First of all, I’d like to thank the previous SESAPS Chair, Paul Cottle of Florida State University, for the contributions he made to the vitality of the section. He was instrumental in keeping our focus on the importance of students to the SESAPS mission as well as in efforts to put the awards that SESAPS presents onto a firmer financial footing.

The 78^th SESAPS Annual Meeting will be held at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, October 19-22.  Section Chair-Elect Roxanne Springer of Duke University is serving as Program Chair for the meeting. Contact her with your ideas for scientific sessions and invited speakers. We are looking forward to a vigorous meeting that reflects the broad excellence of the physics research effort in the southeast.

The 77^th Annual Meeting, held at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, October 20-23, demonstrated that the SESAPS meeting program continues to be strong. Joe Giaime of LSU organized a very successful meeting, and many of the participants enjoyed a special tour of the LIGO Livingston Observatory. Due to a fortuitous coincidence of the meeting dates with a shutdown of the facility for an upgrade, we received an unprecedented “inside look” at this amazing apparatus. The social climax of the meeting was the banquet on Friday evening where the section presented its annual awards. The Jessie W. Beams Award for excellence in research was given to Beate Schmittman of Virginia Tech, and Amer Lahamer of Berea College received the George B. Pegram Award for excellence in teaching. The Francis Slack Award for excellence in service to the physics community was given to Florida State’s Kirby Kemper. After dinner the attendees heard an address by Kate Kirby, Executive Officer of the APS, which included a lively account of APS’s experiences at ComicCon, a convention for fans of comic books. Apparently the comic books produced by the APS Education & Outreach division were a huge hit there!

I would like to welcome our new Vice Chair, Richard Haglund of Vanderbilt University and the new At-Large Member, Michel Pleimling of Virginia Tech, to the Executive Committee.

I would also like to thank David Ernst of North Carolina State University for his four years of service in the SESAPS Chair Line. His leadership in the areas of research and education set an example for us all.

In closing, I’d like to emphasize the importance of membership in SESAPS, which costs nothing if you are already an APS member. Coax your colleagues into joining – it will help us maintain our role in the national APS organization.

Sincerely,

Laurie McNeil
Professor of Physics
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill