January 2019 • Vol. 28, No. 1
A PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Plasma physics and plants APS.ORG/APSNEWS Page 3
Highlights from 2018 Blending Paint with Physics The editors of Physics (physics. The experiments sparked a series By Leah Poffenberger aps.org) look back at their favorite of theoretical studies, each attempt- 2018 APS Division of Fluid stories of 2018, from groundbreak- ing to explain this unconventional Dynamics Meeting, Atlanta— ing research to a poem inspired by behavior (see physics.aps.org/ Five years ago, Roberto Zenit, a quantum physics. articles/v11/84). One prediction physics professor at the National Graphene: A New indicates that twisted graphene’s Autonomous University of Mexico, superconductivity might also be Superconductor later reported the first observation was studying biological flows when topological, a desirable property 2018’s splashiest condensed- of the Higgs boson decaying into art historian Sandra Zetina enlisted for quantum computation. matter-physics result came bottom quarks (see physics.aps.org/ him for a project: using fluid from two sheets of graphene. The Higgs Shows up with the articles/v11/91). This decay is the dynamics to uncover the secret Researchers in the USA and Japan Heaviest Quarks most likely fate of the Higgs boson, behind modern art techniques. reported finding superconductiv- After detecting the Higgs boson but it was extremely difficult to At this year’s Division of Fluid ity in stacked graphene bilayers in 2012, the next order of business see above the heavy background Dynamics meeting—his 20th— ids, a person who has developed in which one layer is twisted with was testing whether it behaves as of bottom quarks generated in a Zenit, an APS Fellow and member certain knowledge about the way respect to the other. The supercon- expected. Two such experiments typical experiment. So far, all mea- of the editorial board of Physical the fluids behave. Painting is fluid ductivity they saw resembles that of at CERN, which measured the surements agree with the standard Review Fluids, presented the work mechanical.” high-temperature superconductors, interactions of the heaviest quarks model of particle physics, but the of a cross-disciplinary collabora- In the 19th century, modern art potentially allowing use of twisted with the Higgs, attained the gold uncertainties have enough wiggle tion that tapped into the minds of emerged as an artistic movement graphene as a model system for standard of “5 sigma” statistical room to allow for new physics. influential modern artists. studying this behavior. The group significance. Analyzing proton- “I’m not qualified to tell you through rejection of traditional Dark Matter Theories Take took the APS March Meeting by proton collisions, CMS and ATLAS about art, but I do know that every artistic methods and the adoption Their Lumps storm when they announced the determined the interaction strength painting starts in the same place,” of new ideas in painting. The tech- Plenty of shakeups this year result in a standing-room-only between the top quark and the said Zenit during his invited talk. niques created as part of a 1936 in the realm of dark matter. With talk, which was also live-streamed Higgs boson by measuring how “There’s a blank canvas, and then artists’ workshop held by Mexican a disappointing showing from to hundreds more gathered around often the Higgs boson is produced materials to create the art with cer- painter David Alfaro Siqueiros the main dark matter contenders a screen in a foyer at the Los with a top quark and a top anti- tain properties, certain viscosities, were influential in the develop- called WIMPs, other “less WIMPy” Angeles Convention Center (see quark (see physics.aps.org/articles/ and densities, and then you need ment of modern artistic methods physics.aps.org/articles/v11/27). v11/56). The same collaborations HIGHLIGHTS continued on page 6 somebody who knows about flu- PAINT continued on page 6
APS Membership Unit Profile: The Forum for Early Career Scientists International News The APS Task Force on Expanding International Engagement By Abigail Dove By Jonathan Bagger The APS Forum for Early Career Scientists (FECS) provides Editor’s note: The following is range of research interests and support and mentorship to post- an introduction and accompani- leadership experiences. The Task docs as they navigate through the ment to this month’s Back Page Force worked for nearly 18 months early stages of their career, whether (p. 8). to understand the priorities of all in academia or industry, in the US Physics is a worldwide effort. APS stakeholders and to identify or abroad, or even a scientific field Today, close to one quarter of APS goals and recommendations for the other than physics. This support members live outside the United Society’s leadership. As Chair of spans from the