Sustainability at APS
APS is committed to sustainability in all forms, from supporting scientists seeking climate solutions to ensuring quality physics education that advances the next generation's involvement in the field.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
APS supports the United Nations's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the SDG Publisher's Compact. Our Chief Publications Officer Rachel Burley was named an SDG Fellow in 2023, demonstrating our dedication to sustainable practices and disseminating research on sustainability, including:
- Quality education, presented in our Physical Review Physics Education Research journal
- Affordable and clean energy, showcased in our PRX Energy journal that publishes exceptional and insightful research toward sustainable energy targets
- Industry, innovation, and infrastructure, explored in Physical Review Applied, which bridges the gaps between engineering and physics as well as academia and industry
APS Journal Highlights
Recent PRX Energy articles that focus on sustainability include:
- Discontinuous Jump Behavior of the Energy Conversion in Wind Energy Systems (2023)
PRX Energy 2, 033009 - How to Characterize Emerging Luminescent Semiconductors with Unknown Photophysical Properties (2023)
PRX Energy 2, 022001 - Oxygen-Redox Activity in Non-Lithium-Excess Tungsten-Doped LiNiO2 Cathode (2023)
PRX Energy 2, 013005 - Multilayer Capacitances: How Selective Contacts Affect Capacitance Measurements of Perovskite Solar Cells (2022)
PRX Energy 1, 013003 - Complexity and Persistence of Price Time Series of the European Electricity Spot Market (2022)
PRX Energy 1, 013002
APS's Sustainable Initiatives
Our initiatives further the sustainability of the physics community and the planet in ways that align with the SDG Compact goals of quality education, gender equality, reduced inequalities, affordable and clean energy, and climate action.
Quality Education
Our physics education initiatives advance quality education by supporting physics departments, faculty, and K-12 teachers, as well as public engagement efforts to encourage a passion for physics in students and the general public.
Discover APS education efforts
Gender Equality & Reduced Inequalities
To support our values of diversity, inclusion, and respect, APS offers an array of programs that aim to rectify historic inequities in physics by advancing the education and careers of women in physics as well as Black, Indigenous, and Latino individuals.
Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP)
APS Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP) help undergraduate women and those with diverse gender identities further their physics education and careers.
Women in Physics Group Grants
These grants support activities and events that advance women's participation in physics. They may also be used to form a Women in Physics (WiP) group within an institution, expand an existing group, or improve sustainability within a group.
Advancing Graduate Leadership (AGL)
AGL fosters professional development and leadership opportunities for women and gender minorities who are physics graduate students and postdocs
TEAM UP Together Scholarships
A collaboration between APS, the American Association of Physics Teachers, the American Astronomical Society, the American Institute of Physics, and the Society of Physics Students, this multimillion-dollar scholarship program provides direct funding and support to African American undergraduate students majoring in physics and astronomy. It is sponsored by the Simons Foundation International.
National Mentoring Community (NMC)
The NMC provides historically underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students in physics and related majors with career development and resources, the NMC pairs Black/African, Latinx, and Indigenous students with mentors.
Affordable, Clean Energy & Climate Action
APS's mission highlights our charge to advance scientific discovery and research dissemination, as well as to amplify the voice for science and communicate the essential role physics plays in the modern world. This mission includes APS's work advancing affordable, clean energy and climate action through our data-driven reports, statements, initiatives, public policy efforts, and topical groups.
APS Reports
APS's Panel on Public Affairs has compiled reports focused on sustainability and that guide APS's public policy and advocacy efforts.
Monitoring Methane Emissions from Oil & Gas Operations
There is an urgent need to reduce methane emissions to help reduce temperature increases from anthropogenic greenhouse gasses. An essential part of any strategy to mitigate methane emissions is the ability to accurately measure and monitor the amount and location of methane released by various sectors.
Responding to the US Research Community's Liquid Helium Crisis
If nothing is done to address these price and supply issues, then there will be a lasting negative effect on the scientific enterprise in the US.
APS Statements
APS Statements shape the public policy positions of the organization and our advocacy efforts.
Addressing the Global Energy Challenge
Accelerating the transition to carbon-neutral energy sources
View the statement on carbon neutrality
Nuclear Energy
The American Physical Society has a long-standing interest in the establishment of a technically sound national energy policy.
Conservation of Helium
APS is profoundly concerned about the potential loss of the nation's accumulated helium reserves.
Earth's Changing Climate
Earth’s climate is changing. This critical issue poses the risk of significant environmental, social, and economic disruptions around the globe.
APS Initiatives
APS initiatives related to climate change aim to educate the public about the science of climate.
Wiki Scientist
Physicists fill in wikipedia’s gaps on climate science.
Science Trust
This program equips physicists with the skills necessary to address science misinformation.
Other APS Climate & Sustainability Efforts
APS's advances climate science in many other ways by engaging our members.
Methane & Public Policy
APS advocates for national calibration standards to monitor methane emissions, which will enable effective industry action and effective data-driven methane reduction policies.
APS's Topical Group on the Physics of Climate (GPC)
This member-organized APS unit advances knowledge concerning the physics, measurement, and modeling of climate processes.
APS's Topical Group on Energy Research & Applications (GERA)
This member-organized APS unit promotes communication relevant to the physics involved in humankind's safe generation, transmission, storage, and efficient use of energy with as small an impact on the Earth's environment and resources as feasible.
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APS Publications
APS publications serve the international physics community with peer-reviewed research journals, news and commentary about the latest research published in the Physical Review journals, news about and for members, information about physics and its place in the world, and blogs covering science policy, as well as fun and educational science news.
APS Programs
APS develops and implements a range of programs and initiatives that improve physics education, impact policy makers, increase diversity, inform the public about the importance of physics, and reach out to physicists around the world.
Mission, Vision & Values
APS advances and diffuses the knowledge of physics for the benefit of humanity, promote physics, and serve the broader physics community.
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About APS
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