International Affairs

The APS Office of International Affairs urges all APS Units to consider the needs of our international colleagues who constitute 23% of the Society’s membership and whose numbers continue to grow. We stand ready to assist you in pursuing your unit’s international connections and interests. We welcome your involvement with our existing programs and encourage you to share with us any initiatives you believe would prove beneficial to the international physics community.

International Research Travel Award Program (IRTAP)

IRTAP promotes international scientific collaborations between physicists in developing and developed countries. Grant recipients receive up to US$2,000 for international travel expenses while visiting a collaborator abroad for at least one month. One partner in the collaboration must be a member of one of the APS units that supports IRTAP.
IRTAP

India-U.S. Travel Program

The Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) sponsors and APS administers the exchange of physicists, postdocs, and physics Ph.D. students between India and the United States.
APS-IUSSTF Travel Program

Brazil-U.S. Exchange Program

The Sociedade Brasileira de Física and APS co-sponsor a program to encourage the exchange of physics Ph.D. students, postdocs, and professors between the United States and Brazil.
Brazil-U.S. Exchange Program

Visa Information

The APS visa website provides international visitors and U.S. conference organizers with information on matters related to U.S. visas. This site is a resource for updates on U.S. visa policy as well as links to information on how to apply for a visa and estimated visa wait times.
APS Visa Information

Lectureships

Each year the APS Committee on International Scientific Affairs (CISA) invites APS units and committees that organize sessions at the annual March and April meetings to submit nominations for lectureships that provide some travel support for distinguished invited speakers.

  • Beller Lectureship
    Funded by the estate of Esther Hoffman Beller for the purpose of bringing distinguished physicists from abroad as invited speakers at APS meetings.
  • Marshak Lectureship
    Funded by the late Ruth Marshak in honor of her late husband and former APS president, Robert Marshak. Provides travel support for physicists from developing nations or Eastern Europe who are invited to speak at APS meetings.

Journal Access

The American Physical Society offers access to its journal articles to scientists in developing countries through ICTP’s Electronic Journals Delivery Service (eJDS), administered by the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP). Scientists at institutions in developing countries receive individual mathematics and physics journal articles via e-mail.
eJDS website

Matching Membership Program

The Matching Membership Program makes APS membership available to physicists living in developing countries. A half-price membership is available to those who have an individual or institution who will sponsor them and provide payment. Applicants who are unable to pay and who do not have a sponsor may request APS support; free membership is available to individuals on a limited basis. Enrollment is limited to 1.5% of the current APS membership.
Matching Membership Program

Human Rights

APS is committed to human rights. Through its Committee on International Freedom of Scientists, APS monitors and advocates for the rights of scientists in the United States and around the globe. The Society also awards the Andrei Sakharov Prize every two years to a scientist “to recognize outstanding leadership and/or achievements…in upholding human rights.” APS is also a member of the AAAS Science and Human Rights Coalition.
APS Human Rights Information

Young Physicist Forums

Young Physicists Forums are 2-4 day scientific meetings that are specifically dedicated to bringing together U.S. and international graduate students, postdocs and/or early-career physicists. They are small physics meetings with each participant contributing a scientific talk or poster presentation to an audience of international peers. These meetings combine scientific sessions with career development and networking opportunities with the goal of fostering future international collaboration. Examples include the U.S.-China Young Physicists Forum, the U.S.-Brazil Young Physicist Forum, and the Canadian-American-Mexican Graduate Student Physics Conference.

Contact

APS Office of International Affairs
international@aps.org