professional— States. Three-quarters of the papers the Task Force, I am deeply grate- including networking opportuni- published in APS journals have ful for the time and talent they ties with senior scientists in various corresponding authors with inter- devoted to the task, as well as for physics careers, resources to help Maria Longobardi national affiliations. And so much input and guidance we received with successful grant writing, and of science is done by collaborations from the APS Board and Council, funding for conference travel—to of Jason Gardner (chair-elect that cross national borders. APS journal editors and staff, and the practical—including support whose term will begin in 2019). What is the role of APS in this APS members worldwide. and advice around changes in geo- Longobardi and Gardner met global endeavor? The Society’s Our committee’s report iden- Jonathan Bagger graphical location, particularly for while serving in the APS Forum Office of International Affairs tified guiding principles, shared ommendations will have the most moving abroad. for International Physics (FIP), has long been part of the APS, values, overarching goals, a set impact. This will be done with the Established in 2016, FECS is and the idea for FECS was born advancing physics, furthering of supporting recommendations, guidance of the APS Committee a relative newcomer to APS, but from the perceived shortcom- cross-cultural communication, and as well as an implementation on International Scientific Affairs the forum’s fast-growing member- ings Longobardi observed in the speaking out for oppressed scien- plan. In November 2018, I was (CISA) and the APS Office of ship of nearly four thousand under- mentorship and support she and tists. Today, the APS Committee proud to present the Task Force’s International Affairs, in coordina- scores the appetite for this kind of her colleagues received while on International Scientific Affairs Report, Recommendations & tion with other APS committees mentorship and support among navigating twists and turns in their and the APS Office of International Implementation Plan to the APS and departments. early career scientists embarking career trajectories and locations as Affairs have built a portfolio of Council of Representatives at its Our primary recommendation on the next phase of their profes- young scientists. Longobardi is a programs that serve APS members meeting in Dallas, Texas. Our rec- is that APS deepen its international sional lives. gravitational wave theorist turned and physicists worldwide. ommendations were well received engagement across the full range of FECS was founded by Maria condensed matter experimentalist, But there is clearly more to and fully adopted by the Council. Society activities. This is a transfor- Longobardi (who has served as now working at the intersection of do. The APS strategic plan that I am pleased that APS members mational recommendation, one that chair since 2016) with the help FECS continued on page 5 covered the years 2013 to 2017 will learn more about this effort affects the entire APS, not just the identified expanding international on the Back Page of this issue of programs under the direct purview engagement as a key goal of the APS News. Likewise, the full report of the APS Office of International Society, and in March 2017, APS is available on the APS website at Affairs. We believe that our report Chief Executive Officer Kate aps.org/programs/international/. can serve as a useful guide towards Kirby launched the APS Task In reading the Back Page, you expanding the Society’s service, Force on Expanding International will see that our wide-ranging rec- not just to APS members, but to Engagement. ommendations affect all aspects the entire international physics The Task Force was composed of APS. Our implementation plan community. of 12 APS members living or work- provides concrete actions the ing across the globe with a broad Society can take to ensure our rec- TASK FORCE continued on page 5 2 • January 2019
Shoucheng Zhang 1963-2018 This Month in Physics History By Daniel Garisto Shoucheng Zhang, a theoretical physicist whose research pushed January 6, 1912: Alfred Wegener the frontiers of understanding Presents His Theory of Continental Drift exotic states of matter, has died at 55. His family released a statement he notion that the continents were once joined saying that he had passed away together dates back to at least the 16th cen- “after fighting a battle with depres- T tury, with the Flemish cartographer and geographer sion.” News outlets have reported Abraham Ortelius. Ortelius created the first modern that the family confirmed Zhang atlas: the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Theater of the died from suicide. World). He noted how the geometry of the coasts of Zhang, a pioneer in topologi- America and Europe/Africa seemed to match like cal