APS News

November 2008 (Volume 17, Number 10)

November Photo Gallery

Apker Finalists Meet in Washington

Apker Finalists
Photo by Shelly Johnston/APS

The APS Apker Award is given annually for outstanding research by an undergraduate. Finalists are chosen in two categories: from institutions that award PhD degrees, and from institutions not awarding the PhD. The finalists meet with the selection committee for a day of interviews, which this year took place on September 13 in downtown Washington. The committee then recommends recipients in each of the two categories to the APS Executive Board. Shown in the picture are the seven finalists. Front row, left to right: Nguyen T. T. Nguyen (Hamilton College); Shelby Kimmel (Williams College). Back row, left to right: Byron Drury (Haverford College); Gim Seng Ng (Wesleyan University); Sujit Datta (University of Pennsylvania); Michael Grinolds (Caltech); Gregory Minton (Harvey Mudd College). The recipients of the Apker Award will be featured in the December APS News.


Chicago-Area Fellows Convene

Chicago group gallery
Photo by Darlene Logan/APS

On October 2, APS hosted a reception for Chicago-area Fellows at the Quadrangle Club in Hyde Park. About 80 Fellows and guests were on hand to enjoy the refreshments and hear remarks from APS President Arthur Bienenstock, APS Director of Education and Diversity Ted Hodapp, and APS Director of Public Affairs Michael Lubell. In the photo, at left, are two retired Fellows from Argonne National Laboratory, Natalia Meshkov and Caroline Herzenberg. They are joined by Fellow Guy Savard of Argonne, at right. Enjoying his position in the middle is Leonard Herzenberg.


Putting Their Heads Together

Jessica Clark and Becky Thompson-Flagg Photo by Ken Cole/APS

In August, APS Head of Public Outreach Jessica Clark (right) left for Vanderbilt University to pursue a career in medical physics. She had been leading the APS public outreach effort since its inception in 2000. Among her accomplishments were creating and maintaining the APS website for the public, PhysicsCentral; playing a major role in APS’s leadership of the US activities during the World Year of Physics in 2005; and launching PhysicsQuest, a kit-based program with an adventure theme, aimed at middle-school students. Clark’s successor is Becky Thompson-Flagg (left), who joined APS in January shortly after receiving her PhD in physics from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was also engaged extensively in outreach. Before taking over as Head of Public Outreach, Thompson-Flagg had been instrumental in creating the latest version of PhysicsQuest, built around the exploits of the Serbian physicist and inventor Nikola Tesla. In addition to her outreach activities, Thompson-Flagg is an accomplished tri-athlete and an expert in kung-fu. So don't mess with her.