Commander (CBE)
Order of the British Empire (OBE)
Order of the British Empire, Civil (MBE)
Knights Bachelor
OBE (Officer)
Upon his appointment, Abdou said, "A key objective of CEREL is to enhance the role and visibility of universities as premier institutions for carrying out cutting-edge fundamental and applied research on all aspects of energy production, transmission, storage, and utilization that can lead to innovative and practical solutions for a sustainable energy future. CEREL also provides an important forum for sharing experience among universities in regards to educating and training the workforce and future leaders of the energy field in the many diverse scientific and social science disciplines involved. CEREL helps enable energy research and education at universities to become larger than the sum of their parts."
The Technical Societies, Councils and Technical Committees of IEEE Technical Activities work to foster technological innovation and progress by advancing the technical activities of IEEE for the benefit of the profession and humanity worldwide, and it represents the interests of the Societies and Technical Councils within IEEE. Flescher currently serves as an IEEE director and vice president of Technical Activities for IEEE, and has been involved as a member of the TAB Finance Committee since 1992, serving as TAB treasurer twice during this period.
Flescher's involvement with TAB finances gave him the experience and knowledge to play a major role in understanding the existing financial structure of IEEE, identifying its flaws and developing a series of reorganizations that established a much more rational, transparent and sustainable system. In particular, he led the drive to implement a better budgeting process for TAB and IEEE.
He was the primary agent of change for creating an allocation process that defines adequate fiscal resources for all of the entities of IEEE and for changing a volunteer committee to better oversee these expenditures. He played a major role in getting these changes approved by the TAB, which was important since the changes affected almost every individual IEEE Society and were extremely unpopular with the voting members of TAB.
An IEEE Fellow, Flescher also served as president of the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society from 1991-1992 and is currently its finance committee chair. His technical specialty is research and development and manufacturing of electronic systems hardened to the effects of space and nuclear weapons radiation, and he was awarded the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society Richard F. Shea Distinguished Member Award in 1997. Flescher received his bachelor's and master's degrees in nuclear physics from New York University. He worked for Raytheon Company from 1966 to 2001 and is currently a consultant in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, for companies with large, high-value, tightly scheduled projects involving complex engineering content.
About IEEE
IEEE, the world's largest technical professional association, is commemorating its 125th anniversary in 2009 by Celebrating 125 Years of Engineering the Future around the globe. Through its more than 375,000 members in 160 countries, IEEE is a leading authority on a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics. Dedicated to the advancement of technology, IEEE publishes 30 percent of the world's literature in the electrical and electronics engineering and computer science fields, and has developed nearly 900 active industry standards. The organization annually sponsors more than 900 conferences worldwide. Additional information about IEEE can be found at http://www.ieee.org.
Middle-school math and science teachers are welcome to seek additional information and apply for the program by visiting www.northropgrumman.com/teachers.
]]> Educators are encouraged to apply as soon as possible for the remaining seats on flights in Albuquerque, NM, Detroit, and Washington, D.C. The Norwalk, CT flight is full. This year's flights will take place according to the following schedule.Albuquerque, NM:
Workshop - Saturday, August 22
Flight - Tuesday, September 22
Detroit, MI:
Workshop - Saturday, August 1
Flight - Thursday, September 24
Washington, DC:
Workshop - Saturday, August 15
Flight - Friday, October 2
For the fourth consecutive year, Northrop Grumman is partnering with Zero-G Corporation to offer the Weightless Flights of Discovery program, one of several initiatives the Northrop Grumman Foundation sponsors in support of promoting education and student interest in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Selected teachers will participate in a full-day orientation program several weeks before their flights. Teachers then will work with their students to develop experiments to be conducted in-flight, in environments simulating lunar gravity, Martian gravity and weightlessness. Following the two-to-three-hour flight, each teacher will share his or her experiences back in the classroom with photography and video.
The United States is experiencing a shortage of college graduates in the STEM disciplines, a negative trend that bodes ill for the nation's industries that depend on talented scientists and mathematicians. Because studies have indicated most children make the decision to pursue math and science education and careers during middle-school, Northrop Grumman developed the Weightless Flights of Discovery to engage teachers, key influencers in the lives of students during these crucial years.
