Two New APS Officers Begin Tenures

Two new operating officers are joining the APS, one as of November and the other in January 1997. Thomas McIlrath, associate dean for research and graduate studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, replaced retiring APS Treasurer Harry Lustig on November 11. Martin Blume, deputy director of Brookhaven National Laboratory, succeeds retiring APS Editor-in-Chief Benjamin Bederson on the first of the year.

As the Society's chief financial officer, the APS Treasurer is responsible for the preparation and administration of the APS budget, for the Society's investments, for business interactions with the American Institute of Physics, for the Society's legal affairs, and for personnel policies and administration. The Treasurer is also expected to participate in all aspects of the governance, policy formation and administration of the Society, and along with the Executive Officer and Editor-in-Chief, has the responsibility for supervising the APS staff.

McIlrath received his Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University in 1966 and spent the following year as NATO postdoctoral fellow at England's Oxford University. After several years as a research associate at Harvard College Observatory, he joined the faculty of UMD, where he is presently a professor in the Institute for Physical Science and Technology, in addition to his deanship and role as staff physicist for the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg. He is an active member of the APS Division of Laser Science, which he chaired in 1988.

The APS Editor-in-Chief has responsibility for the research journals published by the Society, including the large editorial and journal support staff located in Ridge, New York. Responsibilities include preserving and enhancing the quality of APS journals, leading APS efforts in electronic publishing, working with senior editors to set journal polices, and handling appeals and ethics cases involving authors.

Blume received his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University in 1959 and spent the following year as a Fulbright Fellow at Tokyo University. After two years as a research associate at Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE) in Harwell, England, he joined the staff of Brookhaven, where he headed the solid state physics group and chaired the National Synchrotron Light Source department before becoming deputy director in 1984. From 1972 to 1980 he was also a professor of physics at SUNY-Stony Brook.

Blume's research interests include theoretical solid state physics, magnetism, phase transitions, slow neutron scattering and synchrotron radiation. His extensive APS service includes stints as chair of the Panel on Public Affairs and Nominating Committee, as well as service with the Forum on Physics and Society and on the APS Council and Executive Board. He has also served on the editorial board of the Physical Review in addition to several other publications.