13^th Annual Spring Meeting
North Carolina Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers
Joint with the Zone 5 SPS Meeting

April 4-5, 2008
Davidson College
Davidson, NC 

Program Highlights

The meeting will be held on the campus of Davidson College in the Dana Science Building.  Maps of the area are attached at the end of the mailing and will be available on our website.

Friday Afternoon and Evening

6-7 pm Banquet $18.00 (make choice by March 28)

Buffet style with choice of main course:

• Beef option - Flank Steak Roulade - Stuffed with Portabella Mushrooms

• Chicken option - Mediterranean Chicken - Garlic Grilled Chicken Breast with Wild Rice Pilaf and Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

• Pasta option - Broccoli Rabe & Fontina Ravioli - with a Pesto Cream Sauce  

All served with a Caesar Salad and Sautéed Snap Peas with Shallots and Red Peppers and/or Parmesan Roasted Red Potatoes.  Rolls, tea and coffee.

7-8pm Banquet Speaker

Dr. David Mermin will be speaking on the teaching of special relativity.  Talk title and abstract forthcoming.

8-9pm Post Banquet Talk Reception

Join us in the lobby of Dana for post-talk desert and light refreshments.

Saturday Morning and Afternoon

Contributed Papers

Contributed papers on all physics teaching topics are encouraged (faculty and graduate students; see below for undergraduate poster session).  Papers are 15 minutes in length including three minutes for questions. Our main lecture room has an overhead projector; slide projector; DVD player; CD player; and laserdisc player, Windows computer with internet access (wired and wireless), external computer connection with internet access for PC laptops (Macintosh users please bring your external video display adapter), and document camera all connected to an LCD projector. DEADLINE: March 28.

Information on submitting an abstract is at:  talk abstract submission instructions

In conjunction with the NCS-AAPT meeting we are holding an SPS student research poster session Saturday morning April 5.  During this hour-long poster session there will be no other sessions and refreshments will be served.  Undergraduate and high school students who submit their poster abstracts by the March 28, 2008 deadline will receive free registration and a free lunch Saturday (support from National SPS).  Students participating in the poster session are eligible for the Best Undergraduate Paper Award, given jointly with SPS and NCS-AAPT.  Other events for students will be held in conjunction with the Davidson Chapter of SPS. 

The Supernova / Acceleration Probe (SNAP) is a proposed space mission that will measure the anomalous acceleration of the universe by observing the luminosity distances and redshifts of Type Ia supernovae out to a redshift of z=1.7.  Its focal plane array contains near infrared  (HgCdTe) detectors and CCDs,  72 filters, and a field of view of 0.67 square degrees.  It also has an integral field spectrograph.
SNAP's primary science goal is to understand the expansion history of the universe.  In particular, observations of several thousand Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) with redshifts up to z = 1.7 will be used to determine the constant and time varying equation of state parameters w0 to 0.05 and w1 to 0.3.  This specification places stringent requirements on the control of systematics and on the absolute color calibration of SNe Ia.  Although SNe Ia are all nearly identical, their photometric properties vary with both time and redshift making an accurate global color calibration essential.  In practice, a color calibration better than 2-3% over the wavelength range from 350 to 1700 nm is required. 
I will discuss the science goals of the SNAP mission in the context of precision cosmology, supernovae, and, stars.
 

We have blocked out 40-50 rooms at the Clarion Inn in Cornelius (19608 Liverpool Parkway Cornelius, NC, 28031).  They have given us a rate of $89.99 for Queen or King non-smoking rooms (their normal rates are 99.99 to 119.99).  The cutoff date for making the reservation at this rate is March 24.  After that, if there is a room available they will charge the regular rate.  To get the discount rate you must refer to NCS-AAPT as the group. http://www.clarionhotel.com/ires/en-US/html/HotelInfo?hotel=NC607   They did caution that The Antique Car Show is that weekend and they are likely to be very full.  To reserve a room, call the hotel directly, (704) 896-0660, and say that you are with the "North Carolina AAPT and/or NCS-AAPT"  The rate includes a free continental breakfast, free wireless high-speed Internet access, seasonal outdoor pool & hot tub, and fitness center .  The hotel is close to both campus (4 miles/10 minutes) and I-77, for directions from campus and I-77 click here.

Please fill in the pre-registration form for early registration.  Registration is due March 28.  It is always helpful to know for planning purposes how many will be in attendance.  Even if you do not register early, please send a note to Larry Cain (lacain@davidson.edu) to let him know you are planning to attend.  The registration fee includes an excellent lunch at our newly renovated campus dining facility, the Commons.  The menu includes hot entrees, sandwich bar, pizza bar, salad bar, drinks and desserts and is all-you-can-eat.  You will be given a ticket for lunch at the registration desk to facilitate your flow through the line.  This is a spacious facility that will provide a needed period of refreshment and discussion on Saturday.