02│ Neil Ashcroft 1938-2021 03│ Programmable Matter 03│ Staying the Course in Advocacy 08│ Back Page: A Black Life in Physics

May 2021 • Vol. 30, No. 5 aps.org/apsnews

A PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY

GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS INDUSTRIAL PHYSICS APS Honors Members for Outstanding Science What is it Like Being a Data Policy Advocacy Scientist? BY TAWANDA W. JOHNSON ata science is one of the fast- est-growing career fields PS Government Affairs (APS involved advocating for nuclear and is expected to increase GA) is proud to announce threat reduction during a meeting D by more than 30 percent during that 12 Society members with staff representing US Sen. A the next 10 years, according to the have been selected as Five Sigma Gary Peters (D-MI). Paul Campbell US Bureau of Labor Statistics. APS Physicist awardees for their out- and Andrea Richard also attended Director of Industrial Engagement standing advocacy work that the meeting with Edwards. And, as Dan Pisano recently interviewed Jie included taking multiple actions members of the Physicists Coalition Ren, a Data Scientist in the Global during the past year and main- for Nuclear Threat Reduction, all Digital Analytics & Technology taining communication with APS of them sent letters to Congress Group for Merck & Co., to gain GA staff. to support an extension of the build my foundation of knowledge insight into this exciting career This year’s awardees partici- New START Treaty and to oppose and experience in the field.” that bodes well for scientists with pated in various iniatives centered funding for resuming explosive Mark Haynes and Stephen Schiff physics backgrounds. on contacting Congress and the nuclear testing. The treaty covers were also awarded the Five Sigma Executive Branch to help advance a limit on nuclear arms between Physicist accolade for their work Jie Ren APS’s science policy priorities, the United States and Russia. In in advocating for the extension of Dan: Where do you work and including: ensuring the US scien- January, President Joe Biden and New START and opposing funding why did you choose to pursue a sector, was a great choice for me tific enterprise fully recovers from Russian President Vladimir V. Putin for explosive nuclear testing during career there? to achieve this goal. the pandemic, supporting visa and agreed to a five-year extension of a meeting with staff representing Jie: I work at Merck & Co., Inc., Dan: Did you start out as a data immigration policies that attract the treaty—a move supported by US Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA). a US-based biopharmaceutical scientist? What other positions and retain talented international APS in its recent Board Statement. “I am pleased that this award company. I am in the Global Digital did you have? students to the United States, “As both a scientist and citizen, exists because of the importance Analytics & Technology group; my Jie: I did not start out as a data addressing the helium crisis, and it was important for me to join the of advocacy to the science com- job focuses on integrating remote scientist. Instead, with my soft ending sexual harassment in STEM. Physicists Coalition for Nuclear munity,” said Haynes, Retired monitoring technologies for clinical matter research background, I Tracy Edwards, a PhD student Threat Reduction to advocate for President of Concordia Power and trial use and developing digital bio- joined Merck as a material scientist in the Department of Physics the safety and well-being of our member of the Physicists Coalition markers for drug development. I’ve and started in the formulation and Astronomy at Michigan nation,” said Edwards, adding “I for Nuclear Threat Reduction. always been interested in pushing development function. From there, State University, said she was intend to pursue a career in nuclear the real-world application of my “honored” to receive the Five policy, working alongside other physics background. Merck, as a Sigma Physicist Award. Her work physicists with the same interest to FIVE SIGMA CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 big player in the pharmaceutical DATA SCIENCE CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

MEETINGS MARCH MEETING 2021 Kavli Foundation Special Symposium Tackles New Laser Testing Approach the Frontiers of Computation Detects Coronavirus in Minutes BY LEAH POFFENBERGER BY LEAH POFFENBERGER

fter its cancelation last ffective control of the spread Arizona University (NAU), described year due to the corona- of viruses like SARs-CoV-2, a new method of virus detection A virus pandemic, the March E the virus responsible for the using laser spectroscopy to deliver Meeting came back strong in 2021, COVID-19 pandemic, relies on three fast, cost effective results. Yacamán with a new online format drawing Ts: testing, tracing, and treatment. has been applying a type of Raman in a record number of March Testing for coronavirus infection spectroscopy, a tool with uses attendees—over 13,000 registrants. remains important, especially as ranging from solid-state physics While many aspects of the meeting many areas in the United States to breast cancer diagnosis, to detect might have differed from a tradi- are starting to re-open schools the SARs-CoV-2 virus in a saliva tional March Meeting, the Kavli and loosen restrictions designed to sample in minutes. Foundation Special Symposium slow its spread. However, the main “The biggest strength of this returned as a highlight of the testing methods for COVID-19 are method is its portable application: meeting, featuring distinguished After a brief introduction of machine learning as a tool for often hindered by cost and speed, You don’t have to take saliva to a researchers in the fields of quantum from APS CEO Jonathan Bagger, small molecule drug discovery, with some tests trading accuracy lab for testing,” said Yacamán. computing and machine learning. who highlighted the “poten- allowing researchers to search for to get faster results. “We can have results from a test The five speakers on hand to tial of [machine learning and potential therapeutic molecules on At the 2021 APS March Meeting, in about five minutes … which share their expertise in these quantum computing] to trans- a previously impossible scale. He Miguel José Yacamán, a professor in fields were: Patrick Francis Riley form physics,” Riley kicked off also presented another project that the Applied Physics and Materials (Google Accelerated Science), Roger the Kavli symposium. In his talk seeks to integrate computational Science Department at Northern CORONAVIRUS CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 Melko (University of Waterloo, “Vignettes of Machine Learning physics and machine learning by Perimeter Institute), Michelle in the Natural Sciences,” Riley using differentiable programming Girvan (University of Maryland, detailed on-going projects at to tackle physics problems like College Park), Eun-Ah Kim (Cornell Google Accelerated Science to solving Schrödinger’s equation. University), and John P. Preskill harness machine learning tech- Next, Melko gave a talk (Caltech). nology. First, he described the use on “Machine Learning and the Complexity of Quantum Simulation,” where he discussed the use of generative models from machine learning to enhance quantum simulations. Melko also discussed two forms of quantum simulation—Hamiltonian-driven and data-driven—along with the difficulties that surround each method. With data-driven gener- ative modeling, Melko says we are

Researchers in the lab of Miguel José Yacamán at Northern Arizona KAVLI CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 University are studying a way to quickly detect the virus that causes COVID. CREDIT: NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY 2 • May 2021