The Northrop Grumman Foundation supports diverse and sustainable programs for students and teachers. These programs create innovative education experiences in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The report describes five events at NRC-licensed facilities. The first NRC-licensee event involved radiation exposure to an embryo/fetus. The other four NRC-licensee events were medical events, as defined in Title 10, Part 35, of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR Part 35). All five NRC-licensee events occurred at medical institutions. The report also describes five events at Agreement State-licensed facilities. The first Agreement State-licensee event involved radiation exposure to an embryo/fetus. The other four Agreement State-licensee events were medical events, as defined in 10 CFR Part 35, and occurred at medical institutions. As required by Section 208, the discussion for each event includes the date and place, nature and probable consequences, the cause or causes, and the actions taken to prevent recurrence. Each event is also being described in NUREG-0090, Vol. 31, "Report to Congress on Abnormal Occurrences: Fiscal Year 2008.'' This report is available electronically at the NRC Web site.
]]>The awards are named for science visionary Frederick Gardner Cottrell, whose generosity made Research Corporation possible and whose invention of the electrostatic precipitator was an early environmental innovation that reduced pollution from smokestacks.
The winners of the 2009 Cottrell Scholar Awards are:
Scott Alan Snyder - Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Columbia University, New York, NY
Dr. Snyder, whose research involves recreating natural substances from scratch in the lab as a method of discovering new chemical reactions, has created a new high-school research program that enables at least two students to work at Columbia each summer; his own laboratory also provides training in modern organic chemistry to high-school students and their teachers. He is currently designing an inquiry-based program for the second semester of introductory organic chemistry that requires students to synthesize a natural product.
Lane Allen Baker - Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Dr. Baker, who is researching "nanopores" - tiny openings in living organisms, is targeting undergraduates at Indiana University and high-school students who own iPods and similar devices by creating and refining podcasts - digitally recorded, downloadable discussions - about chemistry in modular units. He is also creating a program of Internet-based video conferences in collaboration with an Alabama high-school teacher to reach ethnically diverse groups.
Penny J. Beuning - Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Dr. Beuning, who is studying how cells deal with DNA damage, is developing a new course at Northeastern University, "Principles of Chemical Biology," that will focus on using chemical and biophysical tools to address biological questions. In addition to discussing experimental methods to address a problem or to interpret experimental results, students will be expected to do research incorporating discovery-based projects derived from ongoing faculty research.
Duncan Ross Lorimer - Assistant Professor of Physics
West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
Dr. Lorimer, who studies distant, massive explosions in space, plans to recruit and retain students of physics at West Virginia University by improving astronomy opportunities for undergraduates and providing research experiences for high-school students via searches for transient radio sources. Among other projects, he is also creating a new introductory course, "Explosions in Space," that moves beyond the "survey" approach to investigate astronomical exotica.
Yadong Yin, Assistant Professor of Chemistry
University of California-Riverside, Riverside, CA
Dr. Yin, whose research involves trying to understand the formation and properties of nanostructure materials, is focused on developing educational programs that stimulate and maintain students' curiosity about science and technology and encourage them to pursue scientific careers. Specifically, he is creating a new course in nanomaterials designed to give an interdisciplinary overview of the topic to undergraduates at the University of California-Riverside, and provide outreach programs to interest high-school students in research.
Michael David Gladders, Assistant Professor of Astronomy
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Dr. Gladders, who is constructing the largest ever catalog of distant groups and clusters of galaxies, plans on using emerging technologies to bring new astronomical research to University of Chicago classrooms. He will incorporate data from an extensive star survey of deep space into advanced computer programs for teaching and visualization, essentially creating desktop planetaria. Based on these and other new tools, he will create new computerized astronomy labs for students.
Snezana Stanimirovic - Assistant Professor of Astronomy
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
Dr. Stanimirovic, who studies the turbulent properties of the stray matter drifting in the vast spaces between stars, is working to assemble three small radio telescopes (SRTs) and using them to create an Astronomical Observation Laboratory (AOL), all at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her goal is to infuse introductory courses with hands-on learning at the AOL, a "radio observatory," which will also allow upper-level project-based courses to focus on problem-solving and collaborative learning.
