Mission

The mission of the Pacific Northwest Association for College Physics (PNACP)  is to increase cooperation among college physics faculty and to conduct programs to benefit the physics faculty and students at community colleges, colleges, and universities in the Pacific Northwest. The PNACP provides faculty professional development, advocates for physics programs, and supports the recruitment of students to study STEM and physics and their preparation for careers in STEM fields in the Pacific Northwest.

PNACP Stakeholders

• Physics instructional faculty at colleges and universities in the pacific northwest: WA, OR, ID, MT, AK

• Physics and science department that include physics at colleges and universities in the pacific northwest: WA, OR, ID, MT, AK

• STEM students in the pacific northwest and future pacific northwest employers of STEM-trained students

Services Provided by PNACP

• Professional development of faculty

  • Bring nationally and internationally known physics researchers to present their work and meet with physics college and university faculty of the pacific northwest who would not normally have the opportunity to meet such people.

  • Promote cooperation, research, collaboration, and sharing of ideas regarding scholarship in physics and physics education research among the physics faculty in the pacific northwest.

  • Connect PNW physics faculty, industry, and government laboratory resources and opportunities

  • Foster community among physics faculty in the pacific northwest

• Advocacy for physics programs and departments

  • Promote  the importance of physics scholarship and physics education at colleges and universities in the pacific northwest.

  • Provide mutual support among physics programs 

  • Advocate for physics programs in the colleges and universities of the Pacific Northwest.

• Department and program student recruitment pipeline

  • Provide contacts among universities and colleges to facilitate the transfer of students from 2 year to 4 year physics programs in the pacific northwest, applications of graduate students and postdoctoral candidates to universities in the pacific northwest.

  • Provide information to faculty in the pacific northwest about educational opportunities at other colleges and universities in the pacific northwest.

• Student professional preparation

  • Enhance the education of STEM students and specifically physics students in the pacific northwest by providing information and knowledge to faculty that will enrich the student educational experience.

  • Inform faculty of employers that would benefit from hiring students trained in physics.