The Society of Physics Students

This one is especially for international students and the advisers who support them.

For fall 2026, more than 60 percent of physics and astronomy PhD programs reported receiving fewer applications from international students, and 55 percent made fewer offers to them.

The reasons AIP heard from department chairs center on visa and funding uncertainty.

If you are applying from abroad, a practical step is to ask each program two things.

💠 How are they supporting international students this cycle?
💠 Where can you find their institution's guidance on visa and immigration questions?

Notably, 73 percent of departments said their university was providing adequate information, so that guidance often exists once you know to ask.

Share this with a friend weighing a move to the US for grad school. Read the full report at https://bit.ly/4wbcEiv

Physics bachelor's degrees make up just under 2 percent of all STEM degrees awarded in the US. That scale has real upsides for undergrads.

Smaller cohorts tend to mean smaller upper-level classes, earlier access to research, and faculty who recognize you by name.

If you are an undergrad or a chapter adviser, use this as a prompt to ask what research and mentoring your department offers this year. Share it with a chapter officer planning the semester.

Read the full report at bit.ly/4tYzrNE.

If you like seeing the trend for yourself, AIP's report has two graphics worth a look.

💠 Figure 1 charts physics bachelor's degrees awarded every year from 1955 to 2024, so you can see the recent dip against decades of growth.
💠 Figure 6 lines physics up against other STEM fields like computer science, biology, and engineering.

Together they make a solid five-minute discussion starter for a chapter meeting or an advising conversation about where the field is heading. The report also lists the top degree-producing departments in its appendix, handy if you are researching programs.

Bring the charts to your next club meeting. Explore the figures at bit.ly/4tYzrNE.

The Society of Physics Students summer interns spent an afternoon at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Dr. Teasel Muir-Harmony, curator of the museum's Apollo Collection and author of Operation Moonglow, led the tour, tracing how the Apollo program was shaped by politics and public imagination.

Thank you, Dr. Muir-Harmony, for creating this for our students.

Fifty-one students from nine universities across North and South Carolina came together for this year's SPS Zone Meeting, hosted by NC State College of Sciences SPS Chapter at Riddick Hall. The day featured a tour through the Soft Matter Physics lab, where each room glowed a different color depending on the experiment underway.

Students also heard from a panel of four graduate students at different points in their PhDs, took on a tote bag painting session, made liquid nitrogen ice cream, and presented four original research posters on topics ranging from solar eclipse observations to X-ray binary star modeling.

A big thank you to the chapters who made the trip.

Read the full report here: https://bit.ly/4fdOeig

📢 Deadline extended! SPS Chapter Reports are now due June 22.

If your chapter hasn't submitted yet, this is your chance to get credit for a year's worth of hard work. Your report is the basis for Outstanding Chapter Award consideration and could even land your chapter in the spotlight issue of The SPS Observer.

Chapters that submit are also entered into a drawing for one of ten $100 gift cards for a pizza party.

Grab the 2026 template, pull together your photos, and get your report in before time runs out.

Submit here: https://bit.ly/4eT4KmL

The 2026 SPS Summer Intern cohort is officially here, and orientation week at ACP-DC was just the beginning.

This summer, thirteen early-career physicists will learn from mentors, engage with science policy, and build the skills that will carry them through careers in physics and beyond.

We'll be sharing their work, their reflections, and their summer highlights right here. Give them a warm welcome!

Last chance to make your chapter's voice heard. 📢

The 2026 SPS Council elections are still open, but not for long. Every chapter vote helps shape the direction of SPS for the year ahead.

Don't wait. Vote today.

👉 students.aip.org/2026-sps-council-elections

SPS Council elections are officially open, and your chapter has a voice in shaping them. 🗳️

Every SPS chapter gets a vote. That means the future of SPS leadership is in your hands.

Cast your vote today and help decide what's next for the Society of Physics Students.
👉 https://bit.ly/3PaxbUk

Science policy is a career, and the physical sciences need more physicists in it.

Roohi Dalal advocates for the astronomy community in the halls of Congress, where scientific literacy can make a real difference in legislation and funding.

Read about how she got there: https://bit.ly/4bK2cWq