ELECTIONS Please vote at: http://physics.wm.edu/ballot.html Candidates for Vice-Chair 2006 Lawrence Krauss Maury Goodman Lawrence Krauss Background: Prof. Lawrence M. Krauss is Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics, Professor of Astronomy, and Director of the Center for Education and Research at Case Western Reserve University. He is an internationally known theoretical physicist with wide research interests, including the interface between elementary particle physics and cosmology, where his studies include the early universe, the nature of dark matter, general relativity and neutrino astrophysics. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1982 then joined the Harvard Society of Fellows. In 1985 he joined the faculty of Physics at Yale University, and moved to Case Western Reserve in 1993 as Chair of the Dept, a position he held until 2005. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Prof. Krauss is the author of over 200 scientific publications, as well as numerous popular articles on physics and astronomy. In addition, he is the author of six popular books, including the international bestseller, The Physics of Star Trek., and Atom, for which he was awarded the AIP Science Writing Award in 2002. Krauss has been awarded the Lilienfeld Prize of the APS, the Gemant Award from the AIP, the Public Understanding of Science Prize from the AAAS, and the Oersted Medal from the AAPT. In 2005, the APS awarded Krauss the Joseph P. Burton Forum Award for his work on Science and Society. His newest book, Hiding in the Mirror: The Mysterious Allure of Extra Dimensions from Plato to String Theory and Beyond, an exploration of our fascination, in art, literature, and science, with the idea that the three dimensions of space we experience are not all there is, will appear in the October 2005. Statement: We are living in dangerous times. Attacks on science are occurring from Washington to high school science classes. At the same time, scientific and technological issues are becoming of ever-greater importance for society. The Forum for Physics and Society serves an important role in helping highlight these important questions for the physics community, promoting debate and discussion within the community, and helping to promote efforts by physicists to reach out and help educate the public, and government on important issues of science and technology and their societal impact. I would be happy to continue this tradition, and to help raise the profile of the Forum if possible, both within the APS and outside of it. Maury Goodman Background: Maury Goodman is a member of the High Energy Physics Division at Argonne National Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1979, working on a Fermilab photoproduction experiment under Al Wattenberg. Starting in 1980 he worked with the MIT Lab for Nuclear Science on a neutrino experiment at Fermilab. In 1984 he joined Argonne where he has worked at the Soudan mine, first on a proton decay experiment and then on the MINOS long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. He was an early advocate for neutrino experiments which have now burgeoned into a neutrino oscillation industry. He is the author of a popular monthly electronic newsletter on neutrinos. He is an active promoter of science outreach through high schools and in several other contexts. Civically, he is most active on the local level, having served five terms on his city council, and having been actively involved in park, library and school issues. He was elected a delegate to a national party convention in 1996. Statement: Physics and Society intermingle on many levels, from local issues to national and global ones. Members of the American Physical Society can offer an important point of view on many such issues, both as scientists and as citizens. International human rights is an example of an issue where we should not underestimate the importance of speaking out when those rights are in danger. Global warming, future energy strategies, nuclear non-proliferation, and the perils of unchallenged pseudo-science are all issues where it is appropriate for scientists to speak out both individually and collectively. The forum on Physics and Society is just that, a forum where these issues can be discussed and debated. If given the opportunity to serve as an officer, I would work to build on the good work that the forum does with its meeting sessions, newsletter and web site. I suspect that a large number of our members would like to be more actively involved in the activities of the forum, and I would try to find ways to encourage and support that. Candidates for Executive Committee 2006-2009 Stephen Benka Pushpa Bhat Peter Zimmerman Barbara Levi Stephen Benka Background: Stephen Benka received his PhD in physics from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He was a solar physicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and at the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC. In 1993, he joined the American Institute of Physics and has been Physics Today's Editor-in-Chief since 1994. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Statement: Physics is ever more entwined with society at large. From the big issues such as energy, climate change, and warfare, to the seldom-thought-of little things --- like materials used in clothing and automobiles --- physics surrounds us in this technological 21st century. The paradox is that science in general and physics in particular underpins all of modern global society, yet science in general and physics in particular is catastrophically losing its visibility within our US society. With that loss of visibility comes loss of support and, worse, an ascendancy of pseudo-science and anti-science elements in society. Those elements have always been present but have never been more threatening. In my capacity on the executive committee of APS's Forum on Physics and Society, I will work to energize our physics community to raise the visibility of physics throughout society. We as individuals need to talk with other people --- neighbors, sales clerks, taxi drivers, youngsters, everyone --- without being embarrassed to be physicists. It will be part of my job to provide us all with material for such discourse. Pushpa Bhat Background: Dr. Pushpa Bhat is a scientist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), and has worked there since 1989. She obtained her Ph.D. in Physics in 1982 from Bangalore University, India. She has carried out research at the Indian Institute of Science, Bhabha Atomic Research Center, the Variable Energy Cyclotron Center in India, Eindhoven University in the Netherlands, Duke University, NC, and Fermilab, IL. Dr. Bhat’s research career has spanned applied physics, nuclear physics and experimental particle physics, from keV energies to the energy frontier. She has been an active member of the DZero