The First Month

Tuesday 29.3.2016 was a remarkable day. The preparatory work done by The Finnish Physical Society and few students paid off as the Finnish Young Minds section was succesfully founded at the 2016 Physics Days at Oulu, Finland. The founding meeting was followed by a panel discussion titled ”What Comes After Graduation?”, where five senior scientists shared their views on e.g. how to get original ideas and handle domestical life while at the same time pursuing an academic career. At the Physics Days one could sense a positive and an genuinely intrested atmosphere towards the Finnish Young Minds organisation

For the first officers of the section four eager recent or soon-to-be graduates were selected, all of whom had been part of the planning comittee formed last fall. Olli-Pekka Tikkanen from University of Eastern Finland was selected for the chair of the organisation with Anu Tuomela from University of Oulu acting as his right hand and vice-chair. The duties of the treasurer and secretary were given to Joona Havukainen and Anton Saressalo, respectively, whom are both students from the University of Helsinki. As can be seen the board is a fairly diverse cut from the finnish universities that do give degrees in physical sciences. Students from both Aalto university and University of Jyväskylä also showed interested to participate in the activities in the section.

The month of April and the start of May has seen the new board to hold two meetings. So far the Finnish Young Minds section has been officially accepted as a Young Minds section of the European Physical Society and the board as come to agree how it can accept members in accordance to the bylaws of the section. Now it is actually possible to become a member of the section provided that the applicant is a member of the Finnish Physical Society, European Physical Society or one of it’s member organisations.

Activity-wise the board has started to prepare few events. One of which will hopefully be organized in Helsinki in early June and one which which will happen at least in Helsinki, Oulu and Kuopio in the fall. The best way to keep up with the information about on-going activities is to follow us on twitter and like our facebook page where the most recent information will be distributed. Stay tuned.

Olli-Pekka Tikkanen