Elections
Election of FIAP Officers for 2009-2012
The Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics is electing one Vice-Chair and two Members-at-Large for the 2009-2012 term. The candidates are listed below.
Please carefully review the candidate information. When you are ready, vote electronically using the personal URL provided in the email sent to you by APS. FIAP members without a valid email address registered with APS will instead be mailed a paper ballot.
Candidates for Vice-Chair (vote for one)
- David K. Ferry, Arizona State University
- Ernesto Marinero, Hitachi San Jose Research Center
Candidates for Member-at-Large (vote for two):
- Alex Demkov, University of Texas at Austin
- Abhishek Kumar, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Ravindra Pandey, Michigan Technological University
- Martin E. Poitzsch, Schlumberger-Doll Research
Candidates for Vice-Chair
David K. Ferry, Arizona State University
Biography:
Prof. Ferry received his B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.E. from Texas Tech University, Lubbock, in 1962 and 1963, and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas (UT), Austin, in 1966. He had an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Vienna, Austria, 1966-67. From 1967 to 1973, he was a Faculty Member with Texas Tech University, then joined the Office of Naval Research. From 1977 to 1983, he was with Colorado State University, Fort Collins, where he served as Professor and Chair of the Department. He joined Arizona State University (ASU), Tempe, where he was Director of the Center for Solid State Electronics Research from 1983 to 1989, Chair of Electrical Engineering from 1989 to 1992, and Associate Dean for Research from 1993 to 1995. Dr. Ferry received the IEEE Cledo Brunetti Award for advances in nanoelectronics in 1999. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and of the Institute of Physics (UK). His research is in nanostructure devices and quantum transport. In addition, he is Editor-in-Chief of both the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter and the Journal of Computational Electronics.
Statement:
The Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics has grown to be an important part of the American Physical Society, and has become increasing influential in bringing together researchers in industry, national laboratories, and universities. It is often overlooked that all three sectors are important for advancing the science and technology base, and that synergy between these groups is an important part of this base. I would hope to continue to strengthen the ties between these different groups. In addition, it is important to note that the leadership of the Forum has been important in growing the Forum, and my goal would be to learn from them what has worked and what has not worked and try to build upon the former.
Ernesto Marinero, Hitachi San Jose Research Center
Biography:
Ernesto Marinero received his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. His research experience has been gained through various appointments in Europe and the USA. This includes basic and applied research at the Max Planck Institute in Goettingen, Germany, Stanford University, and the IBM and Hitachi Research Centers in San Jose, California.
His technical expertise includes Materials Science, Semiconductor Physics, Growth of Nanostructured Materials and Thin Films, Laser Physics and Picosecond Phenomena, Laser-Materials Processing, Atomic and Molecular Spectroscopy, Hydrogen Quantum Chemistry, Optoelectronics, Characterization and Metrology, Thin Film Corrosion and Reliability, Magnetic Materials and Magnetic Recording Technology, Phase-Change Storage and Nanoscale Sensor Device Physics and Fabrication. His work has been widely published in the scientific literature and utilized in IBM’s and Hitachi’s technology products. His original research is the subject of numerous US, Asian and European patents.
Marinero is currently at the Hitachi San Jose Research Center and his research focuses on two key areas: 1) synthesis of new nanostructured magnetic materials and 2) research on electron transport of mesoscopic devices based on semiconductor 2DEG heterostructures with particular emphasis on ballistic transport and quantum transport. He is actively involved in collaborative research programs with academic institutions in the USA, Mexico and the UK through joint research programs in nanoscience and nanotechnology.
Statement:
One of the key objectives of FIAP is to help the Society take advantage of the evolving opportunities in the practice and application of physics. As an elected FIAP officer, I intend to invest a significant amount of time to work directly with academia and both industrial and government laboratories to pursue this objective in the context of identifying and fostering the participation of physicists in developing the technologies that will drive the economy of the 21st century. In particular, the contributions that physicists can make in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology are pivotal to the successful development of new technologies and devices. I will use my long term industrial experience and participation in multi-disciplinary projects in said endeavor to identify realistic opportunities for the successful implementation of the physical sciences in solving applied problems. A second objective of my tenure, if elected, will be to enhance the collaboration of the physics community at the international level to take advantage of global resources and expertise to solve complex, multi-disciplinary problems.
Candidates for Member-at-Large
Alex Demkov, University of Texas at Austin
Biography:
Alex Demkov received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics in 1995 from Arizona State University (ASU). In 1995-1997 he was a postdoctoral researcher at ASU. In 1997-2005 he was a principal staff scientist in Motorola’s R&D organization providing theoretical support for the development of low- and high-k dielectric materials. In 2005 he joined the faculty of the Physics Department at the University of Texas at Austin.
Prof. Demkov has published over 80 research papers and has been awarded seven U.S. patents. He co-authored the 2005 edition of the Semiconductor Roadmap (ITRS). In 2002-2004 he served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B. He served as guest Editor for several issues of physica status solidi (b). He contributed to several books and edited a book entitled “Materials fundamentals of gate dielectrics.” He organized numerous sessions and served on program committees of many national and international conferences. For many years he coordinated FIAP focused sessions at the March Meeting. He received the NSF CAREER award, and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
Statement:
I am a condensed matter theorist working on computational materials physics problems. Before joining the University of Texas I worked on materials for transistor technology in Motorola’s R&D Labs. The health and future of our enterprise critically depends on our ability to attract bright graduate students to Applied Research. In my experience, interest in applied physics among students is still high. However, exposure to it is rather limited. This is partly due to the relative isolation of industrial researchers working in smaller companies from the academic establishment. FIAP has done a good job in bringing these groups together, and we can and should do more.
