August/September 2011 Volume 20, No.8 TM www.aps.org/publications/apsnews

APS NEWS Remembering Jack Marburger A Publication of the American Physical Society • www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/index.cfm see page 4

Members Elect Beasley to the APS Presidential Line APS Protests Iranian Jailing In the Society-wide elections, dent Barry Barish of Caltech will and Sciences. Beasley retired in which ended on June 30, APS remain on the APS Council and 2010, but stayed on as an emeri- Of UT Austin Physics Student members elected Malcolm R. Executive Board as past-President. tus professor and continues his re- APS’s Committee on Interna- “Mr. Kokabee has no training “Mac” Beasley of Stanford Uni- Beasley has been at Stanford search. tional Freedom of Scientists is- in nuclear physics, is not politi- versity as the next vice-President. since 1974 when he moved there Beasley’s research has been sued a letter calling on the Grand cally active, and is not associated As the newest member of the pres- from Harvard. While at Stanford primarily focused on supercon- Ayatollah of Iran to release an with any political movement in idential line, Beasley will become he was appointed the Sidney and ductivity. He is most well known imprisoned physics student. The Iran. Rather his primary concerns APS President in 2014. Theodore Rosenberg Professor of for determining that the Kosterlitz- committee believes that he has were his science studies in the The members also voted for Applied Physics, helped establish Thouless-Berezinskii theory of committed no crime, and his ar- field of optics. This area of phys- Annick Suzor-Weiner, of the two-dimensional phase transitions rest will discourage future scien- ics has essentially no overlap with French Embassy, to be the interna- plays a role in superconductors. tific collaboration. nuclear technology,” the letter tional councilor, and Keivan Stas- Currently he is focused on improv- Omid Kokabee, a first-year read, adding that they believe the sun of Vanderbilt University to be ing and finding new high tempera- graduate student at the University arrest came as a misunderstanding general councilor. In addition Sal- ture superconductors. of Texas at Austin, and an APS of his science. ly Dawson was elected vice-chair “I really had not imagined be- member, has been imprisoned in Kokabee had returned to Iran of the nominating committee, and ing in this position and am obvi- Iran since January or February during winter break to visit his will become chair of the commit- ously honored,” Beasley said, and is currently awaiting trial. For family. When he stopped respond- tee in 2013. “Looking down the list of past the first month of his arrest he was ing to emails, officials at the uni- Beasley will assume his office presidents is sobering. I also think held in solitary confinement. He versity started getting concerned. in January of next year, replac- it is a very interesting time to help has been jailed in Evin prison in At first, word came through an ac- ing Michael Turner of the Kavli lead organizations like the APS. northwest Tehran, where the Ira- quaintance who also hailed from Institute for Cosmological Phys- As I said in my statement, really nian government holds many of Iran that he had had an accident its political prisoners. The gov- in Iran and wouldn’t be return- ics at The University of Chicago, Malcolm R. Beasley fundamental change is all around who becomes President-elect. This us. This makes being part of the ernment of Iran is accusing him ing the following semester. Later year’s President-elect, Robert Byer the Geballe Laboratory for Ad- APS leadership at this time par- of leaking Iranian nuclear secrets the same acquaintance revealed of Stanford, will assume the office vanced Materials and served as ticularly interesting and important. to the United States, accepting “il- that he had in fact been arrested. of President, and current Presi- dean of the School of Humanities legal earnings” and “communicat- BEASLEY continued on page 6 ing with a hostile government.” IRANIAN continued on page 6 AIP Releases Complete Goudsmit Papers Online NSF Task Force Fields Comments The complete papers of Samuel with George Uhlenbeck proposed Goudsmit retired from Brookhav- A. Goudsmit (1902-1978) have the concept of electron spin. He en in 1970 and from his editorial On Broader Impacts Criterion been digitally scanned and are helped set up the celebrated Mich- duties in 1974. By Michael Lucibella weighs such issues as whether now available for free download igan Summer School in Theoreti- The compilation of documents A recently announced review of the proposal would promote edu- from the Niels Bohr Library & Ar- cal Physics at the University of spans his career from 1920 through the National Science Foundation’s cation, broaden the participation chives of the American Institute of Michigan, before moving to MIT his retirement. It includes drafts grant process has reignited discus- of underrepresented groups in Physics (AIP). The trove of docu- during World War II to help devel- of his scientific papers, recovered sion about whether it should award science, enhance scientific infra- ments will offer historians and op radar. Towards the end of the scientific memos and documents grants based solely on scientific structure, improve scientific un- the public an unprecedented look war, he was named scientific chief from the Third Reich, academic merit or whether it should weigh derstanding or otherwise benefit at one of the twentieth century’s of the allied Alsos project, which notes and correspondences. Goud- societal issues as well. society in some way. most notable physicists. sought to determine how close the smit was a meticulous record- NSF receives about 45,000 The Broader Impacts criterion, “It’s our most popular collec- Germans got to developing their keeper, often retaining copies of funding requests each year, of introduced in 1997 and renewed tion in our archives,” said Melanie own atomic bomb. his own outgoing letters. The col- which about 11,500 are successful. in 2007, has been controversial Mueller, the assistant director of After the war, Goudsmit took lection includes correspondences Each proposal is evaluated based within the scientific community. the digitization project. She added the position of senior scientist at with such luminary physicists as on two main criteria. The first is In early spring of 2010 the Na- also that the wide diversity of sub- the newly established Brookhaven Enrico Fermi, Albert Einstein, Intellectual Merit, which looks at tional Science Board, the over- jects that Goudsmit touched on in National Laboratory. In 1950 he Max Born and Werner Heisenberg. the proposal’s potential to advance sight body of NSF, announced that his career makes it so sought after. also became the editor of Physi- Many of the documents are in Ger- knowledge in a given field. The a task force would be reviewing “It’s a really good snapshot of his cal Review and helped propel the man because of his work as head second and more controversial cri- the criteria for awarding grants. It really diverse career.” journal to the forefront of physics of the Alsos mission. terion is Broader Impacts, which NSF continued on page 5 Goudsmit first made his mark publications. In 1966, he became The primary purpose of the on physics in 1925 when he along the first editor in chief of the APS. PAPERS continued on page 5 Selling Like Hotcakes DOE Weighs Its Options for Underground Lab By Michael Lucibella Board, the NSF unexpectedly mulling over how to move for- A now defunct gold and silver pulled out of the project, citing ward and build the three biggest mine in South Dakota was all set concerns over the cost and their physics experiments planned for to host a next generation under- broad role in running the lab. This the mine. ground science lab until the Na- halted the project, and the Depart- The biggest hurdle facing the tional Science Foundation backed ment of Energy had to go back to facility, now officially known as out. The