Students pursuing a bachelor of science in physics or computational physics participate in a research project with a faculty member in the department. As part of this experience, students often have the opportunity to attend or even present their work at a research conference. Currently, there is no dedicated source of funding to offset the costs of student travel to these conferences, which greatly enhance the educational experience of department majors. Gifts targeting the physics and astronomy department student travel fund will allow more students to attend local, regional, and national conferences, including the Kansas Academy of Science annual meeting, the Mid-American Regional Astrophysics Conference, the International Society for Optics and Photonics Conference, the Optica Frontiers in Optics Conference, and the Midwest Relativity Meeting.
