Ethics Committee

The Ethics Committee (EC) consists of the Past Chair of POPA and a representative from the Committee on the Status of Women in Physics, the Committee on Scientific Publications, the Committee on Minorities, and the Committee on Education. These representatives are recommended by the respective committees and appointed by the President-Elect as voting members to staggered three (3) year terms. Six (6) additional voting members will be appointed by the President-Elect to three (3) year, staggered terms. These members will represent a wide variety of backgrounds across the APS membership and are recommended by the APS Committee on Committees. The President-Elect will appoint a Chair from among serving members of the Committee.

The Ethics Committee will:

• Propose and oversee the implementation of ethics policies for APS, including developing the roles and responsibilities of an APS Ombudsperson and potential revocation procedures.
• Regularly review American Physical Society ethics statements for consistency with current standards and practice, or in response to current events.
• Propose new statements as appropriate for revision and approval in accordance with Section J5 of the Board and Council Joint Oversight Policies and Procedures.
• Organize events on ethics education topics at APS meetings and develop a speakers’ roster for lectures on research ethics and best practices.
• Identify or develop educational materials as needed to support ethical best practices involving physicists at educational institutions, and in governmental and industrial research laboratories.
• Compile information on ethics practices and provide reports to APS membership, Board of Directors, and Council of Representatives, as appropriate.
• Review instances where the code of conduct at APS meetings may have been violated and develop policy responses as necessary or appropriate.

To contact the Ethics Committee, please email ethics@aps.org.