Department of Energy is the drawing board and rethink its Sanford Underground Research working to save the biggest phys- plans for the site. Facility at Homestake, is that of ics experiments, but because of The original plan for the Deep funding. According to a recent re- the uncertain nature of future bud- Underground Science and En- port by the Department of Energy gets, it is unclear how much will gineering Laboratory, known as that reviewed the proposed experi- ultimately be built. DUSEL, featured a massive mul- ments, the total cost for the facility The DOE and the NSF had tidisciplinary lab at multiple levels would likely come to around two planned to jointly build and oper- in the mine. In addition to phys- billion dollars. Photo by Nick Hammer/University of Maryland ics, the lab would have had fa- The three experiments the DOE ate the expansive underground lab Rebecca Thompson, head of public outreach at APS, hands out a free set of in the Homestake mine in Lead, cilities for biological, geological is still considering would probe comic books to passers-by during preview night at the 2011 Comic-Con Inter- South Dakota. In December, fol- and structural engineering experi- some of the most fundamental national comic book convention in San Diego, Calif. Over five days, the public ments. That comprehensive vision questions about the makeup of the outreach team gave out around 7,000 sets of physics-based comic books to lowing a directive from its over- conference attendees. sight body, the National Science is essentially dead. The DOE is DOE continued on page 7 2 • August/September 2011 APS NEWS

Members This Month in Physics History in the Media August 15, 1758: Death of Pierre Bouguer “Of course we know those sec- July 3, 2011. hotometry is a staple of astronomical techniques, Johann Heinrich Lambert cited Bougeur’s essays in tors are correlated anyway.” Pparticularly when determining the luminosity of one of his own papers in his treatise Photometria, H. Eugene Stanley, Boston “By pouring paint in this con- certain celestial objects, such as variable stars, mi- published in 1760, and it has been mis-attributed as University, on using random-ma- tinuous jet fashion or by dripping nor planets, active galactic nuclei, and supernovae. Lambert’s original work. And in 1852, August Beer trix theory to predict the ups and it, he incorporated physics into the The so-called “father of photometry” was Pierre extended this exponential absorption law to incor- downs of the stock market, The process of painting itself.” Bouguer, an 18th century French mathematician, porate the concentration of solutions in the absorp- Wall Street Journal, June 21, 2011 Andrzej Herczynski, Boston astronomer and geophysicist, who made some of tion coefficient. . College, on artist Jackson Pol- the earliest recorded measurements in photometry. There are very specific prerequisites for Bougu- “The most exciting thing that lock, MSNBC.com, July 3, 2011. Bouguer’s father was Jean Bouguer, a well- er’s law to be applicable. For instance, the absorbing has a good chance of happening known hydrographer who authored a seminal trea- medium must be homogenous and must not scatter is to discover particles of dark “On Friday, scientists from the tise on navigation. Pierre was born in 1698, and it radiation. Ideally the incident radiation should be matter, which we know makes up LHC presented their current re- soon became apparent that he not only inherited his monochromatic, or at the very least have a band- five-sixths of the matter of the uni- sults on the search for the Higgs father’s scientific gifts, but also was a bit of a prod- width narrower than that of the absorbing medium. verse. It’s not any of the particles boson at an international confer- igy. He had attained such a mastery in mathematics And that same incident radiation must consist of described by the standard model. ence in Grenoble, France. While and hydrography by the age of 15, when his father parallel rays traveling the same length within the We can imagine various possibili- there is no discovery yet, it is clear died suddenly, that the teenager chosen medium. ties of what it might be, and many its existence will either be proven was appointed to succeed his fa- When combined with the in- of those possibilities are things or disproven in the near future.” ther in his professorship at Croisic verse square law, such photomet- that would be created at the Large Paul Padley, Rice University, in Brittany. ric measurements can be used Hadron Collider.” The Houston Chronicle online, Like his father before him, to determine the luminosity of a Steven Weinberg, University of July 23, 2011. Pierre Bouguer primarily applied celestial object, provided the dis- Texas at Austin, Bloomberg, June his mathematical talents to ques- tance is already known, or can be 28, 2011. tions of navigation, writing exten- inferred. Bouguer’s law can also “No reputable scientist is go- sively on ship design, maneuvers, be used to describe the attenua- ing to tell you anything more than “You can get images and maps and navigation, including the deri- tion of solar radiation as it passes ‘this is very, very interesting and that you overlay . . . and by doing vation of a formula for calculating through the atmosphere, and to we’ll keep an eye on it.’ But it is that you start to re-create the com- a measure of ship stability known analyze polymer degradation and indeed very, very interesting.” position of what is left from the as the metacentric radius. In fact, oxidation in infrared spectros- Donald Lincoln, Fermilab, on original animals.” he beat out Leonhard Euler for the Jean Bouguer copy. Uwe Bergmann, SLAC, on us- new data from the LHC that hints Grand Prix awarded by the French As impressive as Bouguer’s ing a particle accelerator to figure the Higgs boson would be found Academy of Sciences for his pa- work on photometry might be, out the color of fossilized birds at around 140 GeV, MSNBC.com, per “On the Masting of Ships.” it was his ten-year expedition and possibly dinosaurs,The Phila- July 25, 2011. He went on to win the Grand to Peru with Charles Marie de delphia Inquirer, July 1, 2011. Prix twice more, for papers on la Condamine to measure the “That immediately gives you a observing variations (magnetic length of a degree of meridian at “I’ve always tried to make time interval between the first two declination) of a compass, and the equator that brought him the physics come alive for my stu- attacks…You take that, put it into the altitude of stars, at sea. And in most contemporary fame. Along dents... I believe it’s much more the equation and it gives you an 1746, he published the first trea- with another scientist, Louis Go- important for them to remember estimate.” tise specifically devoted to naval din, they set sail in April 1935 the beauty of the discoveries than Neil Johnson, University of architecture, Traite du Navire, Diagram illustrating absorption of light and soon began to bicker, with to focus on the complicated math Miami, describing how his method earning him the moniker “the fa- according to the Bouguer-Lambert Bouguer and la Condamine even- –after all, most of them aren’t go- can take the timing of two terrorist ther of naval architecture.” law. tually going their separate ways ing to become physicists.” attacks and predict when the next Bouguer brought the same analytical skills to and taking a different route than Goudin to their Walter Lewin, MIT, from his might occur, National Public Ra- bear on his hobbies, one of which was photometry: destination. new book For the Love of Physics, dio, July 31, 2011. the measurement of light in terms of its perceived Even then, relations between the two remaining brightness to the human eye. On November 23, scientists were hardly smooth sailing. Six years in, 1725, he performed an experiment to compare the Bouguer had the gall to point out a small error in the News from the Journals apparent brightness of the moon to a candle flame, measurement they had made jointly the year before. hypothesizing