Everyone knows that a college education extends far beyond the confines of the classrooms and the textbooks. We learn about life, love and ourselves in addition to what we learn in our coursework. Our understanding of all of these things, including physics, is enhanced by the interaction we have with our friends, colleagues and peers. Because of this, participating in the community that has been further developed around the Physics Department over the last four years has been one of my most rewarding experiences here at Carnegie Mellon.

Community manifests itself in many ways. The most obvious one for students is simply working on homework together. By seeing the different ways my peers think about a problem, I learn more about the problem and problem solving myself. By collaborating, I learn to work with others better. By explaining my work to friends, I become better at communicating my ideas. Working in groups on homework has always happened. But one of the new things around Carnegie Mellon that makes working on homework together even better is the Physics Upper Class Course Center. This is a place where an upper-class student is available to help anyone who walks in looking for help with any physics course. I had the privilege of being one of the tutors this year and I saw the course center transform into a place where students would all gather to work together on an assignment, often without asking the help of the tutor. The Physics Department has provided a great meeting place for students to work together and many students who didn’t know each other before have become friends because of it.

In addition to academics, issues of department policy are addressed as a community. The physics Student Advisory Committee has been meeting regularly over the past several years to improve the workings of the department on many levels. The SAC provides a way for student input to reach the ears of the faculty. Here the students and faculty can brainstorm and work together and we can see what is important to everyone. The SAC has been a great way to meet students in other classes and make the department better. I believe the SAC has made many positive changes and makes everyone happier.

Another organization is the Society of Physics Students, which has been started in recent years. This group of students meets regularly to discuss issues of physics and perform experiments. It is a casual atmosphere where students can have fun and is a further example of community. Clearly there are many ways in which people interact around the department, but what really makes all of these interactions more enjoyable is that we all know each other on a personal level. This happens through the many social events that bring students and faculty together. Some of these events are planned and paid for by the department or an official organization such as SAC. But many are gatherings that happen simply because the students and faculty like each other and want to hang out together. I personally know many more people much better because of these casual, unofficial events. I am happy to say that at the senior banquet this year nearly everyone knew each other and this made it more enjoyable for us all.

By constantly interacting with each other, we have formed a strong community. And since we are constantly working on improving that community and strengthening it, we can all be proud to belong to physics at Carnegie Mellon.