PhysCon is a global meeting held every three years for undergraduate students, alumni, and faculty. Eleven physics students (1 senior, 4 juniors, 2 sophomores, and 4 first-years) all got the opportunity to travel to Denver completely funded.
Ithaca College Physics Students Attend PhysCon
By Gabriella Hubchen and Sierra Dages, February 12, 2026
During the last weekend of October 2025, the Society of Physics Students chapter at Ithaca College attended the SPS National Physics and Astronomy Congress (PhysCon) in Denver, Colorado.
Once in Denver, students attended the 3-day conference full of activities. Every morning began with a plenary speaker, all of whom were decorated physicists in their respective fields. Plenary speakers included Dr. Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Dr. Eric Cornell, Dr. Sarah Hörst, and Dr. K. Renee Horton. There were also graduate school fairs and workshops for students to network and learn about future career and education opportunities. Additionally, because the event happened during Halloween, there was a costume party organized for students to meet other students. Students also presented posters during a student poster session. Gabriella Hubchen represented Ithaca College with a poster on thermal drone imagery, a product of her ongoing research with Dr. Eric Leibensperger.
One of the attendees, first-year student Feifei Wu, noted, “The talk by Jocelyn Bell was memorable, specifically when Jocelyn said, ‘We are all children of the stars.’” Feifei was struck by the beauty of how all the elements in our universe are changed and repurposed. She was also fascinated to learn about the Bohr photovoltaic experiment, whose goal is to improve the performance of solar panels using new materials. As a result of her trip to PhysCon, Feifei is now more strongly considering a career in astronomy.
When asked about her favorite part of the conference, junior Applied Physics major Ayantu Uli said, “The small group workshops were interesting, I sat in one discussing innovation in … industry. Recent college graduates shared their personal journeys from college to the job market.” The group workshops gave Ayantu opportunities to ask individual questions to the presenters to better understand what she’d like to do after college. Another highlight of the weekend for Ayantu was the poster session, as “there were so many different posters covering such a variety of research.” She also got a chance to talk to other organizations with tables at PhysCon, including the Society of Physics Students International, the Society of Black Physicists, and even some universities with graduate programs and summer internships.
This memorable and educational trip was supported by alumni donations, the Ithaca College Student Governance Council, the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and physics faculty research grants. The Ithaca College SPS chapter looks forward to sharing opportunities like this with more students in the future.