that the human eye could detect He suggested they recheck their results. La Conda- lents for tables, figures, and equa- APS Redefines Length whether two objects were the same brightness, even mine balked at this, and he, too, split with Bouguer. tions).” In July, APS revised its system if it makes a rather poor light meter. With similar All three of the scientists who set out together re- Details of the new scheme are for calculating the length of a pa- methods, he concluded that the sun’s light was a turned home by different routes. In 1749, Bouguer available online at http://publish. per, no longer using the printed good 300 times as intense as that of the moon. published a full account of the expedition in La Fig- aps.org/authors/length-guide. page as a standard unit. In an Bouguer published a specific formula for relating ure de la Terre: Determinee par les Observations de editorial published on the APS PRX Publishes First Papers the absorption of light to the properties of whatever Messieurs. Journals website, Editor in Chief In early August, APS’s new medium through which the light is propagating in He invented a heliometer, and his name is also Gene Sprouse said “Technologi- online-only open-access journal, his 1729 paper., “Essay on the Gradation of Light.” associated with a meteorological phenomenon cal changes have moved publish- Physical Review X, published its Bouguer’s Law states that “In a medium of uniform sometimes called “Bouguer’s halo,” more colloqui- ing to electronic-first publication first five papers. In keeping with transparency the light remaining in a collimated ally known as a “fog bow.” It occurs when the sun where the print version has been the broad scope of the new jour- beam is an exponential function of the length of the breaks through the fog on a mountain, for example, relegated to simply another dis- nal, the subject matter ranged path in the medium.” For example, shine green la- forming a faint ring of light. (It is also known as play mode...Therefore, in an ef- from theoretical AMO physics ser light through a solution of Rhodamine 6B, and Ulloa’s halo, after the Spanish explorer Antonio de fort to streamline the calculation to experimental applied physics/ the beam intensity will become weaker as it passes Ulloa.) of length, the APS journals will pharmaceutical research. More through solution. Bouguer died in Paris on August 15, 1758, but he no longer use the printed page as information about PRX, includ- It is sometimes called Beer’s Law, the Bouguer- left his mark not only on the law for absorption of the determining factor for length. ing submission guidelines and Lambert law, or Lambert’s law of absorption, due to light, but also on craters on the moon and Mars, two Instead the journals will now use instructions, can be found at prx. confusion over attribution in the scientific literature. of which are named in his honor. word counts (or word equiva- aps.org

Series II, Vol. 20, No. 08 and, if possible, include a mailing label from a recent is- General Councillors ADVISORS August/September 2011 sue. Requests from subscribers for missing issues will be Marcela Carena*, Haiyan Gao, Marta Dark McNeese, Representatives from Other Societies honored without charge only if received within 6 months Katherine Freese*, Nergis Mavalvala*, Warren Mori, APS NEWS © 2011 The American Physical Society Fred Dylla, AIP; David R. Sokoloff, AAPT of the issue’s actual date of publication. Periodical Post- Pierre Meystre, Jorge Pullin* age Paid at College Park, MD and at additional mailing International Councillor International Advisors Coden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132 offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to APS News, Belita Koiler Louis Felipe Rodriguez Jorge, Mexican Physical Society; Membership Department, American Physical Society, Editor•...... Alan Chodos Henry van Driel, Canadian Association of Physicists One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844. Chair, Nominating Committee Staff Science Writer ...... Michael Lucibella Steven Girvin Staff Representatives Art Director and Special Publications Manager...... Kerry G. Johnson APS COUNCIL 2011 Design and Production...... Nancy Bennett-Karasik Chair, Panel on Public Affairs Alan Chodos, Associate Executive Officer; Amy Flatten Proofreader...... Edward Lee President Venkatesh Narayamurti Director of International Affairs; Ted Hodapp, Director Barry C. Barish*, Caltech Division, Forum and Section Councillors of Education and Diversity; Michael Lubell, Director, Public Affairs; Dan Kulp, Editorial Director; Christine APS News (ISSN: 1058-8132) is published 11X yearly, Subscriptions: APS News is an on-membership publi- Neil Cornish (Astrophysics), Thomas Gallagher (Atomic, Giaccone, Director, Journal Operations; Michael monthly, except the August/September issue, by the cation delivered by Periodical Mail. Members residing President-Elect Molecular & Optical Physics), Mark Reeves (Biologi- Stephens, Controller and Assistant Treasurer American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, Col- abroad may receive airfreight delivery for a fee of $15. Robert L. Byer*, Stanford University cal), Nancy Levinger* (Chemical), Arthur Epstein (Con- lege Park, MD 20740-3844, (301) 209-3200. It contains Nonmembers: Subscription rates are available at http:// densed Matter Physics), David Landau (Computational), Administrator for Governing Committees news of the Society and of its Divisions, Topical Groups, librarians.aps.org/institutional.html. Vice-President James Wallace (Fluid Dynamics), Gay Stewart* (Forum Ken Cole Sections, and Forums; advance information on meetings Michael S. Turner*, University of Chicago on Education), Amber Stuver*, (Forum on Graduate of the Society; and reports to the Society by its commit- Subscription orders, renewals and address changes Student Affairs), Michael Riordan (Forum on History of tees and task forces, as well as opinions. should be addressed as follows: For APS Members– Executive Officer Physics), Stefan Zolner* (Forum on Industrial and Ap- * Members of the APS Executive Board Membership Department, American Physical Society, Kate P. Kirby*, Harvard-Smithsonian (retired) plied Physics), Herman Winick (Forum on International Letters to the editor are welcomed from the member- One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844, Physics), Philip “Bo” Hammer (Forum on Physics and ship. Letters must be signed and should include an ad- [email protected]. Treasurer/Publisher Society), Anthony Johnson (Laser Science), Ted Einstein dress and daytime telephone number. The APS reserves For Nonmembers–Circulation and Fulfillment Divi- Joseph W. Serene*, Georgetown University (Emeritus) (Materials), David McIntyre (Northwest Section), Wick the right to select and to edit for length or clarity. All cor- sion, American Institute of Physics, Suite 1NO1, 2 Editor-in-Chief Haxton (Nuclear), Marjorie Corcoran (Particles & respondence regarding APS News should be directed to: Huntington Quadrangle, Melville, NY 11747-4502. Gene D. Sprouse*, Stony Brook University (on leave) Fields), John Galayda (Physics of Beams), Vincent Chan Editor, APS News, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, Allow at least 6 weeks advance notice. For address (Plasma), Scott Milner (Polymer Physics), Bruce Barrett Past-President MD 20740-3844, E-mail: [email protected]. changes, please send both the old and new addresses, (4 Corners Section) Curtis G. Callan, Jr.*, Princeton University APS NEWS August/September 2011 • 3

Washington Dispatch East Coast, West Coast A bimonthly update from the APS Office of Public Affairs

ISSUE: Budget and Authorization Environment Fiscal Year 2012 Appropriations As of the deadline for APS News, the House of Representatives had passed the Energy and Water Development (E&W) bill that funds DOE and completed full committee action on the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) bill that funds NSF, NIST, and NASA. A summary of key elements of the action follows.

