Home | Publications | APS News | March 2008 (Volume 17, Number 3)

March 2008 (Volume 17, Number 3)

March 2008 (Volume 17, Number 3) Entire Issue

Spring 2008 Prizes and Awards Announcement

News

March Meeting in New Orleans Spans Broad Range of Topics
Largest general physics conference of the year features latest research in condensed matter, industrial applications, new materials, chemical and biological physics, fluids, and computation

Outstanding Referees Gain Overdue Recognition
Peer review is the pillar of scholarly communications, and the APS journal editors will now honor the best referees for their work

Conference Takes a Critical Look at Graduate Education
Over 100 physics educators and researchers met to reassess the current graduate curriculum and suggest improvements

Named Lecturers To Speak at March, April Meetings
The Beller and Marshak lectureships bring distinguished physicists from overseas to APS meetings, while the Primakoff lectureship honors the late Henry Primakoff

Mixed Picture Emerges from Science and Engineering Indicators
National Science Board report shows areas of strength and areas of concern in US science and technology enterprise

Einstein@Home Scours the Heavens for Gravity Waves
APS‑sponsored distributed computing effort brings 70 teraflops of extra computing power to the search for gravitational waves

Immigration Case Comes to Happy Conclusion
After four long years of legal battles and a stint in prison, Serbian physicist Branislav Djordjevic receives permanent US residency status

New Policy Makes APS Membership Easier in Developing Countries
APS is making membership fees more affordable to physicists in developing countries

Over 300 Universities Endorse Joint Statement on Education
Statement encourages physics departments to take an active role in improving the pre‑service training of K‑12 physics and science teachers

APS Valley Prize Rewards Tomorrow’s Physicists
APS calls for nominations for the 4th presentation of the George E. Valley, Jr. Prize

Opinion

Letters
Djordjevic Grateful for Support from the Science Community–Articles Make Reader Blink and Sigh–Population Growth Trumps Emissions Reduction–Don’t Apologize for Physics

The Back Page
Physics Tomorrow

Departments

Members in the Media
As quoted in other publications...

This Month in Physics History
March 1, 1896: Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity

Washington Dispatch
A bi-monthly update from the APS Office of Public Affairs

Zero Gravity: The Lighter Side of Science
SCI‑COPS to the rescue!

International News
Growing opportunities for international collaboration in physics in South Africa

Focus on APS Topical Groups
Gravitation

Decision Time
Sorters for April 08 Meeting

Photo by Calla Cofield

On January 18, about 30 dedicated physicists gathered at APS headquarters to sort the more than 1100 abstracts submitted to the April Meeting. Shown here hard at work are Allena Opper of George Washington University, Abhay Deshpande of Stony Brook University, Ben Gibson of Los Alamos, Rick Casten of Yale, and Jim Thomas of Lawrence Berkeley Lab. The APS April Meeting takes place in Saint Louis, April 12-15.

The Gavel Travels
Arthur Bienenstock and Leo Kadanoff

Photo by Ken Cole

At the February meeting of the APS Executive Board, past-President Leo Kadanoff of Chicago (right) handed the gavel, symbolic of APS leadership, to President Arthur Bienenstock of Stanford.

AAPT Medal Goes to Judy Franz
Ken Heller and Judy Franz with award

Photo by Matt Payne

At its winter meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) presented its Melba Newell Phillips Medal to APS Executive Officer Judy Franz. Ken Heller, Chair of the AAPT Awards Committee, presented Franz the certificate emblematic of the award. The Melba Newell Phillips Medal is presented to an AAPT leader whose creative leadership and dedicated service have resulted in exceptional contributions to AAPT.

©1995 - 2013, AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY
APS encourages the redistribution of the materials included in this newspaper provided that attribution to the source is noted and the materials are not truncated or changed.

Editor: Alan Chodos
Contributing Editor: Jennifer Ouellette
Staff Writer: Ernie Tretkoff
Art Director and Special Publications Manager: Kerry G. Johnson
Publication Designer and Production: Nancy Bennett-Karasik