National Issues in Industrial Physics Workshop

by John Rumble

October 2014

FIAP and APS jointly held a Workshop on National Issues in Industrial Physics: Challenges and Opportunities on October 6-7, 2014, at St. Michaels MD. The Workshop brought together 38 senior and mid-level industrial physicists from diverse industries for a two-day meeting. The primary purpose of the Workshop was to identify and prioritize issues important to U.S. industrial physics.

Report: The final Workshop report has been released and is available online.

Motivation for the Workshop: Physics has been a prime mover of industrial development in the United States for over 100 years. Physicists in industry have made possible the technological advances of modern products that make our lives safer, better, and easier as well as improving the security and infrastructure of our Nation. In many ways, industrial physics is responsible for the creation of the modern age.

As we move deeper into the 21st Century, U.S. industrial leadership in using physics as a key driver for success is already significantly challenged and it is urgent to identify and address those challenges. Because industrial physics underpins economic growth in our technology driven economy, the American Physical Society (APS) recognized in its 2013-2017 Strategic Plan the need to serve better the industrial physics community. The APS Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics (FIAP) has similarly created a new FIAP Strategic Plan for the industrial and applied physics community for the next decade.

Recommendations: Workshop participants made the recommendations in four major areas of concern, as briefly summarized below. The Workshop report more fully describes these recommendations. Several are actionable by FIAP and APS, and discussions are already underway to begin prioritizing and implementing them.

There will be many opportunities for FIAP members to actively implement these recommendations. Contact David Seiler, FIAP 2015 Chair (david.seiler@nist.gov) and Steven Lambert, APS Industrial Physics Fellow (lambert@aps.org) for further information.

Preparing and Supporting the Industrial Physicist
  • Encourage industrial internships for physics students
  • Create a new culture of mentorship by industrial physicists
  • Improve guidance on industrial physics careers
  • Address the needs of early-, mid-, and late-career industrial physicists
Supporting Industrial Physics
  • Improve Industry-Government cooperation on industrial physics R&D
  • Improve Industry-Academia cooperation on industrial physics R&D
  • Establish a FIAP Policy Advisory Committee
Promoting Industrial Physics
  • Talk about success
  • Prepare a report on the “Impact of U.S. Industrial Physics”
  • Brand Industrial Physicists
  • Provide leadership in building an Industrial Physics Community
  • Hold meetings for industrial physicists
  • Identify partnerships for clusters of industrial physics interests
The Way Forward
  • Involve industrial physicists and their companies in APS programs and leadership
  • Increase APS resources serving industrial physics
  • Establish an APS Industrial Physics Advisory Board
  • Expand FIAP’s programs serving individual industrial physicists
Opinions expressed represent the views of the individual authors and not the American Physical Society or authors’ employers.