• E&W Appropriations bill (HR 2354): On July 15th the House passed H.R. 2354 by a vote of 219 (209 R, 10 D), to 196 (21 R, 175 D), providing $24.7B for DOE (-$850M relative to FY11), including $4.8B for the Office ofS cience (-$43M); $1.3B for Energy Efficiency andR enewable Energy [EERE] (-$491M); $733M for Nuclear Energy [NE] (+$8M); $477M for Fossil Energy (+$32M); $180M for ARPA-E (+$0); $10.6B for National Nuclear Security Administration [NNSA] (+$76M); and $4.9B for Defense Environmental Cleanup (-$42M). Rep. Holt D-NJ 12th) offered an amendment that would have restored the $43M cut from the Office of Science. The amendment failed, as did a series of amendments offered by Rep. McClintock (R- CA 4th) that would have stripped all funding from EERE and ARPA-E and reduced the Office of Science appropriation by an additional $820M. • During the Appropriations Committee markup and subsequently during floor consideration, Rep. Schiff Photo courtesy of Scripps Institution of Oceanography/UC San Diego (D-CA 29th) offered an amendment shifting $10M from NE to NNSA in order to restart production of Pu- 238 for NASA’s deep space probes. It failed both times. The issue has emerged several times during the last three years because Pu-238 is in very short supply. It was originally produced as a byproduct of the nuclear weapons program and more recently obtained from excess Russian supplies. Neither source currently exists, and if the NNSA production program is not re-started, NASA will be unable to conduct future deep-space exploration. The issue is jurisdictional: the E&W chair and ranking member both argue the funding responsibility is entirely NASA’s rather than equally shared by NNSA and NASA, as the White House argues. • The E&W Subcommittee report also contains language of concern: (1) It cautions DOE against undertaking construction and management of the proposed Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) in South Dakota, although it provides $19M to keep the mine from flooding; (2) It also directs Basic Energy Sciences to create, “a performance ranking of all ongoing multi-year research projects…by comparing current performance with original project goals” and directs DOE to eliminate $25M by terminating the lowest ranked grants based solely on that criterion. • CJS Appropriations bill (No bill number assigned): The House Appropriations Committee passed the CJS bill by voice vote on July 13th, providing $4.5B for NASA Science (-$431M); $701M for NIST (-$49M) and $6.9B for NSF (+$0). Within the NSF total, relative to FY11 the bill would increase Research and Related Activities by $43M, decrease Education and Human Resources by $26M and decrease Major Research Equipment Facilities and Construction by $17M. • Of greatest concern to the science community should be the elimination of funding for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the highest priority for astronomy and astrophysics. Rep. Wolf (R-VA 10th), chair of the House CJS Appropriations Subcommittee, alleged that NASA had “been hiding costs” Photo courtesy of Benjamin Bederson associated with the telescope and cited an escalated $7.8B cost estimate provided by the Government Accountability Office. He also claimed that NASA had rushed its planning. In response, Sen. Mikulski In May and June, APS presented two plaques as part of its historic sites initia- tive. The one in May honored the Davisson-Germer experiment, performed (D-MD), chair of the Senate CJS Appropriations Subcommittee, reaffirmed her support for the JWST in 1927 at the then site of Bell Labs in lower Manhattan; and the one in June project, stating, “The Webb Telescope will lead to the kind of innovation and discovery that have made recognized the Keeling Curve describing the rise of carbon dioxide in the America great. It will inspire America’s next generation of scientists and innovators that will have the atmosphere, research that was done by Charles David Keeling at the Scripps new ideas that lead to the new jobs in our new economy. The Administration must step in and fight for Institution of Oceanography in San Diego. the James Webb Telescope.” Money for JWST could be restored at a later stage in the budget process, by either the full House or the Senate. In the top photo, the plaque at the Scripps Institution is admired by (l to r) Chair of the APS Historic Sites Committee Ben Bederson, Director of the Thus far, the Senate has begun debate on only one appropriations bill: Military Construction. It is not expected Scripps Institution Tony Haymet, and APS President Barry Barish. In the bot- tom photo, APS Past President Curtis Callan (left) and President of Bell Labs to address the other eleven bills until after Congress returns from its August recess, virtually assuring a Jeong Kim prepare to unveil the Davisson-Germer plaque (see inset). The st Continuing Resolution to take effect when the new fiscal year begins on October 1 . former site of Bell Labs is now the Westbeth Artists Housing community, the largest artists' residency community in the world. Be sure to check the APS Washington Office’s Blog, Physics Frontline (http://physicsfrontline.aps.org/), for the latest news on the FY12 Budgets. More information on the APS Historic Sites Initiative is available online at http://www.aps.org/programs/outreach/history/historicsites/ . ISSUE: POPA A new Subcommittee on International Collaboration was proposed at the Panel’s last meeting. The subcommittee would focus on including an international perspective on the many issues discussed within Women Take Less Advanced Physics POPA. Opportunities to partner with other scientific societies in the global policy arena would be sought in High School, Study Finds out. The Subcommittee on Energy & Environment is more fully researching a proposal for an educational component associated with the Direct Air Capture Technology Assessment. The Subcommittee on National A recent study found that while of Calculus BC tests, 46 percent Security will provide a full proposal for a workshop on issues related to nuclear weapons treaties at the female representation in high of chemistry, 48 percent of Calcu- Panel’s next meeting. school physics classes has almost lus AB, and 51 percent of statistics reached parity with males overall, tests are taken by girls. Of the AP Since early May 2011 there has been considerable activity associated with the Energy Critical Elements girls still remain underrepresented courses surveyed, only computer report; the study chair, Dr. Robert Jaffe, has presented the results of the study at Congressional hearings and in advanced physics courses. The science had lower rates of female in briefings with non-governmental organizations (see story and picture in the July APS News). American Institute of Physics re- participation than physics. Over- leased a study in early July that all, girls make up 54 percent of If you have suggestions for a POPA study, please send in your ideas electronically at http://www.aps.org/ policy/reports/popa-reports/suggestions/index.cfm. showed that significant disparities test-takers across all AP tests. between the sexes persist in AP The report found also that ISSUE: Media Update course enrollment. girls were less likely than boys The Kane County Chronicle (IL), a local newspaper that covers Rep. Randy Hultgren’s district, published a Between 1987 and 1997 the to take the AP test even if they story on June 3rd about his introduction of the Energy Critical Elements Advancement Act of 2011 (HR 2090). proportion of girls in high school were