The Physics Community

In the undergraduate physics community, you can find many different organizations to pursue academic endeavors and make friends! Below, organizations with undergraduate involvement is listed.

How do you get involved? Most clubs (at least the ones listed) in the physics department welcome students of all backgrounds! With no rigorous application process, you can start being involved by showing up at any general meeting for each of the clubs. There are also often flyers around LeConte Hall that advertise events.

Weekly Physics Events

Physics Colloquia: Monday Afternoons, LeConte 1. Faculty present hour long lectures in this weekly series. Tea is usually served on the third floor 30 minutes before the colloquia.

Yearly Physics Events

Emilio Ségré Lecture: An esteemed speaker is invited in the fall to talk about their groundbreaking (experimental) research.

Oppenheimer Lecture: An esteemed speaker is invited in the spring to talk about their groundbreaking (theoretical) research.

Physics Organizations

These are the clubs active and involved in the physics community.

Society of Physics Students (SPS): SPS is the embodiment of the undergraduate physics community. Focusing on academics, social activities, and community outreach, SPS hosts a wide variety of events including graduate panels, casual lunches with faculty, bowling nights, mentoring groups (undergraduate only), demos at community events, and more. Everyone is welcome! General members can participate as much as wanted in activities. To be more involved, you can join the outreach or projects committee (open to all), or run in the spring be an officer!

Undergraduate Lab @ Berkeley (ULAB): ULAB helps students gain experience in research. Groups design and run a experiment under the guidance of experienced undergraduate students. Students can participate in a semester-long experiment, or if you have more experience help advise!

Society of Women in Physical Sciences (SWPS): SWPS promotes female presence in STEM fields (not just physics). A mix of undergraduate, graduates +, SWPS hosts a wide variety of activities from mentoring groups, resume workshops, and more.

STEMinst Chronicles (Web): The STEMinst Chronicles are working to improve public visibility of women in STEM fields (mainly physics) by documenting and publish photo-journals. Students can be involved in interviewing, photography, or being interviewed.

IGEN Spectrum (IGEN): LGBTQ+ physics community including undergraduates, graduates +.

Compass (Web): A graduate student led group that helps foster undergraduate academics, for example, by hosting understandable lectures (compared to the department colloquiums). Occasionally, has mentoring groups including a mix of undergraduate and graduates +.

Other Organizations

Geological Association at Berkeley (GAB): Perfect for students also interested in geophysics and/or the environmental sciences! An Earth-Planetary Science equivalent of SPS.

Undergraduate Astronomy Society (UAS): Perfect for students also interested in astronomy! An Astronomy equivalent of SPS.

Mathematics Undergraduate Student Association (MUSA): Perfect for students also interested in mathematics! A Math equivalent of SPS.

BPIE: International physics undergraduate community. Not student run, and must be an international student.