We, the Santa Cruz Organization for Outreach in Physics (SCOOP), are a group of undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers in physics who are dedicated to making physics accessible and understandable to all! Everyone has the right and the capacity to engage in physics — sometimes you just need someone to give you the SCOOP.
We host a number of events to increase participation in physics, both at UCSC and in the greater Santa Cruz community. On campus, we host a No Jargon Talk series where undergraduate and graduate students are invited to give science talks on any physics topic of their interest, with the catch that they can't use any scientific jargon! These events cover a wide range of topics each year, both widening students' knowledge in physics and providing a welcoming and supportive space for students to share their unique research.
We additionally host a biannual Dumb Questions Night in downtown Santa Cruz for the public. We invite four physics and astrophysics UCSC faculty to answer all the questions from the public that they felt were too "dumb" to ask. This is our most popular community outreach event, drawing in nearly 100 people at Abbott Square! For more info, check out our website: https://scoop.sites.ucsc.edu/p...
Beyond these events, we also visit local high schools to share what it's like to be a physicist, collaborate with the Santa Cruz Public Libraries to host book clubs for public discussion about more in-depth physics topics, and host the annual Senior Thesis Fair for UCSC physics and astrophysics undergraduates to share their thesis work! For more on our outreach efforts, see our website: https://scoop.sites.ucsc.edu/
All of our amazing FREE events for students and the public are made possible only by amazing donors like YOU! This Giving Day, we ask you to please help us continue making the magical world of physics more accessible to all.