enrolled in the class. About The legislation includes recommendations outlined in the APS Energy Critical Elements Report. They include physics classes increased from 40 77 percent of the boys who took information sharing, research and recycling. percent to 47 percent, where it has the Physics C course took the AP remained fairly consistently since test, and about 56 percent received Log on to the APS Public Affairs Web page then. However, in AP classes, girls passing scores. However, only (http://www.aps.org/public_affairs) for more information. make up only 41 percent in Phys- about 61 percent of girls enrolled ics B and 32 percent of the Physics in the course took the test and Two Gold and Three Silver Medals for US Physics Olympic Team C classroom. This is an improve- about 36 percent passed. The dis- By Mary Catherine Adams Princeton Junction, N.J., and Brian in Silver Spring, Md.; and Eric ment compared to 1993, when parity was similar for the Physics girls made up 36 percent and 27 B test as well. About 65 percent of The United States’ physics Zhang, a senior from Henry M. Spieglan, a junior from Naperville percent of the classes respectively. boys took the test and 42 percent Olympiad team is back in the US Gunn High School in Palo Alto, North High School, in Naperville, The authors of the study looked passed it, while only 50 percent of with gold and silver medals in Calif. Zhang also earned the eighth Ill. Das Sarma also earned the sec- at both those students enrolled in the enrolled girls took the test and hand. The team spent a week in highest overall score in the compe- ond highest score among the silver AP courses and those that took the about 25 percent passed. Bangkok, Thailand, competing tition. To take home a gold medal, medal winners. corresponding AP tests. It found Because the report only looked against almost 400 students from a competitor must score 90 percent “We were pleased. We go to the that other sciences and math tests at the raw numbers of students over 80 countries at the 42nd Inter- or better on the exams. competition hoping to do our best, generally had much higher rates enrolled in AP classes, it stopped national Physics Olympiad. The remaining team members and we try to instill healthy study of female participation. Only short of specifying a clear reason Two of the 5 team members each brought home a silver medal: habits to help students do that,” about 35 percent of the Phys- for the disparity. “Mathematical brought home gold medals: Ante Lucy Chen, a senior from Ames Paul Stanley, the team’s senior ics B tests and 27 percent of the rigor does not explain the low rep- Qu, a senior from West Windsor- High School in Ames, Iowa; An- coach, said. Physics C test are taken by girls. resentation of females in AP phys- Plainsboro High School South in drew Das Sarma, a senior from Gold, silver and bronze medals Montgomery Blair High School OLYMPIC continued on page 5 Comparatively, about 42 percent WOMEN continued on page 5 4 • August/September 2011 APS NEWS

Jack Marburger Remembered Letters Dear Friends and Colleagues, While Jack’s many profes- ties. He was a beloved husband, Readers interested in submitting a letter to APS News should You may have seen the very sional accomplishments are high- father, friend and mentor. While email [email protected]. sad news from the APS Homep- lighted on our webpage, I want to Jack was tall and robust, it was age noting the passing of John H. take this opportunity to talk about his enthusiasm, his dedication to Marburger, or “Jack,” as we all Jack on a more personal level, as service, and his open and affable Top 20 American Physicists of 1903 called him. Jack had many im- his contributions transcend any nature, that made him a giant in portant positions and occasions in job title or accolade–and his loss the eyes of many who knew him. which he served the physics com- will be intimately felt by many In connection with the inquiry (9) DeWitt Bristol Brace, Ne- Sometimes, there are simply munity. Perhaps some of you may of us. I had quite a few meetings of Henry R. Lewis in the May is- braska; no words to adequately acknowl- remember him best as Director of with Jack over the years. I was al- sue, it seems inconsistent with the (10) Elihu Thomson, General edge the loss of a truly good and Brookhaven Laboratory, or oth- ways particularly impressed with character and tone of APS jour- Electric-Lynn; honorable man. This is one of ers may have known him more his dedication and deep interest nals that a listing of physicists in those times. And for that reason, (11) Robert Simpson Wood- recently as President Bush’s Sci- in science, and even more by his order of (presumed) merit would ward, Columbia; ence Advisor and Director of the sensitivity to the human aspects I must conclude here, perhaps in- have appeared in one of its pub- (12) Charles Proteus Stein- White House Office of Science of doing science. eloquently, yet ever sincerely, ex- lications. metz, General Electric-Schenect- and Technology Policy (OSTP). Jack had been battling cancer pressing my deep sadness for his There was one such listing, edy; Many of us have worked with for some time–defeating the per- passing, and my utmost respect of “leading men of science in (13) Henry Smith Carhart, him, and some of us have worked vasive drain on vigor and spirit for his life. the United States in 1903 ar- Michigan; for him, and all of us must admire that overwhelm many with such a ranged in order of distinction in (14) Edwin H. Hall, Harvard; his dedication to science and his disease, he was still able to carry Barry Barish each science,” made in 1903 by (15) J. S. Ames, Johns Hop- sense of duty and commitment. out his high level responsibili- President, APS J. McKeen Cattell, professor of kins; psychology at Columbia, pub- (16) Henry Crew, Northwest- lishing entrepreneur, and leader ern; Back Page Authors Respond to Comments on Women in Physics in the movement for faculty free (17) R. W. Wood, Johns Hop- Ed. Note: In the July Letters wanting careers in which they can underrepresentation as a moral speech and participation in gov- kins; column, there were a number of help others. We recognize, though, wrong, a position belying a radical ernance. It was published in the (18) F. L. O. Wadsworth, Al- replies to the Back Page article by that overall trends do not capture individualist philosophy which fifth edition of American Men legheny Observatory; Marie-Claire Shanahan and Zahra every individual voice. would see exact proportional rep- of Science (1933). It might have (19) Benjamin Osgood Peirce, Hazari on women in physics. Another reader, Alvin M. resentation as the only option. been recalled to people’s atten- Harvard; (Both the article and the replies Saperstein, asks about the pos- While this may be his interpreta- tion in the late 1940s by the ap- (20) Ernest Merritt, Cornell. can be viewed online at www.aps. sibility that this study addressed tion of our position, it was not the pearance of Stephen S. Visher’s J. Willard Gibbs and Henry org/publications/apsnews.)Below, students too late and that differ- argument that we made. Our find- “Scientists Starred, 1903-1943, A. Rowland would surely have Shanahan and Hazari respond. ences in mathematics interest may ings that science classroom prac- in American Men of Science; a been at the top of the list with Mi- Investigations into gender in be more important. In the full tices impact identity in both male study of collegiate and doctoral chelson, but Rowland had died in science, and in physics in particu- paper, on