From the Chair

Renee Diehl

The Forum on Education (FEd) comprises about 10% of the membership of APS and it works hard to provide programming at the APS meetings that is timely and of interest to the entire membership. It also works with the APS Committee on Education to help to develop policies pertaining to the physics education of our citizens and beyond. And it liaises with the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) to provide the best service to physics educators and students.

I would like to thank Chandralekha Singh for doing an excellent job as the FEd chair for the past year. She will continue on the executive committee for another year as the past chair, and will chair the Fellowship Committee. Please let this serve as a reminder that the FEd is always looking for qualified nominees for fellowship.

I would also like to extend our thanks to the outgoing members of the FEd executive committee–the past chair Larry Woolf, and the members-at-large Laird Kramer and Amber Stuver–and welcome the newly elected members–vice-chair Michael Fauerbach, and members-at-large Dan Crowe and Mel Sabella.

Paul Cottle, who is the FEd chair-elect, is also the chair of the FEd program committee for next year. The FEd organizes and coordinates invited and focus sessions at the March and April APS meetings, and the plenary session at the summer AAPT meeting. We are working to broaden our reach to the smaller divisional meetings, and this year we hope to also coordinate an education session at the conference of the Division of Nuclear Physics. If you have suggestions for possible sessions that could be sponsored or co-sponsored by the FEd for any of these meetings, please contact Paul Cottle.

Michael Fauerbach is the chair of the FEd nominating committee, which has the task of assembling the ballot for the FEd elections, to be held in December or January. Three positions will be open – vice-chair and two member-at-large positions, one of which must be held by a member of AAPT. If you have suggestions for any of these positions, please contact Michael. As you know if you are reading this, the FEd also produces newsletters, in summer, fall and spring of each year. The editors for this (summer) newsletter is Nic Rady, who also edited last summer’s newsletter. The editors for the fall and spring newsletters will be Beth Lindsey and Paul Dolan, respectively. If you would like to write an article or have a news item or announcement for any of these newsletters, please contact one of the editors or me. The deadline for each newsletter appears on the FEd website.

The FEd website also contains a list of the current executive committee members, and information on the Excellence in Physics Education Award. This award recognizes and honors a team or an individual who has exhibited a sustained commitment to excellence in physics education. As for all APS awards, it consists of $5000 and an invited talk at an APS meeting. This award was established with support from several organizations and also individuals like you. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to the Excellence in Physics Education Award.

The FEd executive committee welcomes the active engagement of our members, so please feel free to contact any of us if you have suggestions or contributions to our missions.

Renee Diehl is Professor of Physics and Associate Department Head for Equity and Diversity in the Physics Department of Penn State University. She is Chair of the APS Forum on Education and carries out research in the area of surface physics, most recently with an emphasis on complex structures such as quasicrystals.

Disclaimer–The articles and opinion pieces found in this issue of the APS Forum on Education Newsletter are not peer refereed and represent solely the views of the authors and not necessarily the views of the APS.