insulators, also worked on pieces in a jigsaw puzzle, and proposed they had high temperature superconductiv- Shoucheng Zhang gradually drifted apart over time due to earthquakes ity and predicted the quantum spin With Kivelson and Hans and floods. But it was a German scientist named Hall effect. In addition to being Hansson, Zhang developed a Alfred Wegener who developed a robust hypothesis a Fellow of the APS, Zhang had topological quantum field theory of continental drift over 300 years later. also won the APS Oliver Buckley that explained phenomenological Born in 1880, Wegener earned his PhD in astron- Prize, a Guggenheim fellowship, features of the fractional quan- omy from the University of Berlin in 1904, but his the Alexander von Humboldt prize, tum Hall effect. Zhang later used scientific interests were much broader, encompass- and the Dirac Medal. this approach to more broadly ing geophysics, meteorology, and climatology. His “He was one of the brightest make predictions about proper- work in meteorology was especially significant, theorists of his generation and it's ties of quantum Hall systems. since he pioneered the use of balloons to track air an enormous loss for the whole Experiments quickly confirmed circulation and published a widely used standard community that this happened,” his theories. textbook. He became a tutor at the University of said Laurens Molenkamp, the In 1993, Zhang became one of Marburg, taking time out to join expeditions to Editor of Physical Review B. “I Alfred Wegener the youngest professors at Stanford, Greenland in 1906 and 1912 to study polar air lost a friend.” where he remained until his death. circulation. In addition to his career in phys- new observation that geologically younger oceans Students spoke fondly about Zhang. While browsing in the university library one day, ics, Zhang was an entrepreneur who were shallower than their older counterparts. “Shoucheng was a wonder- Wegener happened upon a scientific paper listing founded the venture capital firm Wegener’s hypothesis invited plenty of skepti- ful person who always pushed fossils of plants and animals on opposite sides of Danhua Capital, which invested in cism, especially from geologists, who resented his students (myself included) to the Atlantic Ocean. He noted the striking similari- developing technologies. this outsider’s revolutionary ideas. The American think originally and creatively,” ties between types of rock and fossils, especially “He was a spectacular person. Association of Petroleum Geologists hated the said Bogdan Bernevig, a former fossilized plants. Wegener noticed, as Ortelius did, One of the most catholic intellectu- American translation so much it organized a spe- student who is now a professor at the same jigsaw puzzle-like shapes of the conti- als I've known. He was interested in cial symposium to oppose the theory of continental Princeton. “I owe a lot of what I nents, and how well they seemed to fit together. “A everything. We discussed Lucretius drift. Among his detractors was geologist Franz am, intellectually, to him.” conviction of the fundamental soundness of the idea and we discussed the history of Kossmat, who argued that the oceanic crust was Zhang turned his attention to took root in my mind,” he later wrote. empires and he tried to explain just too tough for continents to “simply plough high-temperature superconductiv- On January 6, 1912, he made the first presenta- to me what blockchain was, I'm through.” The University of Chicago’s Rollin T. ity, where he established a sym- tion of his hypothesis of continental drift at a meet- afraid, unsuccessfully,” said Steven Chamberlin was especially harsh. “Wegener’s metry principle that unified the ing of the German Geological Society in Frankfurt, Kivelson, a colleague at Stanford. hypothesis… is of the footloose type,” he observed, antiferromagnetic and supercon- right before embarking on another scientific expedi- Shoucheng Zhang was born in “in that it takes considerable liberty with our globe, ducting states of matter. tion to Denmark and Greenland. This contradicted Shanghai in 1963 and began attend- and is less bound by restrictions or tied down by Werner Hanke, a professor at the prevailing hypothesis among geologists at the ing Fudan University while he was ugly, awkward facts than most of its rival theories.”