Rose-Hulman’s Society of Physics Students (SPS) has been named as a 2024-2025 Outstanding Chapter Award winner by the National Council of Society of Physics Students. Rose was recognized with a Notable Chapter distinction and is the only college or university in Indiana to receive recognition in the 2024-2025 year. This honor is especially noteworthy as the club was just reconstituted only four years ago.

Micki Rodenbush, a senior majoring in physics and pursuing a master’s degree in engineering management as part of the Rose Squared program, is the former president of the SPS chapter. She believes Rose receiving this national recognition shows the club is on a solid trajectory and the reconstituting of the club has created a strong community among the students and faculty within the Department of Physics, Optical Engineering and Nanoengineering (PHON).

“The professors have been extremely supportive of the club and helping us get events and resources for what we want to do,” said Rodenbush. 

The club was recognized for their involvement in national conferences, local community events and campus involvement and events. In 2025, several SPS members attended the American Society of Physics (APS) Conference for Undergraduate Women and Gender Minorities in Physics (Qu*IP), a national conference tailored for undergraduate physics majors. Additionally, SPS students attended the APS national conference in Anaheim. At that conference, members Jonathan Gollapudi (BE, 2025) and Rodenbush presented a poster at the APS conference on “Modeling and Optimization of a Gamma Camera and a Novel Multi-Pinhole Collimator for Localization of Sentinel Lymph Nodes.” Chong-Yi Su, a senior studying physics and electrical engineering, presented on “Dependence of the Magneto-optic Response of Superparamagnetic Nanoparticle on Particle Diameter.” 

SPS participated in Rose-Hulman’s school-wide STEM Jubilee event, which introduces Wabash Valley elementary school students to STEM topics. SPS members used the SOCK kit—a Science Outreach Catalyst Kit created by the national SPS— to create a hands-on, educational activity for the visiting kids.

The chapter arranged several professional development activities on campus, including hosting guest lecturers from Indiana University, Los Alamos National Lab, and the Air Force Research Institute. SPS also hosted a popular ongoing quantum physics lecture series by Maarj Syed, PhD, professor of physics, optical engineering, and nanoengineering.

Lila Beghtel, current president of SPS, is excited to build on the momentum from the previous few years and take the club into the future.

“PHON as a whole is a great department and facilitates a culture of innovation that has spread to the SPS chapter and allowed us to do really cool things,” said Beghtel, a junior majoring in optical engineering, with a minor in Spanish and math. 

She is expanding SPS’ on-campus presence to include biweekly meetings and partnering with the Society for Optics & Photonics (SPIE) club on several activities. She also plans to continue the club’s participation in the STEM Jubilee event.

“We are starting a journal club where students will talk about new research or advancements in physics and members can bring in their work,” said Beghtel. “We’ll all sit down and really dig into that work. We will also bring in a speaker around week eight, either an alumnus or a professor from a college and we will also have social events that are great for community bonding within the chapter.”

Beghtel’s big goal for the next year is for SPS members to attend more national conferences. The chapter is looking at attending the APS conference as well as SPIE Photonics West in 2027. She also hopes the group will participate in the networking gathering of Zone 8 SPS chapters that happens in the spring. Zone 8 includes chapters within Indiana and the Midwest region. Finally, the group plans to participate in the Quantum Hackathon.

Both Rodenbush and Beghtel feel one of the most exciting things about the SPS chapter is their dedicated study room. This former classroom that is lovingly referred to as the “Physics Dungeon” is a place SPS and PHON students can congregate to study, socialize, and gather information about chapter activities.

Beghtel encourages any students interested in SPS to check out Campus Groups for more information and to attend the biweekly club meets, held every other Wednesday at 5 p.m. 

“Physics ties into so many aspects of engineering. … While SPS is a physics, optics and nanoengineering focused club, anyone is welcome to join if they have an interest in physics,” she said.

The SPS Outstanding, Distinguished and Notable Chapters are determined each year by the SPS Council through careful review of the SPS chapter reports. Designations are made based on chapter involvement in local, zone and national SPS meetings, participation in SPS programs, outreach efforts, student recruitment, and interaction with their department and department alumni.