APS, AAPT Appoint Joint Task Force on Graduate Education

Together with the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), the APS has appointed a new Joint Task Force on Graduate Education in Physics. Chaired by Boston University's David Campbell, the task force will examine current trends in physics research and education that may be contributing to the fragmentation of the physics community.

The task force is charged with examining and summarizing directions in graduate education in physics, with special emphasis on doctoral programs.

It will identify special challenges and problems facing graduate education in physics, and recommend appropriate actions for APS, AAPT, and/or PhD-granting universities to take in response to these issues.

"The physics community has not reviewed its graduate education programs for ten years," said APS Executive Officer Judy Franz about the rationale for forming the task force. "We hope that the task force will be able to suggest positive steps to help graduate students learn physics that will enhance their understanding of the interconnections between different fields; prepare them to apply physics in a variety of fields or disciplines; and foster their appreciation of the breadth of physics."

The other task force members are:

• Renee Diehl, Penn State University;
  
• J.D. Garcia, University of Arizona;
  
• James Gates, University of Maryland, College Park;
  
• Michael Paesler, North Carolina State University;
  
• Peter Jung, Ohio University;
  
• Joel Fajans, University of California, Berkeley;
  
• Allen Goldman, University of Minnesota; and
  
• Tom Appelquist, Yale University