Dear Colleagues,

I am honored to serve as the 2012 Chair for the APS California-Nevada Section. Since I joined the Executive Committee in 2010, we have had excellent section meetings at both Caltech and SLAC, that have been well attended and that have offered important opportunities to students to begin their professional preparation.  A principal goal of our annual section meetings is to make them accessible to students especially undergraduates who may not otherwise be able to attend topical or national meetings of our Society. A large number of the contributed talks are by students discussing their own work, often for the first time. These sectional meetings are a great opportunity for students to meet their peers, to make contacts that may lead to future opportunities, and to experience physics as a profession. Many of us can remember our first APS talks and the learning and growth experiences they represented for our own careers.

Our meetings host prominent, inspiring speakers from all fields of physics. Attending a plenary lecture may serve as an introduction to an area of physics that further inspires a young member to explore that field of work, either in the classroom or in the laboratory. In addition, several years ago we introduced a topical panel to discuss possible careers that physics majors may pursue with their degree. In 2010, the panel focused on careers in medical physics, and last year our meeting featured a panel discussing possible careers working for startup companies. Our panelists share their personal life stories and the paths their own careers took. In doing so they are able to connect with students in the audience who find themselves at the point of deciding how they will pursue their own passions and dreams.

Holding the fall meeting is the largest investment our CA-NV section makes each year. We make every effort to keep the cost of attending our meeting affordable, keeping the registration fees as low as possible (waiving them if possible), providing travel and lodging support and awarding significant cash prizes for 'best- paper' in multiple categories. Meetings of course take money, and each year we use most of our operating budget to defer the cost of the meeting so as not to compromise on delivering the highest-value conference experience we can.

There is an easy, no-cost way you can help the section: simply join the CA-NV Section! The national APS provides annual budget support to our section in proportion to our total membership. For an APS member, joining the California-Nevada Section is free -- all one needs to do is to go to the APS units web page and click on "Join a Unit" or send a message to the APS at membership@aps.org and ask to be a member of the CA-NV Section. We also encourage our members of the CA-NV unit to talk with their colleagues who belong to APS but are not yet members of the section. Currently the CA-NV Section numbers a little over 2600 members; yet the combined total for the CA and NV APS membership is greater than 6,200 -- if everyone brought one new member into the fold (remember, it's absolutely free!), we would be able to significantly increase our financial resource base.

We welcome all participants to get more involved with the Section, especially students and others who would greatly benefit from being part of our Executive Committee. We will put out a call for nominations later this spring, and encourage you and your students to self-nominate to run for a position on the Executive Committee. We also welcome volunteers to help us plan our annual meeting, which will be November 2-3, 2012 at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. I look forward to meeting you there!

Best Regards,

Lynn Cominsky

2012 Chair, California-Nevada Section of APS

January 2012