Cosmos magazine!

We will be holding a BBQ for all our members in Week 3. Details will be made available soon.

Just in case you’re not already super-excited about 2010, here is a picture of some of our members on our recent excursion to the Australian Synchrotron

- – - Emma Bland, President

• Date: Tuesday 3rd November and Tuesday 10th November 2009
• Time: 10 AM — 3 PM
• Venue: Conference Room, Level 7, Physics Building

This Tuesday, we plan to give the study day at least SOME air of dignity to acknowledge Cup Day. We intend to traverse in a particle-like-fashion down to Lygon street and collect highly decadent snackage and refreshments. Formal dress code is optional in the extreme.

See you there!

The semester’s wrapping up, and to celebrate the end of a gruelling twelve weeks the Physics Students’ Society is having a BBQ this coming Monday.

• Date: Monday 26th October, 2009
• Time: 1.00 pm — 2.00 pm
• Venue: Physics Courtyard (under the ramp leading up to the Physics Podium)

As usual, there’ll be sausages, veggie burgers, soft drinks and beer, free to all PSS members.

See you there, and good luck with your exams.

Come celebrate physicists’ vast collection of useless facts in the PSS’s first ever trivia night!

Running on Monday of week 10 this semester, we’ve booked out the Clyde Hotel (a 45 second run from the Physics building). This gives you the potential be one of about 80 lucky students to join in the games, drinks, trivia and PRIZES!

• When: Monday, October 12, 2009, 7:00pm – 11:00pm
• Where: The Clyde Hotel, 385 Cardigan Street, Carlton
• Price: Tickets are $10 per head.

Facebook event

We will be given a tour of the facility, and you will have the opportunity to walk through the synchrotron tunnels and talk to some professional physicists about their work. The tour will be followed by a free BBQ at the Synchrotron, brought to you by the PSS and the University of Melbourne School of Physics.

Details of the Excursion

• Date: Tuesday, 1st September 2009
• Time: We will be meeting at the Synchrotron at 11:15am, and the tour will commence at 11:30am sharp. The tour will last approximately one hour and will be followed by a BBQ lunch.
• Venue details: The Synchrotron is located at 800 Blackburn Road, Clayton. This is adjacent to Monash University Clayton Campus. You will need make your own way there, however we will organise a group to leave together from Melbourne Uni. This will be confirmed by email closer to the date. You’ll need appropriate footwear — in particular, no open-toed shoes.

How to Sign Up

Unfortunately, we are only able to take 40 people, as this is all the venue is able to accommodate. The best way to sign-up will be at the PSS AGM on the 25th of August. (See the “Notice of Physics Students’ Society Annual General Meeting” e-mail for further details.)

Alternatively, if you can’t make it to the AGM, you can sign up for the excursion by replying to this email with the following details:

• Full name
• Student number
• Preferred email address

We will send you an email confirming your place on the excursion, including any last-minute details, shortly after the AGM.

This is a very important event in our calendar, as this is the time that we elect next year’s committee. The following committee positions will be up for re-election, and are open to all members of the Society who are University of Melbourne students:

• President
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Education Officer
• General Committee Member (3 positions)

Details of the AGM:

• Date: Tuesday 25 August, 2009
• Time: 1 pm
• Venue: Physics Conference Room. This is on level 7 of the main physics building. We will put up some signs so you don’t get lost.

We need at least twenty members to show up in order to hold a quorate AGM, so please come along even if you’re just after a free lunch. To this end, free pizza and soft drinks will be provided. The more the merrier!

This is also your best opportunity to sign up for our upcoming excursion to the Australian Synchrotron.

There are no amendments to the constitution this year.

Relevant Documents:

• PSS 2009 AGM Agenda (45K PDF)
• PSS Constitution (2008) (45K PDF)

• Date: Monday 17th August 2009
• Time: 1pm – 2pm
• Venue: Physics Courtyard (under the ramp leading up to the Physics Podium)

There’ll be sausages, veggie burgers, soft drink and beer!

As always, this is a free for all PSS members, and new members are welcome to join on the day, so bring along your friends.

• Dates: 17 – 20 July 2009. (This is the 2nd last weekend of the holidays.)

The plan is to drive up to Parkes by car convoy on Friday 17^th July, spend two days in Parkes and visit the telescope, and then return to Melbourne on July 20^th.

The total cost of the event will be approximately $100 + food. This is primarily the cost of 3 night’s accommodation at Parkes. The Student Union will be substantially subsidising the cost of driving to Parkes, by an amount that will depend on numbers.

If you are interested in coming, please send us an email expressing your interest with the following details:

• Name
• Email address
• Student number
• Mobile number
• If you can bring a car (and if so, the number of seats including the driver)
• Details for someone we can contact in an emergency (name & phone number)

So we can book the accommodation in advance, registrations will close at 12 PM on Thursday 11^th June. We’ll need an upfront deposit of $90 so we can secure accommodation.

There’ll be sausages, veggie burgers, maybe even some bread; as well as soft drink, beer and cider. We’re also going to be trying to sell you our wonderful purple shirts and sign you up to our various road trips, study groups and other such club events.

The BBQ will start at around 12:30 this Friday afternoon (22nd May), and rock on until 2:00. Same as last time, the venue will be the Physics Courtyard (the BBQ area under the ramp leading to the Physics Podium). It’s free for all PSS members, and new members are welcome to join on the day.

Now’s the perfect opportunity to rope in any friends interested in joining. Spread the word, too; we can never be completely sure that everyone’s going to check their email in time — no matter how freakishly nerdy they are.

• Date: Friday, 22nd May 2009
• Time: 12.30 — 2.00 PM
• Venue: Physics Courtyard

Hope to see you there!