Summer 2005 Newsletter

Edited by S.N. Coppersmith

In This Issue

• Important Deadlines and Dates
• Note from the DCMP Chair
• March Meeting Invited Symposia nominations
• Vote for DCMP Executive Committee members
• APS Fellowship Nominations
• Lobbying effort at 2006 March Meeting
• 2005 March Meeting in Los Angeles

Important Deadlines and Dates

Nominate invited speakers for 2006 March Meeting
Link: http://dcmp.bc.edu
Deadline: September 12, 2005

Vote for DCMP officers
Link: http://dcmp.bc.edu/
Deadline: September 12, 2005

2006 March Meeting abstract submission
Deadline: November 30, 2005

Nomination deadline for DCMP Fellows
Nomination info at http://apsweb.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/index.cfm

January 2006 (exact date to be announced later)

2006 March Meeting
March 13-17, 2006, in Baltimore, Maryland

Join the lobbying effort at the 2006 March meeting in Baltimore
More info to follow

Note from the DCMP Chair

In the current difficult funding climate for condensed matter physics, as Ben Franklin said, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately," DCMP aims to be an organization that helps the condensed matter community to hang together, both in communicating the importance and beauty of our field to the public and to other areas of physics and other scientific and engineering disciplines. The March meeting is an important activity that enhances communication among diverse community of researchers, and the DCMP Executive Committee is using the 2006 March Meeting in Baltimore as a base for expanding lobbying efforts by our community.

March Meeting Invited Symposia nominations

The deadline for Invited Symposia nominations is Monday, September 12, 2005. To nominate an Invited Symposium or an Invited Speaker for the 2006 March meeting, follow the instructions at http://dcmp.bc.edu/.

The Division of Condensed Matter Physics organizes about 38 symposia during the meeting. The selection is done by a meeting of the entire Executive Committee shortly after the nomination deadline. The Executive Committee cannot substitute speakers of its own choosing.

Our Division's rules and practice for invited speakers are as follows. (1) We only select speakers from among proposals nominated by DCMP members. (2) No person may receive an invitation to speak at the meeting two years in a row (unless the person is a winner of a Prize in the second year). (3) A single symposium is not permitted to have two speakers from the same institution (i.e., same university or laboratory).

Ten steps towards creating a successful proposal.

1. Propose a Symposium on a timely idea, with strong speakers. In general, the DCMP favors symposia, and uses single speakers sparingly, if at all.
2. Moreover, we wish to make full use of the time available. Proposals that contain only 2, 3, or 4 talks, as opposed to the 5 that the meeting schedule permits, are less likely to be reviewed well.
3. Choose a good Symposium Title. This and the Symposium Justification gives the review committee an overview of the Symposium.
4. Select titles of individual talks carefully and provide informative abstracts to underpin the idea of the Symposium. (The speaker can modify the title later.)
5. Do the work required to support a recommendation. Tell what the suggested speaker did, and describe how it fits into its field as well as its significance in advancing that field.
6. Invited papers should be partly tutorial in order to afford those not working in that particular area the opportunity to learn about new developments. Recommend good speakers.
7. Provide recent references to work published in refereed journals. References should include key research in the area as well as the contributions of the proposed speakers. These references are helpful to the Committee to make sure that the topic is topical.
8. If possible, suggest an alternate speaker in the abstract, to provide a substitute if the first choice is unavailable. (See Rule (1), above.)
9. Find a person who can serve as chair of the symposium and obtain that person's agreement to serve as chair if the proposal is approved.
10. Multiple submissions of a proposal are ineffective and counterproductive. If you and several others wish to nominate the same symposium, it is better if one submits, listing co-sponsors in the Symposium Justification.

Use only one of the following sorting categories, to ensure that the right subcommittee examines the proposal.

1. Metals
2. Semiconductors
3. Insulators and Dielectrics
4. Polymeric and Organic Materials
5. Superconductivity
6. Magnetism (Experiment, Theory, Applications)
7. Complex Structured Materials
8. Fluids and Soft Matter
9. Phase Transitions and Strongly Correlated Systems
10. Biological Physics
11. Chemical Physics
12. Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
13. Artificially Structured Materials
14. Surface, Interfaces and Thin Films
15. Instrumentation and Measurements
16. Applications
17. General Theory (Theoretical Methods)
18. General
19. High Pressure Physics
20. Quantum Fluids and Solids
21. Atomic, Molecular & Optical (AMO) Physics
22. Physics Education
23. Quantum Information, Concepts and Computation

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Vote for DCMP Executive Committee members

To vote for new members of the DCMP Executive committee, go to the DCMP website: http://dcmp.bc.edu/

The DCMP Executive Committee performs several functions. Among its most important responsibilities is to be in charge of organizing the APS March Meeting. It is the body that chooses the Invited Symposia from those nominated by the DCMP membership. Keeping a proper balance on the Committee is thus essential for producing a well-run meeting. It helps to lobby Congress on science policy issues. Also, the DCMP Members-at- Large select those names to be forwarded for consideration by the APS Fellowship Committee and Council.

The current (2005-2006) membership of the DCMP Executive Committee is: (date following name indicates end of service on Committee, though title may change.)