Congressional Science Fellowships
APS and AIP are currently accepting applications for their 1998-1999 Congressional
Science Fellowship programs.
Fellows serve one year on the staff of a senator, representative
or congressional committee. They are afforded an opportunity to learn
the legislative process and explore science policy issues from the
lawmakers' perspective. Applicants should have a PhD or equivalent
in physics or a closely related field plus a strong interest in science
and technology policy. They must be U.S. citizens and be members of
APS or another AIP member society. A stipend of $46,000 is offered,
in addition to allowances for relocation, in-service travel, and health
insurance premiums. Applications should be sent to APS/AIP Congressional
Science Fellowship Programs, 529 14th Street NW, Suite 1050, Washington,
DC 20045 before
January 15, 1998.
Database of Local Physics Alliances
Jane Jackson at Arizona State University has a database of 250 contact
people for 150 or so local physics alliances in the United States that
she is willing to share. Her email address is Jane.jackson@asu.edu and
her telephone number is 602-965-8438.
Project RISE Website
Project RISE now has a website whose address is [http://www.nas.edu/rise].
Project RISE (Resources for Involving Scientists in Education), a project
of the National Research Council, was described in articles by Bruce
Alberts and Jan Tuomi in
the Fall 1994 FEd Newsletter.
New APS Fellows
Three people nominated by the FEd were elected to APS Fellowship:
Ralph Baierlein, Charles Holbrow, and James Stith. Our heartiest congratulations
to these new fellows! Members who have nominations for APS Fellowship
should send them to Beverly Hartline, chair of the FEd fellowship committee.
Bowen Named New Editor
Sam Bowen, Professor of Physics at Chicago State University, will
edit the summer issue of the FEd newsletter. During his eight years
at the Argonne National Laboratory, Sam was involved with the "New
Explorers" video series created by Bill Kurtis as well as teacher
enhancement programs for pre-college teachers and programs for graduate
students. We welcome Sam to the FEd editorial staff!
Physics Bowl Scholarships
In an effort to expanding participation in the Physics
Bowl, Metrologic will provide 10 $1000 scholarships to top scoring
students plus 15 $1000 certificates for Metrologic equipment to top
scoring schools. Information about the Physics Bowl can be obtained
by calling Amy Swan at (800) 667-8400 or Aswan@metrologic.com.
Is It Entertaining?
Thomas D. Rossing
In a special report on "How to influence press coverage" (U.S.News & World
Report, February 19, 1996), former White House press correspondent
Michael Deaver offers this advice: "The best advice you can give
to somebody when they're dealing with the media is don't think about
these people as journalists, because they aren't. They're in the entertainment
business, and that's how you can get their attention. They want stuff
that sells, that beefs up the bottom line-circulation and profits.
Playing to that is how you can get yourself into print or on television
or on the radio."
If that's true, I now understand why we're so unsuccessful in getting
science news into the media. It isn't enough to make our news releases
understandable to the layperson; they must also be entertaining. The
trick is to do this without distortion. That's a real challenge!
This note is reprinted from The Physics Teacher, April
1996
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