Robert McDermott - Assistant Professor of Physics
University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
Dr. McDermott is exploring the often puzzling properties of quantum physics in hopes of developing superconducting circuits and amplifiers. His teaching effort has two primary thrusts: 1) Upgrading and expanding the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Physics Advanced Laboratory course and developing a novel undergraduate course on experimental quantum information; 2) Working with local high-school teachers to develop teaching materials demonstrating key concepts in satellite communications.
Maura Ann McLaughlin, Assistant Professor of Physics
West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
Dr. McLaughlin's research work is aimed at improving the algorithms for studying gravity waves caused by accelerating, massive objects in space. Her teaching plan is aimed at increasing the numbers and retention of physics students, particularly underrepresented rural youths and women, at West Virginia University. She has outlined a series of confidence-building exercises and will host a yearly fall recruitment weekend for nearly a dozen high-school seniors. In addition she is working to provide physics students and those enrolled in astronomy courses with a collaborative, inquiry-based, classroom and laboratory atmosphere.
Rory Waterman, Assistant Professor of Chemistry
University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
Dr. Waterman is currently investigating catalysts that allow various molecules to form bonds with the element phosphorus. Because he believes research provides the best way for students to understand science, Dr. Waterman's teaching plan involves establishing a computerized Vermont-wide network of research opportunities - state and national - for high-school and University of Vermont undergraduate students. He is also teaching a course that gives first-year students the opportunity to conduct two half-semester research projects with two different faculty members.
For additional information, contact Carly Jansen at Goodman Media International: 212-576-2700 x250 or cjansen@goodmanmedia.com.
About Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA)
Founded in 1912, Research Corporation for Science Advancement (www.rescorp.org) - formerly known as Research Corporation - is the second-oldest foundation in the United States (after the Carnegie Corporation) and the oldest foundation for science advancement. RCSA is a leading advocate for the sciences and a major funder of scientific innovation and of research in America's colleges and universities.
]]>Kathryn Hach‑Darrow, who co‑founded the Hach Scientific Foundation in 1982 with her late husband Clifford, said the ACS was chosen for the gift because "it represents permanence and stability, and it truly embraces chemistry on a national level." The foundation was based in Fort Collins, Colo.
ACS is renowned for its many education programs serving a wide spectrum of learners, from grade school to graduate school and beyond. The new funding will supplement existing ACS programs by further enhancing the teaching of high school chemistry, including a scholarship program for undergraduate chemistry majors interested in a career teaching chemistry, a grant program for chemists who have a degree in chemistry but wish to pursue careers teaching chemistry, and outreach grants to chemistry teachers.
"The combined programs of the Hach Scientific Foundation and the ACS offer a complete suite of opportunities for high school teachers, from pre‑service education through ongoing professional development," said Judith L. Benham, Ph.D., Chair of the ACS Board of Directors.
ACS President Thomas H. Lane, Ph.D., said "The Hach Scientific Foundation demonstrated tremendous foresight in addressing the needs of pre‑ and in‑service teachers. Many chemists cite their high school chemistry teachers as the reason they chose chemistry as a profession. As the world's largest scientific society, ACS has an obligation to promote K‑12 teaching as a viable and valued career path. Becoming a teacher requires hard work, dedication and passion. As a nation we need to be encouraging our most talented young people to consider a career in teaching."
Congressman Reuben Hinojosa, (D‑TX), chair of the House Subcommittee on Higher Education and a strong supporter of science education, is scheduled to speak at the dedication. He and Senator Mark Udall (D‑CO) praised the Hach Foundation's long legacy of contributions to educating and training chemists.
Founded in 1876, ACS has been located in Washington since 1905 when it moved its offices from New York City. It was once located in the SouthBuilding of the National Bureau of Standards.