collider collaboration, making significant contributions to the discovery of the top quark, the measurement of its mass and new particle searches. She is now Head of the Run II Luminosity Upgrades project at Fermilab. She is also an adjunct professor and member of the graduate faculty at Northern Illinois University. Her publications include over 250 papers and many review articles. She has given several public lectures and invited talks as well as organized international conferences. Statement: I have a keen interest in furthering a clear understanding, among the public and politicians alike, that progress in science and societal advancement go hand in hand; that human progress depends heavily on informed and intelligent investments in science; that science is one of the pillars of our civilization. I believe that there has been insufficient discussion of the role of science in society and of the public’s concerns – it is impossible to exaggerate its urgency and importance. The Forum on Physics and Society provides the unique opportunity to lead such a multilateral dialogue between the public, the policy makers and scientists in the public arena —an opportunity I would like to be given a chance to capitalize upon. An important part of my strategy involves media communication – the media has the power to bring science and the dialogue to the living rooms of everyday Americans imbuing the socio-economic aspects with unparalleled relevance. I would like to promote the interaction that physicists have with the media, in terms of newspaper articles, documentaries, and panel discussions. The public has a vested interest in knowing about the work that will be shaping its future. I shall work towards making this a reality. Peter Zimmerman Background: Peter D. Zimmerman is Chair of Science & Security in the Department of War Studies at King’s College, London and Director of the KCL Centre for Science & Security Studies. At King’s his interests include nuclear terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and technical studies of debris in space caused by the use of space weaponry. Concurrently, he serves as a member of the National Academies of Science panel on the Safety and Security of Spent Reactor Fuel, a panel mandated by the U.S. Congress. Before moving to London, he served as the Chief Scientist of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee until 15 January 2003 and Democratic Chief Scientist until 15 March 2004. His responsibilities at the Senate included nuclear testing, nuclear arms control, cooperative threat reduction and bioterrorism. He was the principal architect of S-3121, the “Nuclear and Radiological Terrorism Threat Reduction Act of 2002" cosponsored by Senators Biden, Lugar, Domenici, Clinton, Gregg and Schumer. He also organized the Foreign Relations Committee’s hearing on “Dirty Bombs” (radiological dispersion devices) in 2002 and the classified briefings the Committee received on the subject. He has written on Dirty Bombs and nuclear terrorism for the National Defense University. Prior to assuming his duties in the U.S. Senate he was the Science Adviser for Arms Control in the U.S. State Department where he provided advice directly to Assistant Secretary for Arms Control Avis T. Bohlen and to John Holum, Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security. His responsibilities included technical aspects of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, biological arms control, missile defense, and strategic arms control. Prior to the merger of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency into the Department of State, Dr. Zimmerman served as the last Chief Scientist of ACDA. He has held positions as a senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a Senior Fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and as an adjunct member of the research staff of the Institute for Defense Analyses. At IDA he led the technical working group which wrote the sections of the Militarily Critical Technologies List dealing with nuclear weapons and nuclear industry. From April, 1999 until April, 2000 he was Chair of the American Physical Society’s Forum on Physics and Society; he had already served two terms as Secretary-Treasury of FPS. In 2001 he was elected to a four year term as a member of the Council of the Society and re-elected in 2004. He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1988. Dr. Zimmerman is the recipient of the 2004 Burton/Forum Award of the American Physical Society for his work in arms control and national security, and of the 2005 G. William Morgan Lectureship of the Health Physics Society for his work on “dirty bombs.” His first appointment in Washington was as a William C. Foster Fellow at the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (1984-1986) during which time he served as a technical expert on the START I negotiating team. Dr. Zimmerman holds B.S. (With Distinction, Phi Beta Kappa) and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University and a Filosofie Licentiat degree from Lunds Universitet in Lund, Sweden, all in experimental nuclear and elementary particle physics. He was Professor of Physics at Louisiana State University and is the author of more than 100 papers and articles on basic physics, arms control, and national security. Statement: To me the Forum on Physics and Society has always been "The Forum," despite the many additional Forums added by APS and my own service with the Forum on Education. Several years ago I was privileged to serve FPS as Secretary Treasurer and in the "Chair line" -- career-changing events for me as it turned out. After some years in which I have primarily confined my FPS contributions to being an observer at ExCom meetings and to organizing sessions, I would like to have a chance to participate actively once again. I will be encouraging the Forum to start studies of issues in physics and society in which any and all FPS members with an interest can participate. The subjects could include work on issues of international and homeland security, communicating the ideas of science and why things like "intelligent design" are not science, or trying to combat what I have called pseudophysics in the past. There is no shortage of problems at the intersection of physics and society where FPS members have a duty to become engaged. Some may not be as glamorous as nuclear missiles and space defense, but they may be more important for our profession and in some ways for our country. I now live and teach in the United Kingdom, a circumstance which gives me a different perspective on both physics and the United States than I have had before. I think that would also be valuable to the FPS ExCom and the Forum itself. Barbara Levi Background: Barbara Goss Levi earned a PhD in particle physics from Stanford University in 1971. For most of the past 30 years, she has written for Physics Today, reporting