OBITUARY Neil Ashcroft 1938-2021 BY DANIEL GARISTO

eil Ashcroft, a theorist who paved the way for high- May 1931: Publication of the creation of the N temperature hydrogen superconductors and was renowned first aerogel for his commitment to educating the next generation of physicists, died on March 15 in Ithaca. He was 82. he ultralight, porous, synthetic materials For his work, Ashcroft collected known as aerogels are 99.8 percent air, honors including a Guggenheim T earning them the nickname “frozen Fellowship and the Bridgman smoke.” Until 2012, silica aerogel held the Award for high pressure physics. Guinness World Record for lowest-density solid. In addition to his leadership posi- Their unusual properties make them ideal for a tions, Ashcroft was an honorary variety of scientific and industrial applications, fellow of the Royal Society of New such as experiments to capture cosmic dust in Zealand, a foreign member of the space, as thermal insulation on NASA’s Mars Russian Academy of Sciences, and Neil Ashcroft rovers, and as radiators in certain particle elected to the National Academy of CREDIT: CORNELL UNIVERSITY detectors. The man who first created them was Sciences. He was a fellow of APS. a chemist named Samuel Kistler. “He could well have shared a Born in 1900 in the small cattle town of future Nobel Prize on high-tem- metals—the aesthetically pleasing Cedarville, California, Kistler’s father was a perature superconductivity,” said shapes that show which electron shopkeeper. Young Sam dreamed of breaking N. David Mermin, his longtime orbitals are filled or unfilled at wild horses and being a cowboy, but when he colleague at Cornell University. absolute zero. By 1964, Ashcroft was 12, his father sold his store and the family “That was really uniquely Neil's way made his way to Cornell, where he moved to Santa Rosa. In high school, he fell of thinking about things—I don't remained for the rest of his career. in love with chemistry, taking extra college think anybody else had thought But he never forgot his roots in classes in the subject in addition to his high A flower suspended over a flame is thermally about what hydrogen would be New Zealand. school curricula. protected by a piece of aerogel. CREDIT: NASA.GOV like if the hydrogen nuclei were “Once a year Neil would turn When he first started at the College of the extremely dense.” up and he'd usually stay for about Pacific in 1917, Kistler hoped to learn the cello, laborious and expensive, as well as potentially Ashcroft had a fitting mantra a month over the New Zealand and eventually earn an agricultural degree. explosive. It also required toxic compounds. As to describe many of his research summer with his wife and to Those plans changed three years later, when he for their properties, aerogels were cloudy rather interests: “Whatever it is, squeeze catch up with friends,” said Nicola transferred to Stanford to complete his bachelor's than transparent, and while they showed good it.” In 1968, he published a paper Gaston, a physicist at the University degree in chemistry. After graduating, he went thermal resistance, it wasn’t quite good enough in Physical Review Letters simply of Auckland. “He was so self-ef- to work at Standard Oil Company in California, in early aerogels for commercialization purposes. titled “Metallic Hydrogen: A High- facing and humble about who he returning to the College of the Pacific a year later So Kistler moved on, leaving the University of Temperature Superconductor?” was that there are a lot of people to teach chemistry. Apart from one year abroad, Illinois in 1935, first working at Norton Company Four decades later, he made another who probably don't realize how he stayed there until 1931, when he moved to to research abrasive grinding compounds, moving seminal contribution to the field significant a role he played behind the University of Illinois. up to become director of research. Most of his by proposing chemical precom- the scenes.” It’s not clear exactly when Kistler succeeded patents date from period. He was also part of pression in a hydrogen alloy—the In addition to his work guiding in making his first aerogel, or even where: the company’s effort to synthesize diamonds, other element would squeeze science in New Zealand, Ashcroft The College of the Pacific, which had limited although Norton passed on commercializing the hydrogen into a lattice even before organized numerous conferences experimental facilities, or Stanford University, breakthrough, persuading General Electric to do external force was applied. His work and served as a mentor to many where Kistler earned his PhD. His master’s thesis so instead. Kistler also invented a scratch-re- formed the backbone of research students—even those who he was on the crystallization of amino acids from sistant polymer for eyeglasses. that, last year, led to the firstever didn’t supervise. But his greatest supercritical fluids, and he published several Kistler worked with Monsanto in the early room-temperature superconductor: impact on physics came through papers in the late 1920s on using wet gels as 1940s to develop silica aerogel products for use a hydrogen alloy under 2.6 million the textbook he coauthored with ultra-filters. as flattening agents in paints and varnishes; as a atmospheres of pressure. Mermin, Solid State Physics, an Legend has it that he was originally inspired thickening agent in the jelly used to make napalm “Theory, experiment, every- encyclopedic tome simply known by a bet with a fellow scientist named Charles bombs and salves for sheep; and as an ingredient thing that we all do—it’s his ideas as Ashcroft and Mermin. Published Learned over whether it was possible to replace to make silicone rubber. Perhaps because it was that we are putting into action,” in 1976 after 7 years of work and the liquid inside a jelly jar without causing so expensive to make, and increased competi- said Ranga Dias, a physicist at the never revised, it remains the gold shrinkage. We do know that aerogels were tion from other silica and thermal insulation University of Rochester who led the standard for condensed matter texts the focus of his research by the time he got to products, the company discontinued its Santocel team that created the room-tem- even half a century later, despite Illinois, and that Kistler published the results line of products around 1970. perature superconductor. “It's a massive advances in the field. of his aerogel experiments in a May 16, 1931, Kistler moved to the University of Utah in big loss to our field.” “Traditional solid state physics paper in Nature. He used a process known as 1952 to become dean of engineering, where he Neil William Ashcroft was born books always began—and still do— supercritical drying to make them, forcing continued to teach and conduct research until in London in 1938, but after World with crystallography,” said Mermin. the liquid into a supercritical fluid state by he retired. He was a strong advocate for scien- War II ended, his family emigrated “Which is a very boring subject and increasing the temperature and pressure. He tific education and its importance to society. to New Zealand, where he was raised quite technical, and one of the good then reduced the pressure, which vaporized “Recognize that technology has no morals,” he by his mother. Ashcroft got his things about the book was getting and removed the liquid inside, leaving just the told graduating engineers in 1965. “It serves evil bachelor’s and master’s degrees right into the physics.” porous solid in place. at what was then Victoria College The first two chapters inAshcroft Yet aerogels were largely forgotten for the next of the University of New Zealand, and Mermin instead cover the Drude three decades. The process to make them was HISTORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 before he went back to Cambridge and Sommerfeld theories of metals. for his PhD under John Ziman, working on the Fermi surfaces of ASHCROFT CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

Series II, Vol. 30, No. 5 APS COUNCIL OF REPRESENTATIVES 2021 General Councilors Baha Balantekin* (Division of Nuclear Physics), May 2021 Gabriela Gonzalez, Vivian F. Incera*, Elizabeth Simmons (Division of Particles and President Robert McKeown*, Robin L. B. Selinger* Fields), Stuart Henderson (Division of Physics of © 2021 American Physical Society Sylvester J. Gates*, Brown Theoretical Physics Beams), Amitava Bhattacharjee* (Division of Center, Brown University International Councilors Plasma Physics), Karen Winey (Division of Polymer Karen Hallberg, Ursula Keller, Physics), Charles H. Bennett (Division of Quantum Editor...... David Voss President-Elect Ahmadou Wagué*, Enge Wang Information), Heinrich Jaeger (Division of Soft Frances Hellman*, University of California, Matter), Laurie McNeil (Forum on Education), Staff Science Writer...... Leah Poffenberger Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Chair, Nominating Committee LaNell Williams* (Forum on Graduate Student Contributing Correspondents ...... Sophia Chen and Alaina G. Levine Laboratory Maria Spiropulu, Caltech Affairs), Virginia Trimble (Forum on the History of Design and Production ...... Meghan White Physics), Jim Adams (Forum on Industrial and Applied Vice President Chair, Panel on Public Affairs Physics), Emanuela Barzi (Forum on International Robert Rosner*, The University of Chicago William Collins, Lawrence Berkeley National Physics), Beverly Karplus Hartline* (Forum on Laboratory Physics and Society), Nadia Fomin (Southeastern APS News (ISSN: 1058-8132) is published APS News, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD Past President Section), Nora Berrah* (New England Section) monthly, except for a combined July-August 20740-3844, Email: [email protected]. Philip H. Bucksbaum*, Stanford University and Editor in Chief issue, 11 times per year, by the American Phys- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Michael Thoennessen, Michigan State University Senior Management Team ical Society, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, Subscriptions: APS News is an on-membership (on leave) Jonathan A. Bagger, Chief Executive Officer; MD 20740-3844, (301) 209-3200. It contains publication delivered by Periodical Mail Postage Chief Executive Officer Mark Doyle, Chief Information Officer; news of the Society and of its Divisions, Topical Paid at College Park, MD and at additional mail- Jonathan A. Bagger, American Physical Society Division, Forum, and Section Councilors Jane Hopkins Gould, Chief Financial Officer; Groups, Sections, and Forums; advance infor- ing offices. Michael Coleman Miller (Division of Astrophysics), Beth Gunzel, Chief Human Resources Officer; mation on meetings of the Society; and reports Speaker of the Council David Schultz (Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Matthew M. Salter, Publisher; to the Society by its committees and task forces, For address changes, please send both the old Baha Balantekin*, University of Wisconsin Optical Physics), Daniel Fisher (Division of Biological Francis Slakey, Chief External Affairs Officer.; as well as opinions. and new addresses, and, if possible, include a Physics), Tanja Cuk (Division of Chemical Physics), James W. Taylor, Deputy Executive Officer and mailing label from a recent issue. Changes can be Treasurer William Halperin (Division of Condensed Matter Chief Operating Officer; Letters to the editor are welcomed from the emailed to [email protected]. Postmaster: James Hollenhorst*, Agilent Technologies Physics), James Freericks (Division of Computational Michael Thoennessen, Editor in Chief membership. Letters must be signed and should Send address changes to APS News, Membership Physics), Howard Stone (Division of Fluid Dynamics), include an address and daytime telephone num- Department, American Physical Society, One Corporate Secretary Manuela Campanelli (Division of Gravitational ber. APS reserves the right to select and to edit Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844. Jeanette Russo, American Physical Society Physics), John Fourkas (Division of Laser Science), * Voting Members of the APS Board of Directors for length and clarity. All correspondence re- Peter Schiffer (Division of Materials Physics), garding APS News should be directed to: Editor, Coden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132 May 2021 • 3

