Report from our Council Representative

I’m grateful for the opportunity to join the APS Council of Representatives as your councilor. Last spring I joined as the elected member to serve as a representative from FED, FOEP, and GPER. By way of reminder, the Council oversees the membership and units, scientific meetings, fellowships and prizes, policy statements and most standing committees and by-laws. Complementarily, the APS Board of Directors oversees the management of the society, corporate governance and finance, strategic directions, and final approval of policies and procedures. If you are interested, a bit about me is below.

Report from our most recent Council meeting:
APS appears healthy (currently over 54,000 members, with more than 30% student members; students are an area of community that APS especially seeks to engage and retain — FOEP strikes me as an excellent resource here). In addition to Apr and Mar meetings, APS ran the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP) in January. CUWiP boasted more than 1500 undergrads in attendance, noting that there are about 1500 female physics majors who graduate each year. Planning for 2018 Apr and Mar Scientific meetings is well underway.

Administratively, there have been updates to various Divisions’ bylaws regarding the new organizational structure of APS, and a proposed growth of the Topical Group to a Division of Quantum Information. There are recommendations for a new Dissertation award in Astrophysics and in Atomic and Optical Physics, and an Early Career Soft mater award. There is a new journal in the Phys Rev line (Materials) and we have heard a new editor in chief, Michael Thoennessen.

Key APS strategy is focusing on organizational finances and also coupled with journal strategic planning. As you may know we have an interim director of Public Affairs and the APS Leadership is reviewing this office as it searches for a new Director. APS engaged in a variety of policy activities and statements (see policy and news feeds). These include but are not limited to: endorsing and engaging in the March for Science (the Board and Council were active in the Phoenix march), and POPA has a new statement Addressing the Global Energy Challenge, the Board issued a statement on Racial Violence.

There will be two Council meetings coming up where I will be pleased to share FOEP issues, concerns, and celebrations. The September meeting will be shorter and online, while the November, longer and in person. I welcome your feedback and areas you wish to bring up to Council (through the FOEP executive board). Issues that I have heard to date include: mechanisms for endorsing honorary (non-APS members) as Fellows, finding a mechanism to better include non-APS speakers at APS meetings, and considering a student outreach prize. As these ideas coalesce or others emerge I welcome your feedback and will be pleased to serve as your advocate.

Noah Finkelstein is a Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder and conducts research is in physics education, specifically studying the conditions that support students’ interests and abilities in physics – developing models of context. In parallel, he conducts research on how educational transformations get taken up, spread, and sustained. He is a PI in the Physics Education Research (PER) group and a co-director of CU’s Center for STEM Learning. He co-directs the national Network of STEM Education Centers, is helping build the STEM DBER-Alliance, and coalitions advancing undergraduate education transformation. He is involved in education policy serving on many national boards, is a Trustee of the Higher Learning Commission, is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and a Presidential Teaching Scholar and the inaugural Timmerhaus Teaching Ambassador for the University of Colorado system.

Contributed by: Noah Finklestein