Clifford Hach and Kathryn Carter met as undergraduates at Iowa State University in the early 1940s and married in 1943. Clifford, an analytical chemist, and the media‑savvy Kathryn, began the Hach Co. in 1947. The company's first product was a water‑analysis system invented by Clifford that tested calcium and magnesium in water. Over the next half century, the company developed and sold reagents and instruments that simplified quantitative analysis. Clifford died in 1990 and nine years later Kathryn sold the company to Danaher Corp., where it continues under the Hach name.
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 154,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry‑related research through its multiple databases, peer‑reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
]]> The award, sponsored by the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, recognizes Hopfield for seminal contributions to the understanding of information processing in biological systems. The award will be presented on 17 June 2009 at the IEEE-INNS International Joint Conference on Neural Network in Atlanta, Georgia.
The beginning of the modern era of neural networks can be traced to Hopfield's pioneering work in the early 1980s. Relating an understanding of the electrical and cellular activity that takes place in the brain to computer technology, Hopfield described a feedback network of highly interconnected neurons that could reconstruct memories from clues (associative memory) and showed how stable states of network activity could represent memories, emphasizing the importance of computers (and the brain) as dynamical systems. This "Hopfield Network" is a recurrent neural network that can act as robust associative memory to perform pattern completion tasks. His work ignited an engineering revolution by showing that biologically inspired computation was feasible.
Today, a large portion of all studies concerning neural circuits are based on Hopfield's concepts. The idea of using neural networks to solve complex problems can be seen in applications such as system identification and control in vehicles; game playing and decision making; pattern recognition for radar systems and face identification; speech and handwriting recognition; medical diagnosis and financial applications such as automated trading systems. Beyond the benefit to computing technology, Hopfield's work also serves as a basic paradigm in neuroscience for understanding how the brain carries out its tasks.
Hopfield is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Physical Society (of which he was president in 2006). He has written over 200 research papers and has received many awards, including the Dirac Medal from the International Center for Theoretical Physics, California Scientist of the Year, a MacArthur Prize and the Einstein Prize of the World Cultural Council. Hopfield graduated from Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, and received a doctorate in physics from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. He is currently the Howard Prior Professor of Molecular Engineering at Princeton University, New Jersey.
About IEEE
IEEE, the world*s largest technical professional society, is commemorating its 125th anniversary in 2009 by Celebrating 125 Years of Engineering the Future around the globe. Through its more than 375,000 members in 160 countries, IEEE is a leading authority on a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics. Dedicated to the advancement of technology, IEEE publishes 30 percent of the world*s literature in the electrical and electronics engineering and computer science fields, and has developed nearly 900 active industry standards. The organization annually sponsors more than 900 conferences worldwide. Additional information about IEEE can be found at http://www.ieee.org.
]]>College Park, MD, May 27, 2009. The physics community and AAPT lost a friend and advocate on May 17 with the death of Betty Preece of Indialantic, FL. A long-time member of AAPT, Betty was recognized for her years of dedicated service with a Distinguished Service Citation in 1997. She served on many committees, including the Committee on Minorities, the Committee on Women in Physics, and the Committee on International Education.
Betty organized events for under privileged elementary children at AAPT's Winter Meetings for many years. She enlisted volunteers including local Society of Women Engineers (SWE) chapters in these activities for students. Betty was a recipient of the 2007 SWE Distinguished Service Award.
"Not only was Betty the living standard of a loyal AAPT member, but she was also a personal friend to many of us. She never said NO, and it was very hard to tell her No also. You could always count on her to do anything for the good of AAPT, children and women," said Lila Adair, AAPT Past President.
Betty was the first woman to graduate from the University of Kentucky with a degree in electrical engineering, was inducted into the University of Kentucky Hall of Distinction and was, in 1950, the first woman engineer at the Eastern Test Range, Cape Canaveral.
Betty was an organizing member of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) in 1950. She was a civil engineer with over 10,000 volunteer hours as the Handicap and Accessibility Coordinator at Patrick Air Force Base, an Adjunct Professor at Florida Institute of Technology, a physics teacher at Melbourne High for 18 years, and a science fair judge for state and county competitions.