MEETINGS MEETINGS 2021 PhysTEC Conference: Programming Matter to do a Computer's Job Teacher Training Online BY SOPHIA CHEN BY LEAH POFFENBERGER ost computers perform he 2020 PhysTEC confer- tasks by propagating ence, held in Denver last M electronic signals on T March, had the unique dis- silicon chips. But researchers are tinction of being the last in-person currently pursuing different com- APS meeting. This year, the 2021 puting frameworks, some inspired PhysTEC Conference went online, by biological systems, that could bringing together over 100 attendees offer advantages in robotics or from PhysTEC sites across the biomedical applications. Many of country. The two-day meeting, these new frameworks make use of held on March 5 and 6, was packed programmable matter—materials with sessions on a variety of topics designed to change their properties affecting physics teacher educa- in response to varied inputs. This tion, as well as opportunities for year’s virtual APS March Meeting Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed an electrical attendees to connect and share nothing short of exceptional and included several talks on develop- circuit that learned to identify different kinds of iris flowers. CREDIT: SAM DILLAVOU their own ideas and experiences. really helped the whole conference ments in programmable matter. PhysTEC, a partnership between be as good as it was.” The term “programmable triggers. One 2015 demonstration same initial values. Dillavou applied APS and the American Association Highlights of the 2021 PhysTEC matter” was coined in 1991 by from the Massachusetts Institute the same voltage to each circuit but of Physics Teachers (AAPT), began conference included two plenary physicist Norman Margolus and of Technology involved a self-as- biased one of them to produce a in 2001, with a goal of addressing a panels—one on strategies for computer scientist Tommaso sembling origami robot that could voltage output closer to the desired critical shortage of qualified physics inclusive teaching and another Toffoli. Margolus and Toffoli used also self-destruct: a sheet that value. By comparing the power teachers in the United States. Over on new online teaching strate- the phrase to describe CAM-8, a folded up into a tiny shape to move dissipation of the two circuits, both 300 institutions across the US have gies for physics education—the cellular automata machine they’d around, carry loads, and dissolve circuits adjust their resistors to joined PhysTEC, displaying a dedi- PhysTEC Teacher of the Year Award designed that can be thought of itself in acetone. produce the desired voltage. cation to promoting physics teacher Presentation, and breakout sessions as an array of pixels. Algorithms At the 2021 March Meeting, post- Dillavou demonstrated that preparedness. The PhysTEC con- on a number of topics, from NSF for this machine made use of the doctoral researcher Sam Dillavou this circuit could perform a simple ference represents an important funding opportunities to creating pixels’ spatial arrangement, and of the University of Pennsylvania machine learning task using a his- opportunity to bring together rep- inclusive culture with learning each cell or pixel had specific rules described an electrical circuit torical dataset of measurements of resentatives from PhysTEC sites to assistants. for interacting with the others. that “learned” to adjust its own 150 iris flowers. Given four dimen- discuss the state of physics teacher “Many people said how great Research suggested this type of resistance to produce a desired sional measurements of an iris, the education, learn about resources and [the conference] was and how much machine could efficiently simulate voltage output without top-down circuit learned to produce a voltage techniques for improving education they stuck around for discussions, fluid flow and chemical reactions. instruction. that indicated which of three types programs, and provide feedback on which is pretty remarkable for an Over the last three decades, the The system, which relied on a of iris the measurements came the state of the PhysTEC program. online conference when everyone term has now evolved to describe theoretical framework by postdoc- from. The circuit first learned the “We were able to put together a is tired of being online,” said David materials that can change their toral researcher Menachem Stern correct classification for 30 iris really good program,” says Annelise physical properties—shape, elas- of University of Pennsylvania, used Roti Roti, PhysTEC Coordinator. ticity, or electrical properties, to two identical circuits with variable “Everyone who came to speak was PHYSTEC CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 name a few—based on prearranged resistors that were both set to the MATTER CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS KAVLI CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Commentary: Staying the Course in Science Policy “entering a new era” of simulation, can solve problems related to a Advocacy during COVID which could lead to discoveries in huge volume of data available in BY RAJU PRASAD GHIMIRE condensed matter and quantum the study of quantum emergence. information. Generative modeling According to Kim, different types of ast year proved to be an and APS International Affairs on a has the potential to increase our machine learning can provide new extremely difficult year for survey of international students’ understanding of the complexity insights into complex discoveries or people around the world for concerns regarding visa and immi- of quantum simulation. accelerate discovery by processing L Girvan followed up, with a talk huge amounts of data in a short myriad reasons, including a global gration policies. The survey revealed health pandemic that has negatively that 32% of international students on more uses for machine learning period of time. impacted millions of lives and led who chose not to come to the US technology titled “Opening the To close the Kavli Symposium, to a struggling economy, as well as believe the country is “unwelcoming black box: Improving knowl- Preskill provided an overview of racial unrest following the death to foreigners.” Unfortunately, those edge-free machine learning with the field of quantum informa- of George Floyd and other Black revelations don’t bode well for many knowledge-based models.” In her tion science in his talk “Quantum Americans. And sadly, anti-Asian academic institutions that are con- work, Girvan combines artificial Computing: current status and racist crimes are also on the rise. fronting decreased enrollments intelligence and machine learning future prospects.” He discussed These are tough, but necessary among international students. I approaches with mathematical the potential strengths of quantum issues to deal with, and I understand was elated, however, to help support modeling, with the goal of pre- computing, the difficulties involved that they will not be immediately APS GA’s efforts to advocate for dicting complex, chaotic systems with developing quantum systems, solved. Still, I choose to remain international students by writing to such as the weather, and stochastic and current quantum devices that systems with randomness, such as are producing interesting results. hopeful about the future. And one my members of Congress in support Raju Prasad Ghimire way I plan to make a difference of visa and immigration policy the stock market. Using a subset According to Preskill, the field is by remaining active in science changes designed to help the United of machine learning called reser- is currently in the noisy inter- vaccines offer hope—a virtue that voir computing and incorporating mediate-scale quantum (NISQ) policy to enable my voice and many States attract and retain talented attracted me to America. Hope was others to be heard on crucial issues international STEM students. “knowledge”—such as standard era, which is suited for scien- also instilled within me as I grew rules of physics—into a hybrid tific exploration, but experiences that are important to the physics Besides grappling with policies up in the small town of Damak, community. that didn’t help them, international scheme, Girvan showed good limited computational power due to Nepal: I am a proud, first-gener- predictions of complex weather noise limits. Quantum researchers In 2017, I got involved in science students, just like the rest of the ation college student. But I don’t policy by volunteering with the APS world, had to deal with COVID-19, systems. are now setting their sights on just care about my own success. Kim discussed ways to harness moving from NISQ to fault-tolerant Forum for Early Career Scientists which sent their lives into a tailspin. I want everyone to succeed, and (FECS). As a secretary/treasurer of Students experienced disruptions machine learning for the under- quantum computers, which will that’s why I started an international standing of quantum emergence. In exponentially scale up the number FECS, I participated in both the APS to research programs, struggled high school in my hometown with Annual Leadership Meeting and financially to make ends meet, and order to develop theoretical insight of physical qubits but will also a focus on scientific education. In from complex experimental data, have direct applications to physics, APS Congressional Visit Day for confronted physical and mental 2015, I came to America with the two consecutive years. During those health crises. To do my part to or to make predictions based on chemistry, materials science, and hope of broadening my knowledge this theoretical insight, Kim has more. events, I learned that members of help with these issues, I was eager by obtaining a PhD in science and Congress are eager to hear from to lend my voice to a campaign worked with several groups using engineering. machine learning tools in various scientists whose technical expertise that APS GA sponsored to enable Three years later, I earned The Kavli Special Symposium is made ways, such as hypothesis testing to possible by The Kavli Foundation. To plays important roles in shaping graduate students and postdocs to my master’s degree in electrical better understand quantum matter. view the symposium, visit youtube. federal policy. In 2019, I joined the continue to receive compensation engineering at South Dakota State Approaches like neural networks com/watch?v=0EpW1dfq5Ws. APS Forum on Graduate Student from federal grants during the University. Currently, I’m working Affairs (FGSA), serving as secretary pandemic. I’m also grateful to my on my PhD in nanoscience and and mainly focusing on helping advisor Mehran Tehrani for his microsystem engineering through international students. unending support throughout such a collaboration with the University Specifically, that fall, I was a difficult time. Read online instrumental in working with Although the world continues APS Government Affairs (APS GA) to deal with the pandemic, new POLICY CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 aps.org/apsnews 4 • May 2021

