The University of Nevada, Reno is hosting the 2014 Meeting of the Far West Regional Section of the American Physical Society Oct. 24 and 25. The conference is directed toward members of the American Physical Society from California, Nevada and Hawaii. This marks the first time that the annual meeting is being held in Nevada.

Although it's a regional meeting, the line-up of speakers features top researchers in the field of physics, drawing from universities throughout the west.

"The regional meetings are more eclectic, with all types of physicists; from astrophysics, to particle physics to caged atoms - it offers a lot for students as well as researchers and professors from around the west," Jeff Thompson, a physicist as well as the dean of the College of Science, said. "We'll see a lot of our students attend, and a lot of students from California as well."

The conference attendees will hear lectures with such arcane titles as experimental particle physicist Maria Spiropulu's "The Future of the Higgs Boson," experimental and plasma physicist Tammy Ma's "Inertial Confinement Fusion Experiments at the National Ignition Facility," University of Nevada, Reno's emeritus foundation professor and plasma physicist Ron Phaneuf's "Photoionizing a Caged Atom: a Single-Molecule Electron Interferometer, and atomic physicist Werner Dappen's "Open Issues in the Physics of the Solar Interior." Undergraduates and graduate students will also give lectures throughout the conference.

The University's Executive Vice President and Provost Kevin Carman, Thompson and Professor of Physics Emeritus Peter Winkler welcomed attendants to the conference at the Nightingale Concert Hall in the Church Fine Arts Friday. The conference sessions will be held at the Joe Crowley Student Union Saturday.

"The regional, annual meeting is a wonderful opportunity for networking between students, professors and researchers within the field," Winkler said. "This conference is interesting because the speakers are not limited to one particular topic."

Attendants will breakout into smaller sessions throughout the two days to hear lectures on topics such as plasma physics, nuclear physics, atomic, molecular and optical physics, condensed matter and material science, physics education, atmospheric science and high energy/accelerator physics.

The conference also allows undergraduate and graduate students a platform to display their research with a poster session Friday evening. The best undergraduate and graduate speaker will be awarded a prize to distinguish the outstanding and promising physics students.

The Far West Section of the American Physical Society provides a platform to connect physicists in three states. They promote interactions between educational institutions, government laboratories and industries in the field of physics. For more information about the University's physics program, visit www.unr.edu/physics.