She was a Mentor for Take Stock in Children and she was a member of and held local, state, and national office in the following: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Phi Delta Kappa, Delta Kappa Gamma, Environmentally Endangered Land Society (EELS), Abigail Wright Chamberlin Chapter NSDAR, Daughters of 1812, Daughters of American Colonists, American Association of Physics Teachers, National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN), Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS), South Brevard Historical Society, SCSEA, Scots-American Society of Brevard and Women Engineering Society in United Kingdom (WES).
She traveled the world as a speaker and teacher to show children that "Science could be fun." Betty was a cherished member in all of these organizations and will be missed by her many friends and family.
About AAPT: AAPT (www.aapt.org) is the leading organization for physics educators--with more than 10,000 members worldwide. Our mission is to advance the greater good through physics teaching. We provide our members with many opportunities for professional development, communication, and student enrichment. We serve the larger community through a variety of programs and publications. AAPT was founded in 1930 and is headquartered in the American Center for Physics in College Park, Maryland.
CONTACT:
Marilyn Gardner, American Association of Physics Teachers, mgardner@aapt.org 301-209-3306.
(College Park, MD) -- Five students have been selected to represent the U.S Physics Team as the 2009 Traveling Team at the 40th International Physics Olympiad, a competition among high-school physics students, held this summer in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico.
The students are:
David Field, of Andover, MA, a sophomore at the Phillips Andover Academy in Andover, MA; bio at http://www.aapt.org/physicsteam/team.cfm?id=495&year=2009
Bowei Liu, of Freemont, CA, a sophomore at Mission San Jose High School in Freemont, CA; bio at http://www.aapt.org/physicsteam/team.cfm?id=612&year=2009
Marianna Mao, of Freemont, CA, a senior at Mission San Jose High School in Freemont, CA; bio at http://www.aapt.org/physicsteam/team.cfm?id=627&year=2009
Anand Natarajan, of San Jose, CA, a senior at The Harker School; bio at http://www.aapt.org/physicsteam/team.cfm?id=654&year=2009
Joshua Oreman, of Los Angeles, CA a senior at Harvard Westlake School, Los Angeles, CA; bio at: http://www.aapt.org/physicsteam/team.cfm?id=663&year=2009
"We are very proud of all nineteen students who participated in the training camp. They have tested themselves with the best of their peers for ten days and have proven to be an outstanding group of young people," said Warren Hein, Executive Officer of the American Association of Physics Teachers, which sponsors the team. "We are sure that the five Traveling Team members will uphold the tradition of success for the United States as they represent the U.S. Physics Team in Merida."
The students attended a training camp at the University of Maryland, where, through classes, labs and special lectures, they were coached on difficult physics concepts, then took a series of exams. They also made a trip to nearby Washington, DC, to see the Smithsonian Museums and to NASA's Goddard Space Center in Greenbelt, MD.
The coaches for the 2009 U.S. Physics team are: Paul Stanley, Academic Director/Senior Coach, Warren Turner, Senior Coach/Lab Coach, Andrew Lin, David Jones, and David Fallest.
Last year, the team brought home one silver and four gold medals. Joshua Oreman, a returning team member, brought home a gold medal for the 2008 Team.
The U.S. Physics Olympiad Program was started in 1986 by AAPT to promote and demonstrate academic excellence. It continues to be supported as a joint initiative between AAPT and AIP. The nine-day international competition brings together pre-university students from more than 60 nations. This year's event is sponsored by the Mexico Ministry of Education, the National Council of Science and Technology, and the Yucatan State Government with the support of the National University of Mexico, the National Polytechnical Institute, the Metropolitan Autonomous University, and the Institute for Scientific and Technological Research of San Luis Potosi. The 2009 International Physics Olympiad is being organized by the Mexican Physical Society, the University of Yucatan, and the Merida Campus of the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnical Institute.
LIST OF EVENTS:
May 16-26 -- Physics Team students visit University of Maryland for their intensive training camp.
May 26 -- Five students chosen as the Traveling Team to represent the US Team at the international competition.
July 3-7 --Traveling Team Mini-Boot Camp, College Park, MD
July 11 -- Traveling Team arrives in Merida for the international competition.
July 19 -- The International Olympiad's final awards given.