FIVE SIGMA CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

He added, “This past year, I should do in response to requests to return to their home countries was involved in important con- from (APS GA) to help physicists' if they could not attend in-person gressional advocacy on behalf of voices be heard in the legislative and classes during the pandemic. the coalition, and perhaps more policymaking process,” she said. “This order would have disrupted significantly, took on the responsi- McNeil recalled sending a letter the educational paths of hundreds bility of building a bridge between to Congress supporting interna- of physics students and the research the coalition and the American tional students who faced having of many of our members. Harvard Nuclear Society (i.e. primarily the their F-1 visas revoked if they did and MIT sued for an injunction, and nuclear energy community). That not take in-person classes during over a single weekend, we quickly work resulted in a well-attended the pandemic. drafted our own amicus brief in ANS-sponsored webinar on the “At the time, I had two foreign support, and then organized 16 history and lingering threat of nationals graduate, leave my lab, other societies, including AAAS and nuclear weapons pegged to the and go to jobs where they are now OSA to join us,” recalled Bucksbaum, occasion of the 50th anniversary making important contributions who is the Marguerite Blake Wilbur of the nonproliferation.” to our country’s scientific and Professor in Natural Science at Michael Sobel, Pawel Kozlowski, technological enterprise. I wanted Stanford University, with appoint- and Grant Meadors, also members to make sure that policymakers ments in physics, applied physics, of the coalition, received the Five understood how vital these kinds and photon science at SLAC. Sigma Physicist Award for their of students are to our nation’s He continued, “Briefs were also work in supporting similar advocacy success,” McNeil explained. submitted by hundreds of colleges initiatives that were conveyed to She pointed out that every and universities, and the net result staff representing US Sen. Kirsten APS member can make difference was that the government capitulated Gillibrand (D-NY) and US Sen. in advocacy efforts “simply by entirely. I was watching online in Martin Heinrich (D-NM). responding to requests to send the Zoom spectator gallery of the APS members John Chernega, messages to Congress and federal federal district courtroom in Boston Laurie McNeil, and Juan Gallardo agencies.” when the government abandoned participated in numerous grassroots “The benefit from our communal the case, and it was an exciting and campaigns last year. Their actions effort far outweighs the very minor memorable moment. This shows included advocating for: COVID-19 cost in time, especially since APS the importance of an organization relief for researchers, ending sexual staff provide everything one needs to act quickly. It also shows that harassment in STEM, and protecting to communicate effectively,” such actions by individual citizens the Optional Practical Training McNeil said. working together can truly make Program. Chernega took 22 actions “I feel highly honored to be rec- a difference. Here was APS at its during nine campaigns. Gallardo ognized for advocacy work,” said finest, and I treasure the feeling took 22 actions during eight cam- APS Past President Phil Bucksbaum, of pride in the organization that I paigns, and McNeil took 16 actions who was active in numerous ini- felt at that moment.” (top left to bottom right) Phil Bucksbaum, Paul Campbell, John Chernega, Tracy during eight campaigns. tiatives last year. “I also think it is APS GA is thrilled to honor Edwards, Juan Gallardo, Mark Haynes, Pawel Kozlowski, Laurie McNeil, Grant McNeil, the Bernard Gray important that APS has this kind Society members who have gone Meadors, Andrea Richard, Stephen Schiff, and Michael Sobel Distinguished Professor in the of recognition because advocacy the extra mile to let their voices Department of Physics & Astronomy for physics helps the whole science be heard on matters impacting the at the University of North Carolina research community.” US scientific enterprise. physics community,” said Mark To learn more about APS GA’s advo- at Chapel Hill, was “surprised” to Bucksbaum was instrumental “We greatly appreciate the time Elsesser, Director of APS GA. “Our cacy campaigns and take action on find out that she had been selected in pushing back against the Trump that thousands of APS members take Five Sigma Physicist awardees are them, check out its Action Center. for the Five Sigma Physicist Award. Administration’s order that would out of their busy schedules each year exemplars of science advocacy, and “It seems to me that I have just have forced international students to add their voices to help advance we’re elated to be able to highlight The author is APS Senior Press Secretary been doing what every APS member currently living in the United States policies that are important to the their efforts with this award.” in the Office of External Affairs.

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QUANTUM Key Science Budget Gavels Change Hands in Congress A Physical Review journal BY ADRIA SCHWARBER

he changeover in Congress (R-TN), a leading advocate for DOE’s following last year’s election research programs and national labs T has brought new faces to who retired in January. DOE does some key roles on the House and not have a large research footprint Senate Appropriations Committees, in Kennedy’s state, in contrast to Submissions are now open for PRX Quantum, APS’ highly selective, open access journal featuring quantum information science and which are responsible for drafting those of Alexander and Feinstein. technology research with an emphasis on lasting and profound impact. the federal discretionary budget. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) has The two committees each divide replaced Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) the work among 12 mirror-image as top Democrat on the Defense Aside from the switchover subcommittees, about half of which Subcommittee, which is respon- in party control, leadership is “ The “PRX” in the journal’s title signifies are together responsible for the sible for the Defense Department’s the very highest editorial standards unchanged for the Senate subcom- lion’s share of science funding. expansive research, development, with the visibility of open access. PRX mittees that have jurisdiction over The most notable change that has test, and evaluation portfolio. Sen. Quantum will showcase the very best the budgets of the National Institutes occurred is that the Senate panels Richard Shelby (R-AL) returns as of quantum information science and of Health, NASA, National Science are now controlled by Democrats the top Republican on both the technology, providing a welcoming Foundation, National Oceanic and for the first time in six years, and subcommittee and the full com- home for the most exciting research from Atmospheric Administration, and Stephen Bartlett the party has taken unified control mittee, though he has announced University of Sydney our multidisciplinary community. ” National Institute of Standards and Lead Editor over the congressional agenda for he will not seek reelection in 2022. Technology. PRX Quantum the first time in a decade. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) is Both Sens. Jeanne Shaheen With the power shift in the the new chair of the Interior- (D-NH) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) Senate, Sen. Dianne Feinstein Environment Subcommittee, which Submit your research today. journals.aps.org/prxquantum return to lead the Commerce- (D-CA) has moved from ranking is responsible for the budgets of the Justice-Science Subcommittee, APS pays Article Publication Charges (APCs) until 2022 member to chair of the Energy- Environmental Protection Agency which is responsible for NASA, Water Subcommittee, which handles and US Geological Survey, taking NSF, NOAA, and NIST. Likewise, the Department of Energy’s budget. over as top Democrat from retired Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) is the Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM). Sen. Lisa PUBLISHED BY THE Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) are holding subcommittee’s new top Republican, Murkowski (R-AK) returns as the AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY @PRX_Quantum replacing Sen. Lamar Alexander subcommittee’s top Republican. FYI CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 May 2021 • 5

MATTER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 ASHCROFT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 examples. It could then classify the Berry studies networks of rigid random: its disorder is inspired by “What is the simplest model, the written something like that in other 120 flowers with 95 percent rods connected by joints—similar to the arrangement of atoms in glass. spherical cow model, that physi- chemistry.” accuracy. In effect, the circuit per- K’nex, the children’s toy—and how Pashine engineers each metama- cists could do? Have a solid state Though Ashcroft was a “pen formed “supervised learning”—a forces travel through the network. terial to respond to force in a specific material with a sea of electrons that and paper” theorist, he was also common method in artificial intel- In particular, she is developing a way. If you pull at one site on the do not interact with each other,” instrumental to the development ligence today in which a computer mechanical analog of a transistor. metamaterial, the force propagates said José Menéndez a physicist of density functional theory (DFT), learns to identify a cat after being This is an area of the network that through the material to induce a at Arizona State University. “The according to his former graduate shown many labeled photos of cats. lets force propagate only under a desired motion on the other end. approach is so logical and so student, Jeff Neaton, a physicist at In addition, the circuit still specified condition, like a switch. It’s like if opening someone’s front physical … I really do think that Lawrence Berkeley National Lab worked when they damaged it. In theory, you can connect these door caused a window to shut on it’s one of the best physics books and the University of California, Dillavou cut wires in the circuit, mechanical transistors to form the other side of the house, Pashine ever written.” Berkeley. and after additional training, it was mechanical logic gates, although describes. Mermin attributes the success to “He viewed DFT as like a canvas still able to generate the specified Berry says these are still experi- Typically, researchers use repeated revisions and collaboration of sorts,” Neaton said. “I think he voltage. While the system is far less mentally difficult to build. simulations to design their meta- between himself and Ashcroft. showed the community how to use complex than a brain, Dillavou says A mechanical computer based materials, which fail to capture the “I would write something that I DFT to explore specific realizations it is “more reminiscent of a bio- on these jointed rods would also complexity of real-world mate- could understand and send it back of physics he was interested in.” logical system than, say, someone be far less complex than a regular rials. Pashine came up with an to Neil. Neil would then correct all In 1999, Neaton and Ashcroft used sawing an iPhone in half.” computer, but it could offer advan- experiment-based algorithm that the mistakes I had made and send it DFT to make the first prediction Future versions of this circuit tages for specific applications. Berry avoids the limitations of simula- back to me. Every chapter went back that lithium under high pressure could be useful for a remotely con- names potential biomedical appli- tions. In her method, she designs and forth several times,” he said. would behave strangely, pairing up trolled planetary rover, Dillavou cations inside of a patient’s body her network to respond correctly by “Neil approached it more almost as like diatomic hydrogen molecules. and Stern say. “You can just put it where “you don't want electronics, removing links in the network based a chemist than as a physicist, in the “I feel like he was a role model wherever it needs to go and then and you don't need crazy processing on measurements of the stresses sense that he was deeply interested who showcased what science should train it in situ to respond to the power,” she says. in the metamaterial. in materials he was talking about. be and how it should operate,” signals,” said Stern. In addition, Nidhi Pashine designs and Pashine says that “pruning” I approached it more as a mathe- said Gaston. Ashcroft was espe- if part of the system gets smashed studies metamaterials that mimic a random network to create a matician, in that I was interested cially attuned to making younger while deployed on another planet, a protein mechanism known as metamaterial also offers design in the structure of the theory. I researchers feel comfortable and it could still work. allosteric regulation. In allosteric advantages compared to designing think one of the reasons the book by all accounts, was extremely At the meeting, Michelle Berry, regulation, a molecule binds to a the network from the ground up. has been so successful is that we generous with his time. a fourth-year PhD student at site on a protein, often changing “It's much easier if you start with managed to combine those two very As an undergraduate in Sri Syracuse University, presented the protein’s shape and allowing something random and then modify different perspectives.” Lanka, Dias was stuck on a problem theoretical research on a mechan- another site on the protein to become it,” she says. Roald Hoffmann, a Nobel- in Ashcroft and Mermin, so he decided ical computer. Such a device would active. “This site [becomes] capable winning chemist at Cornell whom to send an inquiry straight to the execute logic like a conventional of undergoing a chemical reaction Ashcroft collaborated with toward source. “I really did not expect to get Video recordings of these and other computer but with physical forces that it couldn’t do before,” says programmable matter presentations the end of his career also praised a reply,” he said. “Sure enough, he instead of electrical signals. For Pashine, who recently received her will be available on the meeting the book. replied, and he walked me through example, the device could be PhD from the University of Chicago. website (march.aps.org) until June “Ashcroft and Mermin has a the mistakes.” designed to sense a force in its Pashine’s metamaterials, made 19, 2021. certain style and verve to it, aside surroundings, which could initiate of rubber, form a net composed of from the pedagogically very clear The author is a freelance writer based subsequent motion to allow the polygons resembling a spider web. The author is a freelance science orientation,” he said. “It's very in Bellport, New York. device to execute some task. This arrangement of polygons is writer based in Columbus, Ohio. important to me, and I wish I had

