Rochester Symposium for Physics Students

The Department of Physics and Astronomy sponsors the Rochester Symposium for Physics Students (RSPS). This Northeast regional undergraduate research conference is held each year, typically in the latter half of the spring semester. Hosted on the campus of the University of Rochester since 1981, the symposium will be hosted at other regional colleges every third year as of 2006.

At RSPS symposia, research projects have been presented in talks by undergraduates representing regional institutions including:

  • SUNY Colleges at Albany
  • Brockport
  • Binghamton
  • Fredonia
  • Oswego
  • Plattsburgh
  • Potsdam
  • Stony Brook
  • Allegheny College
  • Canisius College
  • Colgate University
  • Hamilton College
  • Houghton College
  • Ithaca College
  • Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  • Roberts Wesleyan College
  • Rochester Institute of Technology
  • Siena College
  • Union College
  • Vasser College
  • West Point
  • Colleges nearby in Canada

Talks by undergraduates have covered topics in condensed matter physics, atomic physics and optics, computational physics, astronomy, high-energy physics, instrumentation and techniques, and environmental physics. The abstracts of all the participants' papers are published on-line annually.

RSPS 2024

RSPS Proceedings

For more information, send email to rsps@pas.rochester.edu, or contact the undergraduate coordinator:

Lysa Wade
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Bausch & Lomb 210
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627-0171
(585) 275-4356
ugcoordinator@pas.rochester.edu

or:

Professor Frank L. H. Wolfs
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Bausch & Lomb 203A
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627-0171
(585) 643-5496
wolfs@pas.rochester.edu