. the University of Würzburg who time, which postulated that land bridges had once only 15. He then moved on to the The fact that Wegener didn’t really have a con- collaborated with Zhang on this connected the continents and were now buried Free University of Berlin, and later vincing mechanism for how continental drift might research said that “one of his cen- under the ocean. Stony Brook University, where he occur didn’t help his theory gain broad acceptance. tral gifts was certainly his infec- He suggested that the continents were once a earned his PhD. But the theory did find the occasional champion, tious enthusiasm,” which led to single landmass and gradually drifted apart, either At Stony Brook, he initially notably British geologist Arthur Holmes and South a love for “exploring radically because of the centrifugal force of the Earth’s studied supergravity with his African geologist Alexander Du Toit. In the 1950s, new ideas.” rotation, or some kind of astronomical precession. advisor Peter van Nieuwenhuizen, greater exploration of Earth’s crust along the ocean Zhang’s seminal work, though, Wegener also originally thought mid-ocean ridges before turning to condensed matter floor provided supporting evidence that continents would be in topological insula- might play some role, since the Atlantic seafloor on the advice of his personal hero, indeed moved on crustal plates that spread or sub- tors. Along with Molenkamp and “is continuously tearing open and making space for Nobel laureate Chen-Ning Yang. ducted at mid-ocean ridges. By the late 1960s, Charles Kane, he helped introduce fresh, relatively fluid and hot [material rising] from “He had a superior way of plate tectonics was the scientific consensus among the new state of matter—an insula- depth.” But he eventually abandoned those notions. analyzing problems,” said van geologists. tor on its interior, but a symmetry- Wegener managed to uncover even more exam- Nieuwenhuizen. In 1924, Wegener became a professor of meteo- protected conductor on its surface. ples of similar organisms on widely separated con- As a condensed matter theo- rology and geophysics at the University of Graz in Topological insulators have been tinents over the next few years. By 1915, he had rist, Zhang used his knowledge of Austria. Ever the adventurer, he met with a dramatic observed in materials such as mer- compiled evidence gleaned from multiple scien- particle physics, which gave him end during his final expedition to Greenland. His cury telluride (HgTe). The field that tific disciplines in support of his theory (dubbed a unique ability and insight at the team set off in 1930 with the goal of establish- has grown around them is in no Urkontinent for “All-Lands”) in The Origin of time, said Kivelson. “He had a ing three permanent stations on the ice sheet to small part due to Zhang’s work. Continents and Oceans. He continued to go on deep faith in elegant mathematics monitor its thickness and observe Arctic weather “Shoucheng was an outstanding expeditions to gather additional evidence, updat- to reveal important physics, but at year-round. For the expedition to succeed, Wegener teacher and mentor…who could ing his treatise accordingly. The last edition was the same time, he was also very explain the most complex concepts published just before his death in 1930, with the WEGENER continued on page 3 interested in phenomena that can be measured in the real world.” ZHANG continued on page 6
Series II, Vol. 28, No. 1 January 2019 APS COUNCIL OF REPRESENTATIVES 2019 General Councilors Samuel Bader (Division of Materials Physics), Baha © 2019 American Physical Society Bonnie Fleming, Andrea J. Liu*, Vivian F. Incera*, Balantekin* (Division of Nuclear Physics), Elizabeth President Robin L. B. Selinger Simmons (Division of Particles and Fields), Stuart David J. Gross*, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Phys- Henderson (Division of Physics of Beams), Amitava ics, University of California, Santa Barbara International Councilors Bhattacharjee (Division of Plasma Physics), Muru- Editor...... David Voss Johanna Stachel, Marta Losada*, Ahmadou Wagué*, gappan Muthukumar (Division of Polymer Physics), Staff Science Writer...... Leah Poffenberger President-Elect Enge Wang Charles H. Bennett (Division of Quantum Information), Contributing Correspondent ...... Alaina G. Levine Philip H. Bucksbaum*, Stanford University and SLAC Noah Finkelstein (Forum on Education), Julia Gonski National Accelerator Laboratory Chair, Nominating Committee (Forum on Graduate Student Affairs),Virginia Trimble Design and Production...... Nancy Bennett-Karasik Larry D. Gladney, University of Pennsylvania (Forum on the History of Physics), John Rumble, Vice President Jr.*(Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics), Eman- Sylvester J. Gates*, Brown Theoretical Physics Center, Chair, Panel on Public Affairs uela Barzi (Forum on International Physics), Pushpa Brown University James D. Wells, University of Michigan Bhat* (Forum on Physics and Society), Philip R. 