APS Kicks Off Campaign to Support Education and Outreach Initiatives

Photo credit: Sarah Davis Speakers at the Campaign kickoff celebrate the success to date. From left to right are: Brian Schwartz of the City University of New York; APS Executive Officer Judy Franz; APS President John Hopfield; APS Director of Education and Diversity Ted Hodapp; and Noah Finkelstein of the University of Colorado. Schwartz is a former APS Director of Education, and Finkelstein is one of the leaders of the PhysTEC program at UC Boulder (see APS News, March 2006, and APS News Back Page, January 2006).

On November 3, the APS 21^st Century Campaign celebrated its kickoff at a special event on the evening before the November 4 Executive Board meeting. APS President John Hopfield led the program, which included the announcement of a $3.5 million goal and approximately $1.8 million having been raised to date. The campaign seeks corporate, foundation and individual gifts. APS programs benefiting from campaign funding include:

• PhysTEC (Physics Teacher Education Coalition)–seeks to produce more and better prepared physics and physical science teachers.
• High School Teachers’ Days-special events at APS meetings that offer hands-on workshops and research talks, with members joining the teachers for lunch.
• Minority Scholarship Program–awards scholarships and provides mentors to undergraduate physics majors.
• Student Travel Grants–provides physics students with an opportunity to attend APS meetings.
• Women and Minority Speakers Program–women and minority speakers volunteer to give talks at high schools, colleges and universities.
• Career and Professional Development Liaison Program–works with physics departments that are helping students make well-informed career-related decisions.
• PhysicsCentral Website–provides outreach to the public showing that physics is both exciting and important.
  

Volunteers leading the campaign include Gordon Moore, founder of Intel, as Honorary Chair; Craig Barrett, Chairman of Intel, as Vice Chair; William Brinkman, Princeton University, as Campaign Executive Advisor, and 31 Nobel Laureates.

For more information, contact Darlene Logan, APS Director of Development, at (301) 209-3224 or logan@aps.org.