MORE ON THE WEB
• Main website of the U.S. Physics Team: http://www.aapt.org/olympiad2009/
• History of the physics team, including past winners: http://www.aapt.org/Contests/olympiad.cfm
• The official website of the International Physics Olympiad: http://ipho2009.smf.mx/home
• Screening exams the students had to pass to place on the U.S. Physics Team: http://www.compadre.org/psrc/evals/olympiad.cfm
CONTACT:
Marilyn Gardner, American Association of Physics Teachers, mgardner@aapt.org, 301-209-3306
College Park, MD (May 22, 2009) Nineteen of the country's best and brightest physics students sit in a classroom, gritting their teeth against the screech of Professor Paul Stanley's chalk. He bears down on the chalkboard and offers the teens a challenge.
"You can calculate how long this piece of chalk is by measuring the frequency [pitch] of the squeak," says Stanley. When the chalk snaps a moment later, he explains that the pitch of the ultrasonic sound of the break can be determined from the sizes of the leftover fragments.
These high school students -- who have a penchant for wearing MIT t-shirts -- banter about how they would perform the calculations. They are the U.S. Physics Team and have gathered from across the country to train for the 40th Annual International Physics Olympiad. From May 16 to 26, they are spending thirteen hours a day at the University of Maryland in fast-paced lecture classes and hands-on labs that challenge the depth and breadth of their knowledge of physics.
To make it this far, the team members scored better than 4,000 other students on three exams that tested their knowledge of theoretical physics.
"To do well, you have to be the kind of person who likes sitting up at night with physics textbook just because it's the most fun thing to do," says Andrew Lin, who competed on the U.S. team twice and has been a coach for the team for 9 years.
Five students will be chosen to represent the U.S. in the international competition, in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico from July 12th through the 19th. The U.S. team will compete against teams from around the world to solve three theoretical problems and one experimental problem drawn from a wide range of physics fields. Past problems have included everything from the application of physics to automobile air bags and spacecraft to abstract questions about relativity and mechanics. Last year, the U.S. team won one silver medal and four gold medals..
Their boot camp training for the event includes time in a laboratory. "The experimental side is similar to what they do in their high schools, but we give them something that pushes them a little further," says Warren Turner, head lab coach. Instead of simply measuring the motion of a pendulum, for example, the students develop their own mathematical models to take into account and predict the nuances of the swinging bob.
The week isn't all work. Whether debating if alternative energy schemes inspired by science fiction novels would actually work or wiggling their arms in the "vector dance," the gathering is an opportunity for the teens to get to know each other.
"I get to meet cool people who are interested in the same crazy things that I am," says Joshua Oreman of Harvard Westlake School in North Hollywood, who brought home a gold medal at last year's competition in Iran.
The camp schedule includes a movie night and field trips to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC and to NASA's Goddard Space Laboratory in Greenbelt, MD.
The demographics of the bunch are fairly representative of a slice of the physics community at large. They are a mix of public and private school students and a mix of ethnicities, with about half being of Asian descent. Only three of the students are female.
But when asked whether these students were representative of his colleagues in physics coach David Fallest of North Carolina University shook his head. "These students are special and amazing ... the level of enthusiasm is not what I see in Ph.D students. They're the cream of the crop, interested in every aspect of the subject."
The U.S. Physics Olympiad Program was started in 1986 by AAPT to promote and demonstrate academic excellence. It continues to be supported as a joint initiative between AAPT and AIP. The nine-day International Physics Olympiad brings together pre-university students from more than 60 nations.
LIST OF EVENTS:
May 16-26 -- Physics Team students visit University of Maryland for their intensive training camp.
May 26 -- Five students chosen as the Traveling Team to represent the US Team at the international competition.
July 11 -- Traveling Team arrives in Merida for the international competition.
July 19 -- The International Competition's final awards given.
MORE ON THE WEB
Main website of the U.S. Physics Team: http://www.aapt.org/olympiad2009/
History of the physics team, including past winners: http://www.aapt.org/Contests/olympiad.cfm
The official website of the International Physics Olympiad: http://ipho2009.smf.mx/home.
