Physics Department
SUNY – Buffalo State College

Saturday, May 19, 2007

This letter is to confirm that Steve Papapanu completed three hours of Professional Development for NY Physics Teachers here at SUNY-Buffalo State College on this date as part of our monthly Western New York Physics Teachers' Alliance (WNYPTA) meeting.  The meeting was carried out at the invitation of and under the guidance of faculty of the SUNY- Buffalo State Department of Physics.

The May 19th meeting included presentations and activities devoted to:

-	announcements and opportunities (grants, jobs) of interest to local area physics and physical science teachers
-	physics teaching and related demonstrations, materials and websites contributed by all, particularly Mr. Michael Magnuson, Mr. Mike Belling, and myself (Raleigh-Taylor Instability demonstrations)
-	a discussion of standardized conceptual testing in physics by Dr. Joe Zawicki of Buffalo State Earth Science and Science Education, and Saed Sabah of UB Learning and Instruction
-	an introductory activity measuring the Earth’s Magnetic Field by Steve Highland of Buffalo State Physics 
-	an activity demonstrating the use of an inexpensive laser pointer to measure the thickness of a human hair via Young double slit interference analysis of the resulting diffraction pattern by Dr Abbott of Buffalo State Physics
-	an inexpensive activity illustrating torque by Dr Abbott of Buffalo State Physics.  Material costs were provided by the Buffalo State Physics Department.
Some documents associated with this session can be found at
<http://physicsed/WNYPTA/meetings/2006-07/05-19-07/>

Sincerely,

Dr. Dan MacIsaac
Associate Professor
SUNY – Buffalo State College Physics	
(716) 878 3802 <macisadl@buffalostate.edu>