which this Back Page and female students and that sim- training, birthplace, distribution, 1901, and Gibbs in April of 1903. lar, are complex and often elicit was based, we note the impor- ple discussion of representation backgrounds, and developmen- Cattell includes some cautions differences of opinion. Our Back tance of confidence in mathemat- seems to have particular influence tal influences” (1947), which did about taking the fine details too Page article in the June APS News ics and include it in our measure on female students suggests that publish the lists. The Visher book seriously, especially as one gets brought several interesting re- but also recognize that studies we are not yet in a position where was reviewed in Science and Na- sponses from readers. One Phys- among younger students suggest all the women who would want deeper into the list. ture, though without mention of ics PhD student expressed disap- that other factors are more pre- to enter physics have necessarily There are some electrical engi- the lists, and there were perhaps pointment that this study did not dictive (e.g., Tai, Liu, Maltese & had the opportunity to do so. The neers on the list, and some inven- reviews in other places. address the voices of women on Fan, 2006). Our data also indicate contemporary research indicates tors were also included, for exam- Cattell recruited ten leading the physics faculty career path and that among students who reported that young women’s interest is ple (23) Alexander Graham Bell, and representative physicists to the challenges they face. We were wanting to be a physicist, females mediated by external factors not (28) Thomas Alva Edison, (65) make rank-ordered lists of twen- specifically interested, however, became interested during high related to physics itself, stem- ty or more researchers, and then Nikola Tesla. In both categories, in an earlier stage of the physics school while many males became ming instead from social ontolo- compiled the results. There are Cattell says, they were included career path: the transition between interested prior to high school. The gies (e.g. archetypes regarding 154 names in all. The first twenty because of their contributions to high school and undergraduate dearth of early interest in physics what it means to be a physicist). are (we give the names as Cattell physics. physics and trends that could be supports the reader’s concern that Exact proportional representa- gave them, but add institutional One can find in the Cattell Pa- identified in students’ high school we need to reach more girls prior tion is not necessarily the goal, affiliation): pers in the Library of Congress experiences. The reader is correct to high school, particularly since but having girls turn away from (1) Albert Abraham Michel- strong evidence that the ten phys- in the assertion that female physi- girls report fewer physics-relat- physics studies because of social son, Chicago; ics rankers were: Michelson, E. L. cists do not necessarily pursue ed experiences, but at the same ontologies is a loss to physics and (2) Carl Barus, Brown; Nichols, Webster, E. F. Nichols, physics because they want to help time disconfirms the supposition to girls themselves as they lose (3) Edward L. Nichols, Cor- Thomson, Carhart, Ames, Wad- others. However, for general pop- that high school is too late. High the opportunity to participate in a nell; sworth, William S. Franklin (24 ulations of students at the primary, school physics teachers still have subject they may love. (4) Arthur Gordon Webster, on the list), and Wallace C. Sabine secondary, and undergraduate lev- the opportunity to make a dif- We are grateful to the APS and Clark; (27 on the list). els, the evidence overwhelmingly ference, even if they are in some its members for the opportunity (5) John Trowbridge, Harvard; Cattell implies, in American points to the fact that women (to a ways working against the odds. to engage in these important dis- (6) M. I. Pupin, Columbia; Men of Science, fifth edition, that greater extent than men and more Finally, Karl D. Stephan sug- cussions through an essay in the (Edward Williams Morley, he has made, or was making, a than other motivations) report gests that our essay approached Back Page. Case–ranked second in chemistry, similar list for 1932, but that it but would have been seventh in wouldn’t be published for at least Fewer PhDs, Better Trained physics); twenty years. That list, if it did get “Women Face Slim Odds for a-million” is a fact. This is an is- each PhD department that is re- (7) Ernest Fox Nichols, Co- made, is not known to us. Academic Careers” (July APS sue that is always overlooked. sponsible for career counseling. lumbia; News) is one of the most honest I propose: This should help students to plan (8) Samuel Pierpont Langley, Guy Emery and Alfred Fuchs letters I have ever read in this APS (1) The physics community the future. Smithsonian; Brunswick, ME publication. It focuses on the sad should lobby for a reduction of It would be especially helpful stand of women in physics but it the number of PhD students ac- for industry-bound students, sug- Reducing Coal Use an Important Topic of Study really brings to mind the sad situ- cepted by physics departments. gesting classes in management ation of all PhD students. I agree Take the money saved with fewer and other industry-relevant topics. A great deal of the effort being With increasing use of coal with the author that most PhD stu- PhD students and compensate the We should prepare entrepreneurs spent on an endless debate about power worldwide, in China and dents do want to stay in academia. remaining number of PhDs better and not only good employees. global warming could be better other countries without even the The point that everybody agrees (pay and other educational ben- on is that there are no positions. efits). A. Christian Silva used. Many of the things proposed current US standards, the release That the odds are indeed “one-in- (2) Create an office within Houston,TX to deal with global warming of toxic materials into the envi- would be desirable in any case. ronment should be a major con- Individual Physicists Deserve Credit One of the most important is cern. Even if emissions are con- I was disconcerted by the July What was discouraging was the ties made important contributions. reduced use of coal. In March, trolled, one still has the problem “This Month in Physics History” sense that the “Laboratory” had Finally, real people from Fermilab while the world was focused on of disposing of toxic coal ash. column. Most of us at Fermilab done the experiment. While labo- such as Byron Lundberg and Regi- the nuclear crisis in Japan, the I would hope that the new were pleased at this recognition ratories facilitate experiments, they na Rameika were deeply involved US EPA released proposed new of an important piece of neutrino do not do them. People do experi- for years on this experiment. topical group on the physics of emission standards for toxic ma- physics. The article was well writ- ments. Perhaps the problem here Generally, scientists working climate will enlarge its focus to terials, including mercury, in coal ten and in many ways comprehen- was that so many people from so on an experiment deserve nearly study the broader issues involved emissions. The EPA estimated sive. The historical lead-in citing many places contributed. Specifi- as much citation as their predeces- this change would prevent 15,000 in any energy policy. a number of important individual cally the work of Japanese insti- sors. deaths per year. Yet the proposed contributions to neutrino physics tutions working on emulsions was rules came under attack in a Con- Mary Beth Ruskai was accurate, interesting, and use- pivotal to the experiment. Six US Dick Carrigan gressional hearing this week. Arlington, MA ful. and several other foreign universi- Batavia, IL APS NEWS August/September 2011 • 5

