APS March Meeting Satellite Sites Increase Virtual Meeting Attendance by Nearly 20%

June 2, 2023

APS intends to expand these satellite sites to extend the reach and diversity of the March Meeting and to strengthen service to physicists worldwide.

APS international attendance during the 2023 virtual March Meeting increased by nearly 20% from last year, according to statistics from APS International Affairs. This was accomplished through an expansion of the 2022 pilot program — the March Meeting Satellite Sites. The satellite sites program allows physicists to gather at a local institute or university to participate in the virtual March Meeting while enjoying elements of an in-person conference — networking, participating in scientific talks and poster sessions, and sharing physics research with local colleagues.

In 2022, APS sponsored four remote virtual sites in South Africa, Rwanda, and India (Bangalore and Mumbai). Those satellite sites engaged hundreds of physicists in virtual March Meeting “watch sessions,” group discussions, and even a five-day, in-person event that featured talks from students and senior scientists in Bangalore.

This year, in addition to the 2022 sites in Rwanda and South Africa, satellite events expanded to include the South American Institute for Fundamental Research (SAIFR) in São Paulo, Brazil and the SESAME facility outside of Amman, Jordan. By attracting approximately 250 attendees, this year’s satellite sites increased the 2023 virtual March Meeting attendance by nearly 20%.

Moreover, in 2023, three of the satellite sites actively contributed to the March Meeting scientific content by organizing parallel sessions featuring participants giving scientific talks through the Virtual March Meeting platform.

For example, Dr. Gihan Kamel, an infrared beamline scientist at SESAME, organized an outstanding session titled Open SESAME: Waves of Success and Recognition Connecting Women Scientists Beyond Skepticism, Beyond Borders. Nine senior-level, female physicists from the Middle East, West Africa, and across the globe conveyed their physics journey to a rapt audience of March Meeting online participants.

You can watch this talk and others by viewing the March Meeting content online.