Letter from the Chair

Dear FOEP Members,

Thank you for your efforts for making this FOEP’s best year yet. We had a fantastic time at the APS March Meeting in New Orleans. Here were some of the highlights

1) FOEP sponsored workshops at the APS March Meeting: Finding your scientific voice

The Forum for Outreach and Engaging the Public (FOEP) hosted workshops on improving communication skills of students and postdocs. Each 3 hour workshop focused on how to improve the 10 minute talks for the meeting as well as gave participants instruction on how to communicate with the lay public about their work. The workshop was well received by the students. See page 11 for more about the event.

2) FOEP Invited Session at the APS March Meeting: From Physics Girl to the Physics Bus, Creating an Effective Voice for Physics in a Diverse Society

We had a great line up for this session including Physics Girl, the folks from the Physics Bus, Charlie Falco who talked about The Art of the Motorcycle and the History of Art, as well as Amber Stuver from LIGO, and Melanie Dreyer-Lude who discussed Theater Techniques for Physicists.

Please send us your ideas for future speakers that you would like to see at the FOEP invited sessions. We can be reached at FOEPAPSnewsletter@gmail.com.

We had a very full crowd at the sessions. Be sure to check out the FOEP sessions at the next April and March meetings!

3) The Physics Bus came to New Orleans for the 2017 APS March Meeting!

In addition to giving a spectacular talk to a standing room only audience about their outreach work at the FOEP invited session, the Physics Bus was available during the Monday Night Happy Hour in the Convention Center Exhibition Hall. Finally, they also conducted outreach to the New Orleans community, visiting grade schools throughout the week. See the March Meeting 2017 article for more about the event and check out the links below for photos!
https://www.facebook.com/IthacaPhysicsBus/posts/1852632404978726
http://news.chess.cornell.edu/articles/2017/Herman170413.html

4) Free Beer for FOEP members at the APS Happy Hour hosted by Becky Thompson

We had a terrific turn out for our Happy hour meet and greet at the APS March meeting. Becky Thompson also made an assortment of delicious pies in honor of Pi day. FOEP has been extremely lucky to have an APS staff member as energetic and supportive as Becky so please join me in thanking her for her efforts the next time you see her.

5) Welcome to our new members

I would like to extend a warm welcome to our new FOEP Members from the entire Executive Committee. We are looking forward to hearing from you about the kind of events you would like to see more of at our meetings and events. We can be reached at: FOEPAPSnewsletter@gmail.com.

6) Give a non-technical talk in addition to your technical talk at APS meetings.

I would like to remind the community and the FOEP members in particular that they can give a non-technical talk in addition to their technical science presentation at the APS meetings. I encourage you to do so since we need to have a thoughtful and creative exchange of ideas moving forward.

7) Thanks to the FOEP executive committee for working tirelessly on our behalf.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the FOEP Executive Committee for their efforts and commitment to improving FOEP and APS more broadly. It has been a pleasure serving with all of them as we have set out to represent you not only through the meeting programs but also through engagement with APS.

The current FOEP Executive Committee members are:
Past Chair: Yvan Bruynseraede
Chair: Itai Cohen
Chair-Elect: Larry Gladney
Vice Chair: Don Lincoln
Secretary/Treasurer: E. Dan Dahlberg
Members at Large: Alice Bean, Amber Stuver, Heide Doss, Rachel Henderson
APS Staff member: Rebecca Thompson
Assigned Council Representative: Gay Stewart
Editor of Newsletter: Heide Doss

Now more than ever it is vital that we commit ourselves towards outreach and engaging the public. In an era where distrust of science seems to be growing, effective communication and illustrating why we are so excited about our science will be crucial. It has been a pleasure serving you this past year and I wish you all the best in your endeavors over this next year.

Itai Cohen