PHYSTEC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 POLICY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

May, PhysTEC program manager. To facilitate the kinds of interac- space for faculty to discuss the topic of New Mexico and the University of APS members to be successful in “People really seemed to like the tive discussions that might usually in their own context to get some Texas at Austin. My research project our advocacy efforts. For example, lightning sessions—one was on take place at a PhysTEC conference, really good ideas to take home. focuses on advanced electrical during Congressional Visits Day successful strategies from PhysTEC most of the non-plenary sessions Goal number two is that, assuming conductors, and the overarching (CVD), the APS GA staff trained sites and the other on [Get the Facts were designed as interactive folks take notes, we ask them to goal is to develop ultra-conductive volunteers using video sessions; Out] recruiting resources. Each workshops, making use of Zoom share those notes to improve the materials to alleviate energy losses developed one-pager issue briefs talk was five to seven minutes to breakout rooms for small group PhysTEC program.” in electrical transmission and con- to ensure members of Congress share ideas.” discussions. A discussion room Although networking and other version. Further, my work involves understood the policy issues we The most impactful session of was also available in Gather.town aspects of in-person meetings are understanding materials science. As were advocating for; and provided the PhysTEC conference, which for “talk-outs,” time set aside after still difficult to replicate in an online I think about why most Americans opportunities for volunteers to moved quite a few attendees to sessions for attendees to gather and space, post-conference surveys should care about my research, I share experiences during debriefing tears, was the presentation of the share their conference experiences. indicate that the online PhysTEC would tell them that it could lead sessions that followed our meetings 2020 National Teacher of the Year Table topic discussions, a new event conference was a hit. to more efficient electrical devices on Capitol Hill. Don’t hesitate to let award to Bouakham Sriri-Perez, from the 2020 PhysTEC conference “This is the best online con- and vehicles. your voices be heard on the issues from Duncan Polytechnical High that gave attendees a chance to sit ference I have attended—well Speaking up about the impor- that matter most to our community. School in Fresno, CA. In a brief, down together and discuss specific organized, clear communication, tance of research is a key part of If you are unable to participate but emotion-filled talk, Sriri-Perez topics from the conference, was transparent navigation,” said one advocacy for me. I realize that not in CVD or similar APS activities, described her path, from spending also replicated in Gather.Town on attendee. “It's still not as much fun every person is an expert in science, you can still make a difference by her childhood in a refugee camp the final day of the conference. as an in-person conference, but it's and I do not take it lightly that visiting APS GA’s Action Center to to becoming a decorated physics “For table talks, we provide a set of the closest I've experienced. Very taxpayer dollars are funding my start your advocacy journey. teacher. “What does this award topics with a topic at each table… worthwhile, and I'm glad I came.” research. Therefore, it is crucial mean [to me]? This is a win for essentially, you get people in the that I not only advocate for research Raju Ghimire, former Secretary (2019- teachers, for refugees and immi- room, and give them the topics to funding, but I must also be willing For more about the PhysTEC program 2020) of the APS Forum on Graduate grants, and an opportunity to share discuss with their peers,” said Roti visit phystec.org. to tell members of Congress, my Student Affairs, is working on his PhD my journey,” she said. Roti. “The goals are to provide a neighbor, and anybody else who is in nanoscience and microsystem engi- interested why science is important. neering through a collaboration with I can’t underscore enough how the University of New Mexico and the helpful the APS GA staff have been University of Texas at Austin. in preparing me and so many other APS Fellowship Now Accepting Nominations

APS Fellowship is a distinct honor signifying recognition by one’s professional peers. Boost your grad school application, job Please consider nominating colleagues who have made exceptional contributions to the search, career exploration, and more. physics enterprise. Sign up at Deadlines through Spring & Summer info.aps.org/shape-up Serving a diverse and inclusive community of physicists worldwide is a primary goal for APS. Nominations of women and members of underrepresented minority groups are especially encouraged. Learn More: go.aps.org/fellowship 6 • May 2021

DATA SCIENCE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 FYI CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

