LA Hosts 2005 APS March Meeting

Attendees who shivered through last year's March meeting in Montréal will head instead for the land of palm trees and perpetual sunshine in 2005. The APS March Meeting will take place in Los Angeles, March 21-25.

This is typically the largest physics meeting of the year with approximately 6000 participants, and will include more than 90 invited sessions and 550 contributed sessions, covering the latest research in areas represented by the APS divisions of condensed matter physics, materials physics, polymer physics, chemical physics, biological physics, fluid dynamics, laser science, computational physics, and atomic, molecular and optical physics.

Also taking part will be the APS topical groups on Instrument and Measurement Science, Magnetism and Its Applications, Shock Compression of Condensed Matter, Statistical and Nonlinear Physics, as well as the forums on Industrial and Applied Physics, Physics and Society, History of Physics, International Physics, Education, and Graduate Student Affairs.

In honor of the World Year of Physics 2005 and the centennial of Einstein's "miracle year," special sessions will be devoted to Einstein, including a Wednesday evening session on "Einstein and Condensed Matter Physics," and other sessions and events to be announced.

In addition to the regular program, the Division of Polymers will run a two-day short course on charged polymers, which will be held on Saturday and Sunday before the meeting. Also on Sunday, half-day tutorials will be held on a variety of specialized topics, including Acoustics and the Perception and Reproduction of Music, Biophysics of Sensing and Learning, Spintronics, Computational Nanoscience, Jamming in Soft Condensed Matter, Opportunities in Biological Physics: Sensing and Neurobiology, Molecular Magnets, and Understanding Electronic Transport in Carbon Nanotube Devices.

Other special events during the meeting include a job fair, exhibit hall, students lunch with the experts, a meet-the-editors session, and the ceremonial presentation of APS Prizes and Awards.

In honor of the World Year of Physics 2005 and the centennial of Einstein's "miracle year," special sessions will be devoted to Einstein, including a Wednesday evening session on "Einstein and Condensed Matter Physics," two sessions sponsored by the Forum on the History of Physics and the Statistical and Non-linear Topical Group on "Einstein and Friends," and a Forum on Physics and Society session on "Albert Einstein and Social Responsibility."

Also on Sunday, there will be a free half-day workshop on two new approaches to the calculus-based introductory physics course that emphasize contemporary physics, a workshop for new physics faculty, a workshop for Professional Skills Development for Women Physics Faculty, and the first day of the international Conference on Computational Physics.

Other special events during the meeting include a special Monday evening plenary session on Paradigm shifts: Breakthroughs and advances that shaped our field, a job fair, exhibit hall, student's lunch with the experts, a meet-the-editors session, and the ceremonial presentation of APS Prizes and Awards.