Meeting Briefs
The APS Southeastern Section (SESAPS) held its annual fall meeting November 2-4 at Mississippi State University in Starkville, MS. The conference covered subjects such as physics education research, applied physics, materials science, computational physics, optics and quantum optics, astrophysics, and free electron laser physics. The meeting also featured a program of physics teaching demonstrations. The evening's banquet speaker was Walter E. Massey, President of Morehouse College and a former APS vice president, who spoke on responsibilities of scientists to 21st century society. During the banquet, three awards were presented: the Jesse W. Beams Award for Outstanding Research; the George B. Pegram Award for Excellence in Teaching; and the Francis Slack Award for Excellence in Service. In addition, several other organizations held meetings in conjunction with SESAPS: the Mississippi Association of Physicists (this is the Mississippi Chapter of the AAPT), the Chairs of Southeastern Physics Departments, and the Society of Physics Student. A WebTop Workshop was held before the formal SESAPS Meeting, it was organized by John Foley of Mississippi State University. WebTop is a computer graphics system whose purpose is to help instructors teach optics and students to learn optics.
APS New England Section Meeting
The APS New England Section held its annual fall meeting November 10-11 at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, CT. Friday afternoon's session focused on photonics, and featured invited lectures on such topics as microlithography for electronics and photonics; excitons in quantum dots; and a summary of recent advances in optical communications. The keynote speaker for Friday evening's banquet was Robert Adair of Yale University, who gave his popular lecture on the physics of baseball. On Saturday, contributed papers and a poster session were followed by an invited talk on the status of low and high temperature superconductor wire fabrication. The meeting closed with an industrial round table, organized by the APS Committee on Careers and Professional Development.