I sharpened my skills on pharma- skill sets; that makes it very easy chemical, engineering, statistics, their spots atop the subcommittee free of the constraints set by the ceutical product development and for me to take on the role as data clinical, medical, IT, regulatory, responsible for NIH, though Blunt Budget Control Act of 2011, which also gained insight into the entire scientist. A physics education has etc.). This is both fascinating and has announced he will not seek expired last year. However, they still drug development process. I then also equipped me with quantitative challenging at the same time. reelection in 2022. must agree on an overall budget for pivoted to digital health devel- thinking skills that are different Justifying myself for a new task, On the House side, Rep. Rosa the year, which is then divided up opment, in which I now leverage from that of colleagues with a sta- or a new role, calls for not only an DeLauro (D-CT) is now chair of between the 12 subcommittees, and data analytics skill sets that were tistics or engineering background, educational background (as my the Appropriations Committee Republicans will retain influence gained in my physics education. which has added unique value to education background lends little following the retirement of Rep. over these figures unless Senate Dan: What is a typical day like my work. insight to my skill sets), but also Nita Lowey (D-NY) and is also Democrats modify the filibuster. for you as a data scientist? Dan: What advice would give extra steps to generate evidence continuing as chair of the subcom- The topline budget level will bear Jie: My role is to lead testing of someone who is interested in for my capability. I think passion is mittee for NIH. Rep. Kay Granger significantly on the prospects for digital technologies, from exper- pursuing a career in data science? key in overcoming such challenges (R-TX) remains the top Republican science agency budget increases, imentation to data analysis, in Jie: Data science is an inter- and staying on course in terms of appropriator and all the Republican though separate infrastructure hope of generating new insights disciplinary field that combines career development. I have been subcommittee leaders with science legislation could provide additional into patients’ disease experience. programming, math, and statistics, incredibly fortunate to be able to portfolios have kept their spots. funding through the same process To achieve this goal, I may take on with domain knowledge in various work on problems that I am truly With the retirement of Rep. Democrats used in March to cir- various roles throughout the day application fields. The domain passionate about, which I believe is José Serrano (D-NY), Rep. Matt cumvent the filibuster and pass as needed: as a program manager, knowledge (of your preferred a great energy source for my career. Cartwright (D-PA) is now chair a $1.9 trillion pandemic recovery a platform builder, an algorithm industry sector) is an anchor for a of the Commerce-Justice-Science package. developer, or a scientific mentor. successful data science career, and Subcommittee. Rep. Betty McCollum On a technical front, I help build one would need to demonstrate a (D-MN) has switched to chairing The author is a Science Policy Analyst certain level of fluency and interest About Merck: data flow and employ various cloud- the Defense Subcommittee from for FYI. based tools to collect, transform, in such domains. Such knowledge • Merck & Co. is a $48 billion chairing the Interior-Environment and analyze sensor-derived data. I could be new to physics students, global biopharmaceutical Subcommittee, which is now led by spend my nerdy moments chewing though, as physics by itself is not company that was founded Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME). Rep. Published by the American Institute of Physics since 1989, FYI is a trusted on ML/DL algorithms and dis- an application-centric discipline. If 130 years ago. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) remains chair source of science policy news that is cussing them with the team. Most you are interested in moving away of the Energy-Water Subcommittee. • The company has focused read by congressional staff, federal often, these are highly cross-func- from academia, I suggest exploring Notably, for the first time on developing and bringing agency heads, and leading figures in tional and collaborative efforts and the various industry sectors as early in a decade the Appropriations the scientific community. Sign up for to market medicines and wouldn’t succeed without good as possible to find the one(s) that Committee leaders will be operating free FYI emails at aip.org/fyi. vaccines for many of the project management. I also spend fits your interest and build up your world’s most devastating a good part of my time serving as a knowledge accordingly. diseases. program manager and coordinating Dan: What are some challenges efforts among various internal and you have encountered in your career • Merck employs cutting-edge external colleagues. and how did you overcome them? data science to innovate new CORONAVIRUS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Dan: How did your background Jie: In my personal experience, ways of communicating, in physics prepare you for your I have navigated a career that is measuring, and interacting could be useful in airports, schools, infection. PT-PCR, ELISA, and other career as a data scientist? very different from my physics in the development of new communities, and sports stadiums.” methods of testing for COVID-19 Jie: My physics background has background, and my daily tasks pharmaceuticals. With funding from NSF’s Rapid rely on expensive chemicals and set up a firm foundation for me constantly call for learning new Response Research program, non-portable lab equipment. with coding and data analytics disciplines (e.g., fields such as Yacamán’s lab has been employing “[SERS] is a technique that only a technique called surface-en- uses physics, no chemicals except hanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) nanoparticles, which are incredibly to identify what are essentially viral cheap to produce,” said Yacamán. fingerprints: Raman spectra unique Raman spectroscopy works in to individual viruses, based on their part by measuring the inelastic HISTORY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 molecular makeup. Using samples scattering of photons, known as the obtained from NAU’s Pathogen and Raman effect—named for physi- as efficiently as it serves good. Upon University in the UK created a new Further Reading: Microbiome Institute, Yacamán’s cist C.V. Raman who observed the you, therefore, rests the responsi- type of aerogel inspired by dragonfly Ayers, M. The Pioneer: Samuel Kistler. team observed a signal completely phenomenon in 1928 and won a bility for moral and ethical use of wings, which have the same porous, Berkeley: E.O. Lawrence Berkeley unique to the SARs-CoV-2 virus. The Nobel prize for his discovery in technology.” layered structure of an aerogel. National Laboratory, May 2000. presence of a COVID-19 infection 1930. The signal given off by the He died on November 6, 1975, When dragonflies emerge from could be established by matching Raman effect can be very weak, in Salt Lake City, just before the larval stage, their wings are Kistler, S. S. (1931) “Coherent Expanded a Raman spectrum from a sample but in SERS, substrates containing aerogels experienced a resurgence wet and gel-like, but the insects Aerogels and Jellies,” Nature 127: 741. against SARs-CoV-2’s established nanoparticles that interact with the of interest, thanks to the devel- produce bicarbonate molecules fingerprint. “We are now totally surface proteins of a virus, such as opment of a safer, more efficient which release CO , blowing out Han. X. et al. (2018) “Bioinspired syn- 2 convinced that we can identify the SARs-CoV-2’s spike proteins, act manufacturing method by French all the moisture. The Newcastle thesis of monolithic and layered virus,” said Yacamán. like antennas for a stronger signal. scientists in the 1980. team figured out how to mimic this aerogels,” Advanced Materials In addition to the novel coro- While employment of SERS as Aerogels continue to fascinate process using bicarbonate of soda, 30: 23. navirus, Yacamán’s team has used a COVID-19 testing technique isn’t scientists as a material. For instance, instead of using high temperatures the same technique to identify yet possible due to the need for in 2018, researchers at Newcastle and pressures to dry the silica. the fingerprints of other viruses, clinical studies, Yacamán expects including other coronaviruses. The such studies would yield prom- cov-NL63 virus, which causes a ising results: similar studies to respiratory illness that shares some test the efficacy of SERS to detect symptoms with COVID-19, produced breast cancer showed sensitivity a very different Raman spectrum. of 92 percent and specificity of 96 This ability to differentiate between percent, and he believes tests of LECTURESHIP AWARDS diseases caused by different viruses, SERS for COVID-19 would produce Supports visits that enable seminars including between COVID-19 and similar numbers. The next step, Fundamental Physics Innovation AWARDS & exchanges of ideas the flu, has the potential to be an says Yacamán, is partnering with an important diagnostic tool. institution like a university hospital, VISITOR AWARDS “It’s frustrating when I go to to start testing this technology. Supports extended visits between the doctor and they say you have a In a panel following his scientific researchers to learn, develop, & share virus…which virus?” said Yacamán talk at the March Meeting, Yacamán techniques or scientific approaches “In the future [we could] have more discussed how, as a physicist, he YOUR LAST CHANCE TO APPLY of these tests to rapidly distinguish became involved with trying to solve Final Cycle Deadline: July 15 CONVENING AWARDS between viruses and get a good the practical, medical problem of go.aps.org/apsmoore Supports scientific meetings to generate diagnosis.” COVID-19 testing. or build on ideas within the community Employing SERS as a method “I learned [during my postdoc] of testing for COVID-19 can help that when you work on problems eliminate some of the balancing act related to real problems people have, between cost, speed, and accuracy in industry or medicine, then your that impacts traditional testing scientific impact is much bigger. At methods. The current gold-stan- the same time, those problems are dard test for COVID-19 infection, much more difficult because they’re Correction the RT-PCR (reverse transcription real problems—You can’t make polymerase chain reaction) test simple assumptions,” Yacamán In the article “Effective Practices for Physics Programs Guide Makes its Debut,” which appeared in typically takes at least two days said. In a message to students, he the February 2021 issue of APS News, the Strategic Programs for Innovations in Undergraduate Physics to produce results. Newer testing adds “if you work in important, (SPIN-UP) report was erroneously referred to as the “APS SPIN-UP Report.” The report, which was not methods, like ELISAs (enzyme applied problems, the physics is an APS project, was run by the National Task Force for Undergraduate Physics. SPIN-UP was published linked immunosorbent assays), can more complex, but the results have by the American Association of Physics Teachers, with support from the ExxonMobil Foundation, the provide faster results, but sacrifice more impact.” American Institute of Physics, and APS. reliability, especially early in an May 2021 • 7