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Physics), John Fourkas (Division of Laser Science), January 2019 • 3 New Supported Sites Chosen for PhysTEC 2018 APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting By Thomas Hone administrators, to mentor newly PhysTEC (the Physics Teacher graduated teachers and provide an By Katherine Kornei outside assessment of their teacher Education Coalition) is pleased Portland, Oregon—This preparation program. to announce awards to four new past November, the 60th Annual Similarly, Worcester Polytechnic sites: Appalachian State University, Meeting of the APS Division of Institute will not only seek new Alexander Volkov Texas A&M University-Commerce, Plasma Physics (DPP) was joined ways to improve recruitment the University of Kansas, and by the 71st Annual Gaseous efforts but also coordinate advising Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Electronics Conference. The pre- and mentoring among students in These new PhysTEC Supported sentations—more than 2,000 in the physics teacher education pro- Sites are well poised to dramati- total—ran the gamut from astro- gram, faculty, in-service teachers, cally improve their physics teacher physical plasmas to applications academic advising, and the STEM education programs and have in biomedicine, along with funda- Education Center as well as create impacts beyond their campuses, mental plasma physics. Here are a an assessment model to determine serving as national models for pro- couple of highlights. gram improvement. factors that influence the recruit- ment and retention of students who No Flies, Just Plasma Central to improving each insti- Gabe Xu, an aerospace engi- tution’s physics teacher education pursue careers as physics teachers. These new comprehensive sites neer at the University of Alabama program is hiring a Teacher-in- in Huntsville, presented a study of Venus flytrap plant after being treated with plasma. Residence (TIR). The TIR will are expected to graduate relatively large numbers of teachers, with an the response of Venus flytraps— recruit students to become high exhibit a mechanical response. “If his colleagues applied 2, 5, and aim of becoming thriving programs those carnivorous plants known for school physics teachers, mentor we can determine what kind of sig- 10 minutes of plasma to dormant that graduate five or more physics catching unsuspecting insects—to learning assistants, and organize a nals the plasma is passing to the Muscat of Alexandria grape vines teachers per year. The project will plasma. Xu and his collaborators, mentoring program for pre-service ‘brains’ of the plant, then we can in the laboratory. They found that offer up to $100,000 per year for 3 Alexander Volkov and Vladimir teachers. Furthermore, the TIR better understand the bioelectro- the short treatment released from years for the institution to achieve Kolobov, were interested in the program will expand and sustain chemical mechanisms,” said Xu. dormancy plants that had never their project goals. In addition, effect of plasma-produced reac- a community of high school phys- Link to abstract: aps.org/ been chilled. The plasma-treated they will be able to network with tive oxygen and nitrogen species ics teachers, both pre-service and Meeting/GEC18/Session/ET4.6 plants also exhibited healthier- the best programs throughout the (“RONS”) on the plants’ ability in-service. looking leaves and vines and more country. to shut their traps. Molecules such Plasma in the Vineyard Building on the rapid growth synchronous growth than untreated Each site will also be addressing as O2, O3, H2O2, and NO occur in Wine is a multi-billion-dollar in the number of physics majors plants. “In just a few minutes the six Physics Teacher Education a variety of plants and animals as industry, and the best reds and at Texas A&M University- you can have the same effect…. Program Analysis (PTEPA) rubric part of their biological signaling whites are produced from healthy Commerce, project leaders plan to that you have with two months standards. These standards are: an systems. grapes. But wine grapes, like some attract many more to physics teach- of chilling, said Mujahid. These institutional commitment; leader- Using an atmospheric-pressure other fruits, are marked by a bio- ing and implement new support for findings reveal that plasma is a ship and collaboration; recruit- plasma jet, the researchers directed logical peculiarity: they must be them on their pathway through the helium plasma at the Venus fly- exposed to a certain number of good alternative to applying hydro- program. The project leaders will ment; knowledge and skills for teaching physics; mentoring and traps. The team left a roughly develop new recruiting materials 1-centimeter gap between the tip and advertise in lower division professional support; and program assessment. of the jet and the plants’ leaves. Xu STEM classes, at university events, and his colleagues found that the at local high schools and commu- In the United States, there are over 27,000 teachers of high Venus flytraps exposed to RONS nity colleges, and through connec- closed after roughly 1 second and tions with local industry. school physics who serve students in over 20,000 public and private reopened