If elected as a member-at-large of FIAP, I will seek to bring focus and attention to physics graduate students interested in applied science. With colleagues I have helped to introduce the FIAP travel grants for students to come to the March Meeting. We can introduce the best FIAP student paper and recognize it with a plaque and small monetary award beyond the travel grant. We also can be more active in helping students find industrial employment by providing a directory of graduating FIAP members. Paraphrasing Pericles, what we should lament is not the loss of the facilities but the loss of researchers. Researchers come first; the rest is the fruit of their labor.
Abhishek Kumar, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Biography:
Mr. Abhishek Kumar is a third year Ph.D. student in the department of Physics and Applied Physics at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. His research interests lie at the interface of polymers and optics. At UMass, Lowell, he is part of the team which has been developing novel conjugated polymers for sensing and photovoltaic applications. He received his M.S. in physics from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India. During his masters he made valuable contributions in the area of porous and amorphous silicon. He, along with other researchers, developed a technique to reduce the photodegradation of porous silicon by coating its surface with polymers. He has co-authored 15 journal papers and conference proceedings and has filed a patent. He was awarded best graduate student of the year (2007) in the Department of Physics and Applied Physics and Student of the Year award (2008) from the Graduate Student Association, UMass Lowell. He served as secretary (2007-2008) of the Forum on Graduate Student Affairs (FGSA), APS. He was also the student representative of the FGSA in the New England Section of APS. He and his group work closely with industries in Massachusetts.
Statement:
Part of the objective of FIAP is to “help the society take advantage of the evolving opportunities in the practice and application of Physics.” Current students are the future of society and/or any organization. Therefore, it is vital to timely address students’ needs and concerns for a better future. Most new graduate students are not well aware of the potential and opportunities offered by industries. As a Member-at-Large, my constant efforts would be to provide maximum exposure to students of the opportunities and avenues available in industries with the help of FIAP. By improving the compatibility of students to industry I will enhance the outreach of FIAP among young students and professionals. Being a student and having active involvement with APS, I believe that I am in good stead to represent FIAP in APS, especially among the students. With a vivid understanding of the students’ perspectives, I wish to represent them in FIAP. I firmly believe that bridging the gap between the students and experts in the field is very important and I will infuse my experience working with student organizations and APS to achieve the purpose. If elected as a Member-at-Large, FIAP, I will seek to support the objectives of FIAP by
- Working with the student members of the APS to continually readjust to cater to the needs of the industrial and applied physics community
- Voice the concerns of students in FIAP and through FIAP in other forums
- Develop web-based resources for students aspiring to be industrial physicists and leaders in their endeavor and
- Work closely with other units and Forums of APS to fulfill the objectives of FIAP.
Ravindra Pandey, Michigan Technological University
Biography:
Ravi Pandey is Professor and Chair of Physics at the Michigan Technological University (MTU). Pandey received his B.S. and M.S. from Harisingh Gaur University at Sagar, India and his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. Pandey has participated in multi-disciplinary efforts (theoretical and experimental) to build programs in novel nanostructures and application of chalcopyrite semiconductors as the next generation optoelectronic materials with the industrial and national laboratories, and is the author of more than 100 publications. He has also co-organized and participated in several conferences in the area of Materials Physics and Nanoscale Science including APS Focus Sessions for FIAP.
Statement:
My research interests are in the area of Computational Materials Physics which include analysis of specific materials, defects and devices. Our group has worked extensively with industrial and national laboratories and is well aware of the challenges that applied physicists face when trying to translate science into technology. As FIAP Member-at-Large, I would work to strengthen the interface between academia and national and industrial laboratories via FIAP focus sessions on topics of interest to applied physicists in industry.
Martin E. Poitzsch, Schlumberger-Doll Research
Biography:
Martin Poitzsch holds an A.B. from Washington University in St. Louis and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He also spent three semesters at the Technische Universität Berlin as a Rotary Scholar and an extended internship with Siemens AG. After Harvard, he was an NRC Post Doc at NIST in Boulder, CO, where he constructed the first liquid helium temperature RF ion trap for stored-ion frequency metrology. In 1994, he joined Schlumberger’s Logging While Drilling engineering department in Houston, where he worked as an R & D physicist on low-frequency electromagnetic imaging, navigation, and nuclear measurements. From 1996 to 2001, he led the NMR While Drilling product development team and then the Magnetic Resonance (both product engineering and manufacturing) department in Houston. From 2002 to 2004, he was the Wireline R & D Portfolio Manager based in Paris and Houston, overseeing over $100M in physics-related “downhole” measurement technology projects in eight centers around the world for Schlumberger. Since 2004, he has been the Research Director for Sensor Physics at SDR in Ridgefield, CT, and now Cambridge, MA. Martin’s department consists of about 50 researchers working on a wide range of experimental physics-based measurement technologies being evaluated for possible exploitation as geophysical/petrophysical reservoir probes. His work also involves extensive collaboration with Schlumberger engineering centers and with external partners, mainly at universities, where his department is supporting almost two dozen exploratory research collaborations.
Statement:
I believe that my experience gives me a very comprehensive understanding of the whole continuum from fundamental research to long-term applied research to very near-term engineering applications. I have also been involved in a large amount of technical recruiting for the past 14 years, having been responsible for filling engineering, technician, scientist, and post-doctoral researcher positions, as well as technical managerial positions. I think that I am therefore very knowledgeable about workforce issues from the points of view of both the industrial and academic employers and the young or mid-career scientists.
I am also very willing and able to contribute on issues relating to university-industrial relations and collaboration and on the technical challenges of energy supply and global climate change.