BACKPAGE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 brilliance among Black scientists over and over again, your reason for Mathematics Program. Reviewing and subsequently as a manager plating, if not enacting, sweeping can be interpreted as arrogance. being. [4] his homework assignments, I and leader in the scientific field policies to modify policing practices Isabel Wilkerson describes these The ultimate outcome I found in recognized immediately the mis- has been enormously satisfying. and to embrace diversity in all its rules as “a subconscious code of studying the annual review process alignment and intervened to get I have personally been fortunate dimensions. instructions for maintaining a 400- was, for white scientists, the usual him properly placed at his school. enough to have had a great many I’m, of course, mindful of the year-old social order” [3]. normal distribution. Black scien- He wound up getting a degree in physicist friends and colleagues exhilarating hopefulness we expe- Over the years, I’ve often tists, on the other hand, exhibited a mathematics at Swarthmore College of all ethnic backgrounds—Black, rienced in 1964 and 1965 following been called upon to investigate distinctively bifurcated distribution, when he was 19 years old, solved a white, Latinx, Asian, and others— the passage of the Civil Rights specific issues of diversity at a with one mean at the low end of famous unsolved problem in number faculty members, peers, leaders in Act and the Voting Rights Act, a variety of technology based or the overall distribution and the theory while a graduate student, and the scientific community, university hopefulness seen also following research-intensive corporations other mean at the very high end. is now a professor of mathematics administrators, and board members the Emancipation Proclamation and institutions: hiring practices, After much sifting of the data, and Provost at a major university. to thank for their unbridled support (and, in Texas, Juneteenth), during performance evaluation fairness, enhanced by personal interviews This experience begs the question: and confidence as I traversed my Reconstruction, following the promotion outcomes, incidences with managers, it became clear how many exceptionally capable career. But my personal history 13th, 14th, 15th, 19th, 24th, and of overt discrimination, cultural that the Black scientist who did not young Black boys who don’t have notwithstanding, systemic barriers 26th Amendments to the US biases, etc. One detailed longitu- quickly get anointed as a super- a parent proficient in mathematics remain, and those barriers intercept Constitution, following Great dinal study of an annual review star entered a rapidly spiraling get inappropriately channeled out success from K-12 through college, Migration, following the Brown v. process uncovered particularly decline. The non-superstar Black of the possibility of a scientific graduate school and the workplace. Board of Education Supreme Court interesting insights. It’s worth scientist did not get well supported career very early because of race- Those barriers have prevented the decision, and following the election noting that the specific compa- financially and otherwise, did not based decisions? physics community from making of Barack Obama. I’m mindful that ny’s process was, on the surface, get opportunities to work on high As aspiring Black physi- any meaningful progress in the each of the joyful moments was exceptionally rigorous, objective, profile, high visibility projects, did cists progress through college fifty years since the end of legal followed by a feverish backlash by and fair. The contributions of each not get access to leadership in the and graduate school and into an segregation. “conservatives” to reclaim the prior member of the scientific staff was company. Settling in the middle of academic career, they are typically To be clear, the goal is equi- conditions, severely moderating the discussed in detail with input from the rankings was not a possibility. immersed in a community that has table—not preferential—treatment. anticipated progress. The relentless, a range of managers beyond the no other Blacks. Their career paths I’ve often heard the argument from persistent, cyclical history not- Academia direct supervision. An immediate are wholly reliant on those from white colleagues: “Why should my withstanding, I am going to allow observation was that there was Access to a physics career begins other ethnic groups to judge their neighbor’s family get any special myself to believe that the current a marked difference in the first well before college with consid- work equitably without prejudice. acknowledgement for being Black? generation is more enlightened projects approved or assigned to erably greater preparation and But faculty members, peers, uni- They live in a nice house, their and, through modern technology, the new Black scientist relative prerequisite courses than for most versity leaders are subject to the earnings are equivalent to mine, more informed, than those of the to peers with virtually identical other disciplines. For the typical same conscious and unconscious they have all the same privi- past. I’m going to allow myself at academic backgrounds, reflecting Black precollege student in this biases found among corporate leges that my family has.” What this moment in the great American a clear difference in expectations country, this presents a considerable managers. They too are bereft of this argument misses is that, in experiment, to exult in a hopeful or level of confidence. access barrier. It is well known that understanding of the history of the this country, skin color trumps optimism for the future of our The conduct of science is inher- public schools in Black communities Black experience in America and socio-economic status. Even as nation. I’m going to allow myself to ently collaborative, but ignoring typically are woefully deficient in of white privilege. They too could a college president, I was never believe that we in the physics com- the possibility of overt racism, science and mathematics. In the benefit from the kinds of educa- immune to the external racist forces munity will seize this moment of there is an enduring discom- small proportion of high schools tional experiences and training that are deeply ingrained in our heightened consciousness to lower fort interacting across ethnic in those communities that offer necessary to become “antiracist.” society. When driving with my three the barriers to access and reduce boundaries. Consequently, white college preparatory mathematics Being an antiracist demands more sons, we became four Black men in the impediments to career advance- managers, perhaps unconsciously, and science courses, those who than intellectual acceptance of a car, automatically seen by police ment for African Americans. With were often not forthcoming in teach them frequently do not have abstract principles of social justice, and, in certain neighborhoods, by an honest commitment to change, communicating crucial informa- even the minimum qualifications equity, and equal opportunity. It residents, as suspicious, there for I know that we can finally begin tion to Black scientists. Beyond to carry out their assignments. demands proactive behaviors that nefarious purposes. I will invari- to make progress towards genuine inhibiting the work, this substan- Looking at the pipeline from a expunge deeply ingrained racist ably be pulled over, and usually equity in physics. We can recapture tially impacted the extent to which broad perspective, we can incon- behaviors and proactive refutation not politely. We are ordered to get the 19th century promise we saw in those scientists acquired knowl- trovertibly assume that among of white privilege. out of the car and put our hands Edward Bouchet’s achievements. edge of the company’s unwritten the approximately two million on the roof while they approach rules, strategic objectives, policies, African Americans in underper- with weapons drawn. I venture a The author is President Emeritus, The and practices. Supervisors, too, forming high schools there are guess that not many of my fellow Cooper Union for the Advancement of were less candid in communicating thousands of students who would college presidents who are white Science and Art. This essay is adapted performance rankings, whether have exceptional potential, if only …the very serious function have suffered such indignities or, from the Fall 2020 Newsletter of the positive or negative. Informal given the necessary educational of racism is distraction. indeed, as we all have come to APS Forum on the History of Physics. mentoring was less available to the opportunity. NACME programs realize now, serious risks of bodily The Introduction is adapted and It keeps you from doing your updated from G. Campbell Jr., “United Black scientist. While risk-taking during the 1990s developed highly harm, including death. States Demographics” and “Critical and creativity are nurtured in a work. It keeps you explaining, successful methods for identi- In the wake of the George Floyd Issues,” essays in Access Denied: Race, healthy scientific culture, risk fying those high potential students, over and over again, your reason murder, it has often been suggested Ethnicity and the Scientific Enterprise, aversion is almost necessary for ignoring traditional measures. We for being. [4] that the mushrooming examples eds. G. Campbell Jr., R. Denes and C. Black scientists to survive. The know, for example, that measures, of police brutality and aggression Morrison, Oxford University Press, evidence demonstrates that, for such as standardized tests, are are recent phenomena due to the 2000. them, deviation from the norm is artificial, largely reflective of increased militarization of urban Notes and References less acceptable by their managers, family income and educational police forces or the presence of a and a failed project is virtually experience. The programs also few “bad apples.” The truth is that 1. Ronald E. Mickens. “Bouchet and Conclusions impossible to overcome. demonstrated that intervention, the only thing that is recent is the Imes: First Black Physicists,” in Later in the Black scientists’ exposing these students to exciting On a personal level, as a Black undeniable evidence resulting from A. M. Johnson, ed., Proceedings career, whatever exceptional per- ideas in physics, providing intense physicist who has had what might the presence of cell phone cameras, of the 12th Annual Meeting and 16th Day of Scientific Lectures of formance and expertise they have accelerated college preparation retrospectively look like an enviable CCTV, and other video sources. the National Society of Black Phys- achieved, when entering a new in the mathematics and science career, I have been asked what I The inequities are deeply rooted icists, pp. 1-14, National Society of environment, a new organiza- “gatekeeper courses” can overcome could possibly have to complain in our culture; the violence against Black Physicists, 1989. tion, they must over and over again the gaps in their earlier educational about. Life is difficult. Everyone has Blacks is systemic in police culture 2. See, for example, Vivian Hunt, Dennis re-earn the reputation, the respect experience. Adequate financial problems of one sort or another. The and always has been. Even Black Layton, and Sara Prince. “Why and acknowledgement even of com- support for college is also essen- truth is that the opportunities that police officers are indoctrinated diversity matters,” McKinsey & Co., petency that routinely accrues to tial. The NACME program that I’ve had—getting a great education into that culture. January 2015; or J.J. DiStefano and high achieving scientists of other took on students with triple digit in physics; then in the 1970s and However, as the unequivocal M.L. Maznevski, Effective manage- ethnicities. As a manager or leader, combined SAT scores and marginal 1980s, working at what was then evidence of white privilege and ment of diversity: A theoretical climbing the career ladder, Black GPAs produced graduates from top one of the world’s premiere research systemic mistreatment of Black model with empirical evidence. scientists encounter the, often ranked engineering colleges with and development enterprises; in people have recently emerged, there Presented at the American Asso- ciation for the Advancement of unconscious, psychological resis- 3.5 to 4.0 GPAs. the 1990s, closely collaborating appears to be a renewed vigor to Science Annual Meeting, 1994. tance to his or her leadership. This Throughout the academic with the CEOs and other senior right the wrongs in this country leads to behaviors that undermine pipeline, from precollege student executives of the nation’s most with respect to race. Many young 3. Isabel Wilkerson. “America’s Enduring or outright sabotage their decisions through professional academic prominent technology-based cor- whites are accepting the evidence Racial Caste System,” The New and their success. The Black scientist careers, Blacks have experiences porations and research entities and acknowledging the reality of York Times Magazine, July 5, 2020 is subjected to the invisibility and similar to those discussed above in to formulate policies to advance white privilege. While some efforts 4. Toni Morrison, “A Humanistic View.” ever present microaggressions that corporations. Assumptions about the equity agenda; then ascending that appear responsive to a moral Speech delivered at Portland State are well-documented throughout academic potential are made about to the highest level in academia, imperative are merely commercial University, May 30, 1975. the literature on race relations. A students based on the color of their as president for eleven years of ventures to advance a profit agenda, quote from Toni Morrison captures skin. At a prestigious private school, The Cooper Union, then one of there has been an unprecedented one consequence of racism on the in eighth grade, my oldest son was the nation’s top three specialized commitment of philanthropy professional: placed in the lowest level math- colleges—have been all I could and other capital investments to …the very serious function ematics course offered, despite have dreamed of growing up as reduce the economic inequities in of racism is distraction. having been selected through a Black male under segregated our systems. Various government It keeps you from doing your national competition for the conditions in the 1950s and early entities, corporations and other work. It keeps you explaining, prestigious Johns Hopkins Gifted 1960s. My career as a physicist pillars of our society are contem- 8 • May 2021 THE BACK PAGE A Black Life in Physics BY GEORGE CAMPBELL JR.