CONTACT:
Marilyn Gardner, American Association of Physics Teachers, mgardner@aapt.org, 301-209-3306
Her appointment is effective July 13. Dr. Kirby replaces Dr. Judy Franz, who is retiring from APS after 15 years of service.
]]> "Dr. Kirby will bring visionary leadership and commitment to the APS," said Dr. Cherry A. Murray, APS president. "We are thrilled at her appointment. She is a distinguished physicist who deeply understands the missions and operations of APS. With the scientific taste, eloquence, and diplomatic skill she has demonstrated in her career, she will be an exceptional advocate for all of physics. We are also extremely grateful for the extraordinary leadership that Dr. Judy Franz has provided over the last 15 years."Dr. Kirby earned her bachelor's degree in chemistry and physics from Harvard/Radcliffe College in 1967 and her PhD from the University of Chicago in 1972. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard College Observatory (1972-73), she was appointed as Research Physicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and Lecturer in the Harvard University Department of Astronomy (1973-86 and 2003-present). She also is a Senior Research Fellow of the Harvard College Observatory. From 1988 to 2001, she served as an Associate Director at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, heading the Atomic and Molecular Physics Division. In 2001, she was appointed Director of the National Science Foundation-funded Institute for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (ITAMP) at Harvard and Smithsonian.
Dr. Kirby's research interests lie in theoretical atomic and molecular physics, particularly the calculation of atomic and molecular processes important in astrophysics and atmospheric physics. In 1990, she was elected as an APS Fellow.
She has both chaired and served on numerous APS committees, including the Fellowship Committee (1993-95), the Nominating Committee (1994-96), the APS Ethics Task Force (2002-2003), the Committee on Prizes and Awards (2005-2006), and the Search Committee for APS Leadership Positions (2005-06). She was elected APS Councilor-at-Large (1991-93) and Divisional Councilor for the Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (DAMOP) (2003-07) and elected to the APS Executive Board (2005-06). In addition, she has served as Vice-Chair, Chair-Elect, and Chair of DAMOP (1995-98).
Her other activities include membership on the Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (2003-2008) and co-chair of the BESAC Subcommittee on Theory and Computation, member of the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council Decadal Assessment Committee for Atomic, Molecular and Optical (AMO) Science (AMO2010), and Chair of the International Conference on Photonic, Electronic, and Atomic Collisions (2001-2003).
Dr. Kirby said she is elated about beginning her tenure at APS.
"Having served the Society for well over two decades as a volunteer on a number of committees, the Council and Executive Board, I am excited to be joining the APS leadership team," she said. "I look forward to working with APS staff and the membership to advocate for physics in the public arena and to serve the community of physicists throughout the U.S. and the world."
She added that APS will continue its crucial role of informing policymakers on the importance of science in developing solutions to national challenges.
Dr. Franz said she is delighted that Dr. Kirby is succeeding her as Executive Officer.
"Kate brings the same love of physics and strong commitment to the broad physics community that I have, and I am sure that she will use these to continue to strengthen APS and physics itself," said Dr. Franz.
About APS:
The American Physical Society is the leading professional organization of physicists, representing over 46,000 physicists in academia and industry in the United States and internationally. APS has offices in College Park, MD (Headquarters), Ridge, NY, and Washington, DC.
The 2009 Senior Prize for Applied Aspects of Quantum Electronics and Optics is awarded to Thomas Ebbesen, Professor at the University of Strasbourg in France, and Director of ISIS, a multidisciplinary research institute funded both by the University and the French CNRS. Thomas Ebbesen is also a Senior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France. Ebbesen has carried out research into a range of topics in physics and chemistry, including novel carbon materials and superconductivity. The Quantum Electronics and Optics Prize is awarded for his work carried out since the early 1990s into the novel optical properties of nanostructured metals and in particular for his discovery of how light can be efficently transmitted through subwavelength holes. His pioneering experiments have greatly contributed to the emergence of the field of surface plasmon photonics. Ebbesen's work is at the interface of nanoscience and photonics, and impacts on numerous strategic technologies such as opto-electronics, optical communications and sensing.
The awards will be presented in a Ceremony on Tuesday June 16th during the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO) Europe, held during the World of Photonics Congress in Munich, Germany.
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