The PGSA Journal Club aims to expose graduate students to a wider variety of current physics research than what they typically get from their own research groups. They learn about new physics from their peers in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. It is also a forum for students to gain experience in communicating science to their peers and more general audience.
The Journal Club meets approximately bi-weekly to discuss a paper selected by the presenting student from the list of the papers suggested by the Faculty and available in this website. Typically the selected paper is of general interest to the presenter and is either a seminal/classic paper from the presenter's sub-field or a new paper creating a lot of buzz. The presentation should be directed at an audience outside the presenter's sub-field and extensive Q&A and discussion is encouraged.
The presenter receives feedback on his/her presentation based on a standardized evaluation form that the audience fills out. Audience feedback will be considered by the Journal Club faculty advisor in determining the winner. Winners will be announced at the end of the semester.
There are three presentation categories:
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New Idea category: presenter has to come up with a New Research Idea and successfully defend his/her proposal. You need to give the topic at least two weeks prior to your presentation, so that the Journal Club will have enough time to make sure there will be two faculty members to evaluate your presentation.
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Journal Article category: presenter has to select a Journal Article / paper from the list in this website (under Journal Club -> Paper List), that is not directly related to presenter's research (whether the Journal Article is related to presenter's research work is decided by the Journal Club committee) and present on the article selected. Paper list may only give you recommended article references; it’s your responsibility to search and look for the actual paper. You may also come up with a journal article / paper that you found interesting and get approval from Journal Club committee to present.
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Own Research category: presenting your Own Research or a similar work to your research. (NOT eligible for monetary awards)
Monetary awards:
- $ 200 for the winner of the New Idea category.
- $ 100 for the winner of the Journal Article category.
- $ 50 for the 2nd place of the Journal Article category.
NOTE: In case there is NO New Idea category presenters (or if the presenters in New Idea category failed to defend the new ideas successfully), the monetary awards will be given as follows:
- $ 150 for the winner of the Journal Article category.
- $ 125 for the 2nd place of the Journal Article category.
- $ 75 for the 3rd place of the Journal Article category.
Certificates:
1st, 2nd, and 3rd places of each category will get certificates recognizing their achievements (subject to the quality of the presentations).
SPECIAL NOTES:
- Any Graduate Student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Mississippi State University is eligible for awards. However, any presenter who has won twice previously will not be eligible for awards in the same category.
- One presenter can present more than one time; either in the same category or different categories; however, priority will be given to give more opportunity to as many presenters as possible.
For questions regarding Journal Club activities, please contact Dinesh Thapa (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Guidlines
PGSA Journal Club Evaluation Form (format)