n 1876, Edward Bouchet received a PhD in physics from overt racial attitudes and learned instinctive assumptions Yale University. Just two years earlier, he had gradu- and behaviors toward Black people. I ated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, also from Most white managers came into the program with little Yale, with a bachelor’s degree in physics. His remarkable or no experience interacting with African Americans either academic success and substantial early contributions to socially or professionally, without having ever given much research as a graduate student suggested a promising future thought to racial issues and largely ignorant of America’s in physics. Except for one thing. Edward Bouchet was Black. history of oppressive treatment of African Americans. Bouchet’s doctorate was, in fact, the first-ever PhD awarded This was not surprising. Very few Americans then and to an African American by an American university in any now were well educated with respect to the history of the field. Initially intent on a research career after graduation, African American experience in the United States. It remains Bouchet could find a job only at the Institute for Colored virtually impossible to this day to find a public or private Youth in Philadelphia. At the pinnacle of his career, his school K-12 curriculum that includes more than a perfunc- last job, he served as principal of a high school in Ohio [1]. tory mention of slavery or any mention whatsoever of its The tragic story of Edward Bouchet’s life is not a surprise successor policies and outcomes—Jim Crow laws legalizing to anyone familiar with American history. It is, nevertheless, segregation, de facto legalized lynching, voter suppression, noteworthy that physics was the first profession to allow mass incarceration, economic inequities, wealth disparities penetration of the previously impervious barrier to educa- and daily mistreatment, racial discrimination and systemic tion for Black people. This was just before the dawn of the police brutality against African Americans. Few, if any, had twentieth century when the development of relativity and any inkling of how different the Black experience is from quantum mechanics, fundamental breakthroughs in physics, other ethnic groups in the United States. created an authentic Kuhnian paradigm shift. Physicists I’m reminded of a conversation I had with a senior executive in this emerging era of enlightenment were steeped in the of AT&T in the 1970s, during my time at Bell Laboratories. I pursuit of objective truth. It might, therefore, have been recounted a then-recent experience with the police, when natural at that time to anticipate a leadership role for physics two officers accosted me on my front lawn, with guns George Campbell Jr. in breaking down the irrational, obsessive American practice in my face. I was apparently “suspicious” to them while CREDIT: COOPER UNION of racial exclusion. immersed in and tending to my shrubs. The executive’s It was not to be. In fact, a half century later, the decidedly honest and understandably incredulous reply was, “Surely unscientific voice of William Shockley, a Bell Labs physicist in 2017, the number of PhDs awarded to African Americans you weren’t concerned for your safety in the moment. After who had shared the Nobel Prize for the invention of the in the US was 14 out of 2,000, the identical proportion as all, they were police officers holding the guns!” For him, it transistor, used his prestigious, highly visible platform to in the 1970s. We have made virtually no progress toward was unfathomable that a police officer might have posed a promote a thinly veiled hypothesis of white supremacy. racial inclusiveness over the last half century. We have danger to an innocent person. This had to be an example of From the day that Bouchet received his PhD almost a full not embraced the considerable talents, creative energy, a simple mistake that had nothing to do with race, a “single century would go by—coincidentally, until the time I was in and abilities underrepresented and underdeveloped in the isolated incidence.” graduate school—before the doors to an advanced physics field. Rectifying this historical pattern would substantially Beyond the anecdotal, it would have been rare for any of degree and to a career in physics would slowly begin to enhance and enrich scientific advancement in this country. the Bell Labs managers to encounter any rigorous histor- creak open. While I was a graduate student, the average Resounding studies have shown that diverse groups of ical academic treatment of these matters. In any case, the annual number of physics doctorates received by African professionals devoid of racial hang-ups working in collab- managers universally rejected responsibility for America’s Americans in the United States was seven out of a total of oration have considerably higher performance potential history of oppressive policies. After all, they had taken no about 1,000 awarded. During the more than 40 years since, than heterogeneous groups [2]. part in slavery, in lynching or other such practices. Up to considerable resources spent by private philanthropy, the Over the course of my career at one time or another, I that point, they had undergone no conscious intellectual National Science Foundation, the National Academies, have been intensely engaged with the entire educational engagement with the benefits of what we now call white Congress and others have been devoted to improving access pipeline. I have worked both in academia and industry, and privilege, which the Urban Minorities Workshop brought to education and careers in science for minorities. Most of in what follows, I will share some of the insights I have to the fore. Led by three young Black urban professionals, the resources were distributed to a multitude of colleges, gained into what strategies are effective in eliminating the program was raw, hard-hitting, contentious, dissonant. universities, and a cottage industry of minority programs. impediments to education and career advancement in the Black managers, too, were not spared confrontation in the The undertakings have been piecemeal, uncoordinated, sciences for African Americans. Workshop. They, too, were prodded over lifestyles that incoherent; and no one entity has ever had enough resources afforded them, at least in part, those privileges conferred The Corporate Sector to move the needle alone. by economic class not available to the majority of African A substantial fraction of the finances was dedicated to During my early physics career at Bell Laboratories, Americans. conducting studies aimed at determining the best strategies I suggested to a colleague, another distinguished Nobel After several years, there had developed a critical mass and corrective measures, deciphering what the data tells Laureate—not of the Shockley disposition, but a very of white managers who had been outraged by the Urban us, uncovering what works and what doesn’t. There now thoughtful physicist who cared about issues of equity—that Minorities Workshop experience, and who petitioned the have been enough studies to populate a moderately sized the company should be putting a greater effort into identi- company to eliminate it. They felt ambushed, coerced, library. I have frequently suggested to funding sources that fying, recruiting, and hiring Black physicists. His very sincere abused, and belittled in the program. To some extent that current resources would better serve the goal of equity if response was, “Anybody in the country who is capable of was part of the design—to expose them briefly to the igno- they were devoted to taking action based on knowledge doing what we do here at Bell Labs is bound to eventually minies that are all too common for Black people. Admittedly, we have already accumulated. In the annals of education come to our attention, so we don’t have to go out beating the a less caustic, more amiable approach may have found research we have copious examples of successful practices and bushes.” What he was missing was that the opportunities greater acceptance. However, the managers’ rebellion was strategies to overcome the gaps in educational opportunities for young Black scientists to demonstrate their capabilities also consistent with a long-standing American pattern of and professional development of minorities. NACME, Inc., both as students and as professionals were extremely limited resistance to the nation’s history with respect to race, a the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, as a consequence of the still-prevalent social structures resistance to change. Ultimately, under threat of legal action, which I had the honor of leading during the 1990s, is a non- encumbered by racial bias. To be fair, Bell Laboratories did the company capitulated and abandoned the Workshop. profit organization that began at the National Academy of have among the nation’s most successful scholarship and Nevertheless, throughout the corporate sector, the need Engineering in 1971 to address the underrepresentation of fellowship programs in the sciences—essentially growing remained for a rigorous program to educate the workforce minorities in engineering. It was funded by a coalition of our own—and at one time employed almost one half of all about the history of racism and their own, perhaps passive, private philanthropy, led by the Sloan Foundation and the Black PhD physicists in the United States. Equally important, role in its perpetuation. nation’s largest technology-intensive corporations. Its board Bell Labs was a pioneer in developing and delivering inno- In a broader context, for scientists—or indeed any pro- was comprised of Chief Executive Officers of those corpo- vative, hard-hitting programs to educate managers about fessional—to flourish, whether in corporate America or in rations, several university presidents and president of the cultural and structural biases inherited from centuries of academia, it’s important to know the unwritten, often socially National Academy of Engineering. Over the years, NACME ill treatment of Black people. constructed, rules and processes that underpin success. And conducted several financial studies, yielding compelling One such program that began in the 1970s was called for Black scientists, it’s important to understand that the recommendations and outlining the amount of financial pro- the Urban Minorities Workshop. After going through a rules are different for them relative to their white peers, in grammatic resources required to achieve equity. Collective developmental phase, the top executives at Bell Labs went much the same way that the criminal justice system works funding from all sources to all relevant programs has never through the Workshop and decided to make it a requirement differently for Blacks relative to white citizens. The pre- reached more than 20 percent of what was recommended. for all new managers. The one-week Workshop thoroughly sumption of innocence does not work the same way. Mistakes Of course, with a serious commitment to the mission, the immersed participants in the Black experience. There were are weighed more heavily. Forgiveness is nonexistent. Just founding organizations could easily have fully supported tours of depressed Black neighborhoods in Newark, NJ and as decisiveness among women can be regarded as vitriolic, the effort. visits with civil rights and other community organizations. While in some disciplines, there has been measurable, More importantly, the Workshop confronted participants though marginal progress, the bottom line in physics is that with their conscious and unconscious biases, latent and BACKPAGE CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

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