Home | Publications | APS News | December 2006 (Volume 15, Number 11)

December 2006 (Volume 15, Number 11)

December 2006 (Volume 15, Number 11) Entire Issue

News

Mile-High City Will Host 2007 March Meeting
More than 7000 physicists will converge on Denver from March 5-9 for the largest annual gathering of physicists in the country.

APS Kicks Off Campaign to Support Education and Outreach Initiatives
Society's goal is to raise $3.5 million from corporate, foundation, and individual gifts.

New Management Tackles Difficult Problems at Los Alamos
Positive changes are underway, but the lab still struggles with security and budget problems, as well as low employee morale.

Apker Award Honors Three Undergrads.
There are three, not two, winners this year, due to the unusually large number of outstanding candidates for this award recognizing research stellar research accomplishments by undergraduates.

Council Passes Statements on Linear Collider, Careers in Physics
APS speaks out in support of ILC, and updates a prior statement on careers in physics to include options beyond the traditional academic track.

Kadanoff Wins Lorentz Medal
APS president-elect honored for his contributions to statistical physics, particularly in the theory of phase transitions

DPP Meeting Features Latest Advances in Plasma Physics Research
Highlights included the first lab-produced plasma mini-jets and the latest progress on laser-driven wakefield accelerators.

APS Establishes New Committee On Informing the Public
New committee will provide oversight to the Society's growing number of public outreach and media activities.

Clarification Eases Visa Procedure
Travelers applying for a US visa don't need to leave their passports with the US Consular Office while waiting for visa processing

MuCap Results, Nucleon Spin Structure Highlight 2006 DNP Meeting
Nashville divisional meeting explores broad range of basic and applied research in nuclear physics.

Decker Finds the Physics in Building Graphite Guitars
Former plasma physicist takes a scientific approach to designing and building waterproof guitars.

Meeting Briefs
Several APS sections held their annual fall meetings in October.

Opinion

Letters
Hydrogen Is Not the Answer -- No Natural Definition of “Natural” -- Don’t Demonize Fundamentalists

The Back Page
A conversation with Steve Chu and Steve Koonin about the road to energy security.

Departments

Members in the Media
As quoted in other publications...

This Month in Physics History
December 23, 1750: Ben Franklin Attempts to Electrocute a Turkey

Washington Dispatch
A bimonthly update from the APS Office of Public Affairs

Zero Gravity
The 2006 Ig Nobel Prizes

International News
The IAEA celebrates 50 years.

New Faculty Exchange Ideas

Photo credit: Ted Hodapp

About 85 new physics and astronomy faculty gathered at the American Center for Physics in College Park, MD for the annual New Faculty Workshop. The meeting ran from October 26 through 29, and featured plenary sessions as well as several small group sessions on specific topics like “problem-solving,” “tenure and promotion issues” and “supervising undergraduate research.” Among the plenary lecturers were Evelyn Patterson of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Eric Mazur of Harvard, Diandra Leslie-Pelecky of the University of Nebraska, and Jim Stith of the American Institute of Physics. The photo shows Britt Scharringhausen of Beloit College, Kanani Lee of New Mexico State University, and David Mitchell of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo hard at work during one of the small group sessions.

©1995 - 2008, AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY
APS encourages the redistribution of the materials included in this newspaper provided that attribution to the source is noted and the materials are not truncated or changed.

Editor: Alan Chodos
Contributing Editor: Jennifer Ouellette
Staff Writer: Ernie Tretkoff
Art Director and Special Publications Manager: Kerry G. Johnson
Publication Designer and Production: Nancy Bennett-Karasik