SPS Outreach – Beyond the SOCK

In the summer of 2017, I was selected to participate in the Society of Physics Students summer internship program as the SOCK/NIST intern. During my experiences, I, along with my collaborator Jacob Robertson, worked to update and improve the Science Outreach Catalyst Kits (SOCKs) provided by the SPS national office in order to expand their reach and deepen their impact. Chapters of the SPS typically are aware of the benefits of performing outreach, as well as the impact it has on the community, campus, and students involved. Using the new modules as a resource however, members of SPS can not only enjoy a more expansive, accessible, and abiding source of information, but in addition strengthen their ties to the national body and, through participation, further distinguish themselves and their chapters. Concise, informative, and carefully tailored to suit the needs of chapters, the new initiative makes ideas from the national office available to every member of SPS by moving to an online-distributed model of providing demonstration ideas. In my presentation, I will explain in detail how the new model seeks to improve upon the old SOCKs, its method of development, and how chapters may contribute to the new initiative by communicating directly with the national office of SPS.