Committee on International Freedom of Scientists

The membership of the Committee on International Freedom of Scientists consists of nine (9) persons selected by the Committee on Committees and appointed by the President-Elect to staggered three-year terms. The President-Elect appoints the Chair from among the members. This Committee is responsible for monitoring concerns regarding human rights for scientists throughout the world. It apprises the President, the Board and Council of problems encountered by scientists in the pursuit of their scientific interests or in effecting satisfactory communication with other scientists and may recommend to the President and Council appropriate courses of action designed to alleviate such problems.

Chair: Vasudevan Lakshminarayanan (01/20 - 12/20)
University of Waterloo

Past Chair: Shelly Lesher (01/20 - 12/20)
University of Wisconsin - La Crosse

Member: Petr Navratil (01/18 - 12/20)
TRIUMF

Member: Christopher Watson (01/18 - 12/20)
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Member: Peter Vorobieff (01/19 - 12/21)
University of New Mexico

Member: Ian Jauslin (01/19 - 12/21)
Inst for Advanced Study

Member: Athena Sefat (01/19 - 12/21)
Oak Ridge National Lab

Member: Katepalli Sreenivasan (01/20 - 12/22)
New York Univ NYU

Member: Laura Greene (01/20 - 12/22)
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Fundamental Human Rights & Freedoms
Learn about the principal guaranteed rights and freedoms. This guide was prepared by CIFS member The Hon. Robert French AC. 
Human Rights & Freedoms

Poster
Learn about the Committee's work
CIFS Poster

Cases
Read about some of the human rights cases that CIFS monitors.
CIFS Human Rights Cases

CIFS in APS News

Human Rights
Resources & Links

Senior Staff
Amy Flatten, APS
flatten@aps.org

Committee Administrator
Michele Irwin, APS
irwin@aps.org

Nominees and award and office holders are expected to meet standards of professional conduct and integrity as described in the APS Ethics Guidelines. Violations of these standards may disqualify people from consideration or lead to revocation of honors or removal from office.

APS Committees

The American Physical Society is a volunteer-driven organization. Since 1899, physicists have contributed their time and resources to running the APS in cooperation with a minimal full-time staff. Volunteers are the backbone of the Society. They form the character and direct the Society's progress and development. All APS committees operate on a calendar year basis and committee terms run from January 1 through December 31.

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Information for Committee Members