on new discoveries at the frontiers of physics. After rising to senior editor, she was in charge of Physics Today's news section, "Search and Discovery". She now serves as a contributing editor. Because of Dr. Levi's interest in issues at the interface of physics and society, she became a consultant for the US Congress' Office of Technology Assessment, from the late 1970s to the Office's closure in 1995. From 1981 to 1987, Dr. Levi was a member of the research staff at Princeton University's Center for Energy and Environmental Studies. Her work there on arms control and the effects of nuclear weapons resulted in, among others, two articles in Scientific American. She was the chair of the APS Forum of Physics and Society and co-edited a book on global warming produced under the Forum's auspices. She served on the APS Executive Board and is currently a member of its Panel on Public Affairs. She has served on the Governing Council of the Federation of American Scientists and on the steering committee of the physics section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a fellow of both the APS and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Statement: The Forum on Physics and Society has long served to facilitate the involvement of physicists in public affairs, especially in issues with a strong science or technology component. The list of such issues is a familiar one: nuclear weapons, nuclear proliferation, energy policy, science education, atmospheric effects of ozone or carbon dioxide. The list only keeps growing. So does the need for greater participation of scientists in the public debate. I am concerned about the public debate of “science and society” issues. The general public seems less and less able to understand—and appreciate—the key science principles affecting the issues. We as scientists haven’t been sufficiently effective in educating the citizenry about such key principles. And the news media reporting on some of these issues too often oversimplify, politicize, or distort the issues. There’s a need for physicists to be more proactive. These problems have always been with us but I think they have become more critical as late. That’s why FPS is more vital than ever. Through the articles in its newsletter and the sessions it organizes at APS meetings, FPS can help its members educate themselves on these issues. Perhaps we need to work harder to get our members to help educate the general public as well. I have been especially concerned about the threat to science education posed by those who advocate teaching “intelligent design” in public science classrooms. I am helping to organize some FPS-sponsored invited-paper sessions on this topic this year. As FPS liaison to POPA until December 2005, I am serving on a subcommittee concerned with intelligent design. POPA is proposing a number of activities for APS, some in concert with other science societies. FPS can and should play a big role as well. I hope to help FPS continue to address the many critical science and society issues of the day and to find more ways to mobilize our members to promote greater public understanding of them. Candidates for forum representative on PoPA: 2006 Paul Craig Ruth Howes Paul Craig Background: I'm a Professor of Engineering Emeritus from UC Davis. BA Math and Physics, Haverford College 1954. PhD Physics CalTech 1959. My research and teaching interests relate to energy efficiency, global warming, and nuclear waste. At various times I've served in the APS Forum, including Chairman and Forum Delegate to POPA; I've been a staff member at LANL and BNL; and a Guggenheim Fellow. I shifted from Physics to policy in the 1970s while working in DC the Office of the President's Science Advisor. Until last year I was a Member of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (an independent agency advising the Congress and the Secretary of Energy about Yucca Mountain). I was a Member and later Chairman of the Sierra Club's National Global Warming and Energy Committee. I'm currently liaison to that Committee from another Club entity. I'm active in my local community (Martinez, CA) on issues relating to industrial safety and emergency response, and to land preservation. Statement: I'd like to encourage APS and Forum policy studies, especially as these relate to global warming and climate change. The physics community has a long history of excellent studies, some of which have had significant impact. We need to maintain that tradition. I'd like to see the Forum work with physics and related departments to encourage students to think in terms of public policy careers. One good way to do that is by providing access to physicists who have successfully moved into such careers, and providing on-campus contact lists for prospective students. The physics community needs to find new ways to show the brightest students that physics is a superb pathway not only to basic and applied science but also to policy-related careers. Ruth Howes Background: Ruth Howes is professor and chair in the Physics Department at Marquette University. She is an experimental nuclear physicist with an interest in the history of women in physics and holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University. She served as a Foster Fellow at the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (1983-84), a AAAS Congressional Fellow (1993-94), a program officer at NSF (1994-95), president of the AAPT and the Indiana Academy of Science (2000) and as a member of the National Task Force on Undergraduate Physics (2001-2005). Within APS, she has served as chair of the Committee on Education, the Forum of Education, POPA and the Forum on Physics and Society. She is a fellow of APS, AAAS and the Indiana Academy of Science Statement: The American public is optimistic and operates on a very short timeline. Business leaders are driven by quarterly reports, and Congress by a two-year election cycle. Many of the issues facing the country – energy supplies, global warming, nuclear arms control and managing terrorism among others – demand long-term planning for their solutions. The Forum on Physics and Society possesses the technical know-how to devise solutions to these problems, and we must work on strategies for “selling” them to Congress, business leaders and the country. It is also critical that the Forum join the efforts of others to convince the public of the importance of investing in scientific research. Like any risky investment, fundamental research cannot guarantee an immediate payoff nor will all good research result in economic benefits. However, stocking our national supply closet with good ideas and new techniques is essential to the strength of our economy thirty years in the future. If the imbalance in funding of the physical and life sciences is not corrected, the life sciences will find a dearth of new technologies to drive their future growth. |