OLYMPIC continued from page 3 Letters (continued) were awarded to those competitors theory question topics included a who scored at least 65 percent on three-body problem, charged soap Lubell Column Brings Out Partisan Divide their exams. Her Royal Highness bubbles, and Rutherford scatter- Michael Lubell in his July In- correlations is tight, and it makes ******** Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, ing. The first experiment question side the Beltway column quotes sense. Nobody doubts that the At Livermore Lab in the Fif- a member of the royal family of required the students to determine some impressive statistics from Republicans claim the banner of ties, Bill Newcomb and I shared Thailand, handed individual med- the shape of a capacitor and the the Pew Foundation that only 6% “conservative”, nor that some an office. We would joke about als to around two hundred medal second had them locating a ball of the scientists they polled self- Democrats claim that of “liberal”. the blind overwhelming distaste winners at the closing ceremony inside a tube. Exams are admin- identify as Republican and 55% as What Lubell deplores follows as a for Republicans that most physi- on the last day of the competition. istered in the students’ native lan- Democrat. This correlates strong- necessary part of what we are and cists had, and ascribed it to their This year’s Olympiad took guages and all of the team coaches ly with identification as conserva- what we do. We are a minority, naive prejudices and their will- place from July 10–17. The inter- review the students’ answers to tive or liberal. He deplores this and we contribute something spe- ful ignorance about politics. Mi- national physics competition for calculate the winners. “instinctive distaste for Republi- cial to society. We can be proud of chael Lubell’s excellent column high school students first started The five members of the travel- cans,” seeing it as an unreasonable our standards. described just one instance of in Eastern Europe in 1967 before ing team were guided by this year’s and baseless prejudice. As scientists it is our business this. it grew into a worldwide compe- coaches: Paul Stanley, the academ- The notable imbalance he re- as it is our natural inclination to It is the Republican Party, tition. The U.S. joined the com- ic director and senior coach; War- ports may be based on an inescap- look toward facts and to question the party of Lincoln, Theodore petition in 1986 when three team ren Turner, a senior coach and lab able reality. Professionally and common perceptions and slogan- Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Rea- members won bronze medals, coach; Andrew Lin; Jia Jia Dong; personally scientists need to be eering. When Lubell tells us that gan, that can and will really help the best debut of any participat- Quizi Li; David Fallest; and Mari- more dedicated and more sensi- the public “wants the federal gov- American science and technol- ing team. Though the competition anna Mao. Lin and Mao are both tive to the pursuit of truth and the ernment to begin to balance its ogy, once the big government doesn’t rank teams in terms of former gold medal winners from correction of error than would be books” it is worth remembering controlling Barack Obama is de- medal count, if they did, the U.S. previous traveling teams. to the self-interest of either the that Clinton and the Democrats feated in 2012. It is the Republi- would have tied for eleventh place The U.S. team is supported by power and money hungry or the left the treasury with a healthy can Party that can and will enact this year. the American Association of Phys- politician. That scientists tend to surplus. What party was it that badly needed reforms in public At the competition, students ics Teachers (AAPT), the Ameri- be more idealistic–and perhaps squandered it, and wants to insure high school mathematics and face exams on a range of physics can Physical Society (APS) and more public-spirited–than the that it will not be rebuilt? science education. subjects, answering three theoreti- the American Institute of Physics general population is no surprise, cal exams and completing two lab- (AIP), along with almost a dozen nor is the correlation of those ide- Felix Smith Howard D. Greyber oratory experiments. This year’s other AIP member societies. als with liberalism. The chain of San Francisco, CA San Jose, CA Song of the Tau Neutrino I was reading the July “This passing through..” she burst into Glad that I collided with you, Month in Physics History” (Fer- song: Tell the people that you saw milab Announces First Direct Passing through, passing A muon neutrino change into Evidence for Tau Neutrino) to my through, a tau. wife Alice, a sociologist and folk Sometimes happy, sometimes H. Richard Leuchtag singer. When I got to “... particles blue, Bandera, TX

NSF continued from page 1 released a draft of the proposed up- ticulate the national importance of ive of the policy, saying that out- dates that broadened existing crite- a project would impair “scientific reach and education are important ria to include advancing national creativity and autonomy.” Simi- to encourage. security interests, increasing part- larly, Nature’s columnist Daniel “I don’t think it’s a bad policy. I nerships between academia and Sarewitz said that neither “project don’t think it does any harm,” said industry, improving US economic leaders nor peer-review panels are Chad Orzel a professor at Union competitiveness and more explic- likely to have sufficient expertise College who has helped to review itly calling for efforts to improve to really understand a single proj- a number of NSF proposals, “A lot Photo courtesy of Paul Stanley/AAPT education and public outreach. The ect’s capacity to connect to a per- of the things it leads to are very Brian Zhang (left), Ante Qu, Andrew Das Sarma, Lucy Chen and Eric Spieglan proposals can address all or some sistent challenge such as increas- uninspired, very standard outreach represented the U.S. at the 2011 International Physics Olympiad in Bangkok, Thai- of these criteria, and can do so ei- ing the nation’s science literacy or things. But I don’t think that really land. Zhang and Qu both earned gold medals in the competition and Das Sarma, Chen and Spieglan each brought home silver medals. ther through the research itself or economic competitiveness.” hurts anything…There are a few through an ancillary program also Also in early July, the four that are doing something interest- funded by the grant. members of the APS presiden- ing or doing bigger outreach things PAPERS continued from page 1 In July, the task force asked tial line sent Raymond Bowen, than [they] would be otherwise. grant AIP received to help digitize National Historical Publications for comments, and received 5,100 chairman of the National Science In that sense it’s probably a good the collection is to increase ac- and Records Commission, part of responses. The National Science Board, an open letter outlining thing on balance.” cess to it. However because parts the National Archives. Board is currently mulling over the their concerns. The Task Force on Merit