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Jack Hehn.

Jack Hehn dedicated his entire career to supporting physics stu­dents and teachers, first as a high school teacher, then as a professor, and then, for more than 30 years combined, in the leadership of the American As­sociation of Physics Teachers and the American Institute of Physics (AIP, home to Sigma Pi Sigma). Now retired, he continues making an impact as an AIP board director, advocate for students, and volunteer, and by supporting the new Sigma Pi Sigma Leadership Scholarship.

SPS has awarded leadership scho­larships to undergraduates for many years, but the new scholarship is the first to require Sigma Pi Sigma membership. The $2,500–$3,000 awards are for honor society members within 10 years of their induction date to support their advanced education in physics, astronomy, or a closely related field. The first two were given in the fall of 2023.

Hehn sees the scholarships as an investment in the future of the field. “You can’t have a future for any disci­pline without having people educated at a higher level in that discipline,” he says. Essential to a healthy future is
attracting a large and diverse popula­tion of students, providing leadership opportunities to student scholars, and encouraging service, according to Hehn. He hopes that scholarship recipients will maintain a strong connection to Sigma Pi Sigma and their chapter over the years. “I want people to feel like they belong in a physics department, that this is where they should be,” he says.

Hehn is supporting the scholarships through donations to the AIP Foundation via the Hehn Family Charitable Trust.  

More information

Learn more and apply for the Sigma Pi Sigma Leadership Scholarship at sigmapisigma.org/sigmapisigma/awards/leadership-scholarship. Applications are due March 15 and November 15 each year.

Support student scholarships and programs through the AIP Foundation at foundation.aip.org/student-programs.html.

Share Your Eclipse Experience

By the time this issue of Radiations reaches mailboxes, many Sigma Pi Sigma members along the path from Mexico to Eastern Canada will have experienced the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse. If you were one of those people, Sigma Pi Sigma wants to hear from you!

Were you moved by the experience? Thwarted by cloud cover? Hosting an outreach event? With a stadium full of others, with family, or in solitude?

Share your stories, photographs, sketches, poems, and more through the Sigma Pi Sigma website at sigmapisigma.org/sigmapisigma/eclipse or by emailing sigmapisigma [at] aip.org. 

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A few seconds before the Moon moves directly in front of the Sun during an annular eclipse on May 10, 1994. This photo was captured from Ogunquit, Maine, through a telescope with a safe solar filter covering its front lens. Note the broken arc of sunlight at the upper right, caused by mountains and valleys on the Moon's limb (edge). Photo credit: Rick Fienberg/Sky & Telescope.