David G. Seiler - Candidate for Treasurer

Retired
National Institute of Standards and Technology

Candidate Statement

APS has played a key role in the development of my physics professional career and success as a physicist. Its financial well-being is a key to the continued success of APS, and if elected Treasurer, I will work to ensure that all members have the same positive experience.

I have over 30 years of proven R&D management positions at NIST, leading several organizational units with annual budgets approaching $25M. This experience includes dealing with financial uncertainty and complex issues that require both long-term planning and prompt short-term decision-making. As APS Treasurer, I will work closely with the Chief Financial Officer, and APS’s Publisher, Meeting Director, and CEO to help create an annual budget that is in line with APS’s Strategic Plan, and execute the budget in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). I recognize that APS’s future operations and finances may not be “business as usual,” with issues such as pandemic-induced changes to APS meetings, and publication-related challenges such as open access journals and new subscription paradigms. New programs on diversity, equity, and inclusion are also important matters to our society and require important investments. The APS Innovation Fund, entering its third year, also unlocks new opportunities to increase APS services to its members. With a new Administration in Washington with big plans for science, APS must take advantage of new initiatives to advance science in general, and physics in particular.

Working with the Senior Management Team, my goal as Treasurer will be to ensure APS meets the needs—present and future—of our members and our science in a fiscally sound manner. I will work to ensure transparency and clear communications to all APS members on finances and APS matters. APS has been a major focus of my professional life. As a lifelong member, I have participated in many APS activities. I have been Chair of FIAP & GIMS and have chaired and served on award and fellowship committees. I have organized/chaired many APS meeting programs and sessions. With AIP, I was involved with the Corporate Associates Advisory Committee and Industrial Physics Forums, and understand how to create strong alliances between industry and the Society. I have worked directly with industrial organizations such as SEMATECH, Semiconductor Research Corporation, and the Nanoelectronics Research Initiative which would be helpful to APS in exploring mutually beneficial partnerships. I have experienced how APS, especially through the incredible volunteer efforts of its members, enriches physicists and physics, and as Treasurer will work to maintain this success.

Each of us, as members of APS, can make important contributions to ensure that APS is successful and that it has a strong impact on our nation and the world. My goal will be to stimulate your interest and participation in APS activities by exploring new ways to better meet the needs of all of us in APS.

Educational History

  • PhD, Purdue University
  • MS, Purdue University
  • BS, Case Western Reserve University
  • One-year sabbatical at the MIT National Magnet Laboratory

URL for Full Bio or CV

Top 5 Honors, Awards, or Recognition

  • Fellow, American Physical Society
  • Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
  • Thank you letter from President Clinton for serving on the Technology Reinvestment Project (1994)
  • NIST Equal Employment Opportunity/Diversity Award (2005)
  • Purdue University School of Science Distinguished Alumnus Award (2000)

Most Recent APS Volunteer History

  • Chair, FIAP Executive Committee (2005-2008, 2013-2017)
  • Chair, GIMS Executive Committee (1994-1997, 2000-2004)
  • APS Industrial Physics Advisory Board (2016-2017)
  • George E. Pake Prize Committee (2016 -2017)
  • Prize Committee, Ken Hass Outstanding Student Paper Award (2018)

Membership in Other Societies

  • AVS Executive Committee of the Manufacturing Science and Technology Group (1996-2003)
  • IEEE EDS Region/Chapters Committee (2000-2007); Semiconductor Manufacturing Committee (2003-2010)
  • Recording Secretary, ASTM Committee F-01 on Electronics (1996-1997)
  • Materials Research Society
  • Sigma Pi Sigma, Sigma Xi, Pi Delta Epsilon

Other Relevant Experience

  • Chief of Staff, NIST Physical Measurement Laboratory (2018-2020)
  • Division Chief, Group Leader, NIST, with annual budgets as large as $25M (1988-2017)
  • Program Director, Solid State Physics, NSF Materials Research Division (1985-1986)
  • Initiator conference series (Frontiers of Characterization and Metrology for Nanoelectronics) addressing semiconductor industry measurement needs (1995-2022)
  • NIST Governing Council representative for Nanoelectronics Research Initiative (2007-2017)

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David Seiler