a few days later, consis- Appalachian State will focus tent with the timing recorded for on developing an understanding of high schools. While many of these physics teachers are excellent edu- plants dining on insects. (Short best practices in collaborating with “sensor hairs” on the insides of Commons. USDAgov via Wikimedia rural school districts and with first- cators, fewer than half have a major or minor in physics or physics edu- the leaves, when bent, normally generation college goers as well induce electrical signals that cause look for ways to strengthen reten- cation. Physics consistently rates the traps to snap shut.) Presumably A grape vine swells with buds in early spring. tion of physics secondary education as a K-12 education field with a “severe shortage” of teachers, as the plant is absorbing the RONS, students and teachers. gen cyanamide, a toxic chemical demand far exceeds supply for which are triggering some bio- “chilling hours”—a cumulative At the University of Kansas, banned in several countries that open positions. PhysTEC is guided logical chemical behavior, said duration of cold temperatures— project leaders will integrate is sometimes used to break grape by a vision of educating sufficient Xu. What the mechanism is that to coax them out of dormancy in PhysTEC with the existing bud dormancy. The next step will numbers of qualified teachers to induces closure still remains elu- the spring. However, as the cli- UKanTeach program for preparing be replicating these results in vine- provide an excellent physics educa- sive, however. “We're still quite in mate warms, some wine-growing STEM teachers. The result will be yards, said Mujahid. If that’s suc- tion for all students. the dark about the actual biologi- regions may not receive a sufficient new pathways for physics majors to cessful, “plasma may allow crops To date, the PhysTEC project cal and chemical pathways which number of cold nights to satisfy become teachers, and opportunities to be grown in areas where they has funded over 40 institutions to are responsible for the observed this chilling requirement. That’s for those majoring in mathematics haven’t been traditionally grown.” build model physics teacher edu- effects,” said Xu. The scientists where plasma comes in. and other STEM fields to pursue Link to abstract: aps.org/ cation programs. These PhysTEC plan on testing how plasma-pro- Zaka-ul-Islam Mujahid, physics minors and to obtain cer- duced RONS affect other plants, a plasma physicist at Jazan Meeting/GEC18/Session/PR2.12 tification to teach physics. In addi- Supported Sites have demonstrated like mimosa pudica, which also University in Saudi Arabia, and DPP continued on page 7 tion, they will impanel an external significant successes in increasing advisory board, consisting of area the number of highly qualified high school physics teachers and SITES continued on page 6 RENDERING: © 1978-2018 CERN
WEGENER continued from page 2 APRIL MEETING 2019 needed to transfer sufficient provi- member Rasmus Villumsen set out sions from West Camp to a spot with two dog sleds for the return called Eismitte (“mid-ice”), where trip to West Camp, killing the dogs two of his men were planning to one by one for food. When they quarks cosmos camp out through the brutal winter. were down to one sled, Villumsen There was a late thaw, and rode it while Wegener skied along- the six-week delay in provisions side him. Neither man ever reached meant the men at Eismitte would the base camp. Wegener’s body have to return to West Camp ear- was finally recovered on May 12, April 13 - 16, 2019 Denver, Colorado lier than expected, since they didn’t Q2C 1931, halfway between the two have enough fuel for the winter. sites, where it had been buried Register early and save! Determined that his mission should with care by Villumsen and marked Experience the meeting, and explore succeed, Wegener set out with his with his skis. Villumsen’s body was research from the “Quarks to the meteorologist Fritz Loewe and thir- never found. Cosmos (Q2C),” which is the true teen native Greenlanders on dog essence of the meeting. sleds loaded with the necessary Further Reading: supplies. It got so cold (-76 degrees Wegener, Alfred. The Origin of Conti- nents and Oceans (English edition). Early Registration Deadline: F) that Loewe had to amputate his New York: Dover, 1966. March 1, 2019 frostbitten toes with a penknife. Wegener, Elsie and Loewe, Fritz, eds. aps.org/meetings/april Most of the natives returned to Greenland Journey: The Story of We- West Camp, but the remaining three gener’s German Expedition to Green- men eventually reached Eismitte. land in 1930-1931. London: Blackie & Wegener and 23-year-old team Son, Ltd., 1939. Shown with Lauren Aycock (third from left) are members of the Illinois delegation; Sen. Tammy Duckworth (far left), Rep. Robin Kelly (2nd-IL), and Sen. Dick Durbin.
4 • January 2019
Letters The APS Office of Government Affairs
Members may submit letters to [email protected]. APS reserves the right to APS Launches Campaign to Help Members Mitigate Their Carbon Footprint select letters and edit for length and clarity. By Mariah Heinzerling the critical fight against climate APS recently took steps to change,” said Eckart Meiburg, a help curb greenhouse gas (GHG) professor of mechanical engineer- Teaching Physics ing at UC Santa Barbara and 2018 emissions by offering members an chair of DFD. The November 2018 issue of also obtained a state high school opportunity to mitigate their carbon For those without a preferred APS News reported that physics mathematics teaching certificate. footprint by making a donation to organization, APS suggested direct- graduates are wondering what to This extra teaching certificate in an environmental organization of ing donations to the Clean Energy do with their degrees (“I Graduated high school mathematics was easily their choice. Trust (CET). The Trust (cleanen- – What Now?”). As a former high accomplished because my phys- In November 2018, APS ergytrust.org) is a nonprofit clean school physics, chemistry, and math- ics courses required a great deal of unveiled the pilot campaign by pro- technology accelerator focused ematics teacher in mostly inner-city mathematics courses I had to take viding Division of Fluid Dynamics on bringing scientific and tech- Chicago Public Schools, I would as prerequisites. (DFD) members the ability to mit- nological advances to market that highly recommend that every phys- The excellent salary of my high igate the effect of their travel to change how the world generates, ics major program in higher edu- school physics teaching position and from the DFD annual meeting cation offer training in high school (and sometimes mathematics teach- consumes, and reuses energy and in Atlanta, Georgia. Rather than natural resources. CET is a 501c3 physics teaching to its students. ing position) not only paid my daily paign to inform members. promoting the purchase of carbon public charity, and donations are All students in higher educa- living expenses but also helped pay CET has received several dona- offsets, which have often been tax deductible. By donating to CET, tion must take electives and a state for my other master’s degree and tions from APS members, and criticized as being insubstantial, DFD meeting attendees supported teaching certificate in high school my after-retirement PhD with both another organization reached out the Society provided members with an investment in entrepreneurs who physics would offer almost imme- savings and my pension. to APS expressing interest in being an estimate of their carbon foot- are working to commercialize clean diate employment, especially in the Sadly, after retirement I found involved with future iterations of print from traveling to and from technology startups, reduce GHG the campaign. During upcoming big cities of America. The start- that recent BA graduates in the meeting and provided options emissions, and mitigate the risks meetings, APS will improve upon ing salary of a certified teacher in fields such as business, psychol- for donation. of climate change. the model tested at the DFD meet- physics, chemistry, or mathemat- ogy, art, history, criminal justice, APS calculated a suggested The DFD effort follows APS’s ing and aims to make the donation ics almost everywhere in the US and film could only find employ- donation amount using an estimate recent release of its Greenhouse option available earlier in the reg- is about $50,000 per year. There ment for about $10.00 per hour in of the average travel-related GHG Gas Inventory Report, an analysis istration cycle. is a critical need for high school coffee shops and fast-food restau- emissions per person and the social of the Society’s day-to-day opera- “APS will continue running this physics, chemistry, and especially rants. There are virtually no teach- cost of carbon as published by the mathematics teachers. tions and select activities that donation campaign at our largest ing positions anywhere in history, Interagency Working Group, an contribute to its carbon footprint. And since most physics majors national meetings. By working with art, music, or biology. organization of federal regulatory Member travel to and from annual take many mathematics courses in CET and potentially other organi- Physics departments should agencies charged with determining meetings was the second-largest order to master the subject mat- zations going forward, we hope to make potential bachelor’s candi- the social cost of GHGs. GHG contributor detailed in the ter in a higher education physics make APS meetings beneficial not dates aware that a physics degree “DFD is proud to be the first inventory. major program, obtaining another only to the physics community but combined with a high school phys- APS division to offer this step DFD members who registered also the environment as a whole,” high school teaching certificate ics teaching certificate will mean toward mitigating the carbon foot- for the 2018 meeting received said Mark Elsesser, manager of sci- in mathematics could be easily almost immediate well-paying life- print from Society activities. As information about the pilot ahead ence policy at the APS Office of accomplished. time employment almost every- members of a scientific society, of their travel and were notified Government Affairs. Twice, my high school phys- where in America. it is our responsibility to support throughout the meeting about par- The author is a Science ics teaching position was closed, APS in continually implement- ticipating in the campaign. APS Policy Intern in the APS Office of but I always immediately found Stewart Brekke ing forward-thinking strategies in also launched a social media cam- Government Affairs. a mathematics position because I Downers Grove, Illinois Signal Boost is a monthly email video newsletter alerting APS
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