Re- of the collection are now almost a Before the scanning process suggestions it received before an- “We draw our inference from view acknowledged the contro- century old, digitizing it will help began, AIP spent about six months nouncing final updates or changes the directive contained in the re- versy in its charge to revaluate the preserve the collection. prepping the documents; smooth- to the policy. vised criteria that NSF should align program. “Folks have digital surrogates ing out all of the sheets by hand “The scientific community has its research programs with a set of “Anecdotal evidence suggests to look at so it reduces wear and and removing any attached fasten- expressed a range of opinions national goals that emphasize the that this requirement can be very tear on the collection,” Mueller ers. Once all the prep work was about the Broader Impacts crite- worth of the envisioned applica- confusing to the research com- said. finished, they send out the collec- rion. Most understand that this cri- tions of research rather than the munity, which continues to ex- Comprising of over 69,000 tion one box at a time to their con- terion helps to ensure that there is worth of the scientific knowledge press frustration in interpreting documents, the original hard cop- tractors. After each box returned, a connection between scientific re- emanating from research,” the let- and thus responding effectively ies took up over 39 linear feet of they visually checked each docu- search and society. However, many ter read. It adds that all other fed- to the Broader Impacts criterion shelf space. Digitizing the huge ment one by one to make sure the PIs and reviewers have asked NSF eral agencies that support research when creating a proposal,” the trove of papers took nearly two scans worked properly. to provide clearer guidance about support it in line with their own task force’s founding charge read. years to fully scan and sort and “It took a lot of work,” Mueller how they should address this cri- agency’s mission, and the NSF “[T]here appears to be substantial was supported by the American said. “It’s very satisfying to have terion,” Joanne Tornow of NSF, should sponsor “scientific excel- confusion about how best to meet Institute of Physics and the U.S. it done.” who is on the NSF’s Merit Review lence wherever it leads.” the requirements of this criterion, taskforce, said in an email, “The Other scientists have criticized whether on an individual project WOMEN continued from page 3 Broader Impacts criterion helps to the Broader Impacts criterion for level or at the proposing institution ics,” the report read. “The reasons “These and other questions can connect science and society, and its requirement that grant recipi- level.” for lower female participation in only be answered with research leverages research investments ents engage in outreach and edu- Despite the objections of some advanced high school physics re- which actually asks students these more broadly.” cation. Even some physicists who researchers, it seems unlikely that main unclear.” questions. Because these ques- Objections to the criteria range actively engage in outreach and the NSF will strike the criterion Women receive about 20 per- tions remain unanswered, we can from concerns about defining sci- education have said that it’s a dis- outright. In all likelihood the NSF cent of bachelor’s physics degrees, offer no simple solution for in- ence in the national interest, and traction from the core goal of con- will issue clarifying guidelines a rate that has been remained stag- creasing women’s participation in that requiring scientists to engage ducting research. similar to the draft issued in June nant since the turn of the century. physics,” the report read. in outreach can distract from re- “We should not discourage of 2011. By comparison, women receive The report looked at the 2008- search. people from doing outreach, but John T. Bruer, President of the 40 percent of bachelor’s degrees 2009 academic year. The Ameri- In early July, Science and Na- requiring people to do outreach James S McDonnell Foundation in biology, chemistry and math. can Institute of Physics contacted ture both ran items critical of the is just plain silly,” said Lawrence and co-chair of the merit review The report identified a few pos- a representative sample of 3,600 Broader Impacts criterion. In Sci- Krauss of Arizona State Univer- taskforce, said at July’s National sible sources for these disparities, schools across the country to put ence, a letter by Robert Frodeman sity. “I think we should encourage Science Board meeting that “a including cultural pressures, prob- together its report. The full report and J. Britt Holbrook, both from it, but we should give carrots and significant proportion of the com- lems with the curriculum and ste- is available online at http://www. the University of North Texas, not sticks.” ments suggested eliminating the reotyping, but did not identify any aip.org/statistics/trends/reports/ said that requiring research to ar- Others have been more support- B.I. entirely. That’s not possible.” definitive cause. hsfemales.pdf . 6 • August/September 2011 APS NEWS

BEASLEY continued from page 1 I will do my best, and my friends burgeoning societies in the devel- tell me that I seem to like this kind oping world such as ones in Haiti, of challenge.” Africa and Vietnam. In addition to his position “Physics in general needs to at Stanford, Beasley sits on the continue attracting the brightest The International Commission on Physics Education Celebrates 50+ Years boards of several international sci- students, since the human poten- entific collaborations. He said he tial is the primary factor of success By Dean Zollman hopes to help APS and its journals and progress,” Suzor-Weiner said. adapt to the changing publishing “On a broader scale, physicists Last year the International landscape and encourage more need to join all other sciences, in- Commission for Physics Educa- international scientific collabora- cluding social sciences, to answer tion, Commission 14 of the In- tions. the global challenges of our time, ternational Union of Pure and “Historically, the APS has done namely energy, environment, cli- Applied Physics (IUPAP), cel- an exemplary job in fulfilling this mate change and health. These do- ebrated the fiftieth anniversary role and continues to do so. But the mains have in common the char- of its founding. The concept of changes facing science these days acteristics to be transdisciplinary, creating a commission devoted are so profound and so rapid that as well as global. Yet physics must to physics teaching and learning a special effort is required. As an play its specific role, with well was developed at an international officer of the APS, I would work trained specialists and enough conference in Paris. Thus, it was to bring the best talent among us budget to meet the challenges.” fitting that the 50th birthday party to address these issues and adapt Keivan Stassun is an observa- occurred at an international con- wisely. More specifically, we need tional astrophysicist at Vanderbilt ference in France. to continue to tend to the financial University, focusing on the forma- As described in two articles health of physics by informing tion of stars, brown dwarfs, and on the ICPE website, ICPE was Congress and the public at large of exoplanets. In 2007 he served as founded by a group of physicists the role that physics plays and can the first chair of the Vanderbilt who saw a need for collaboration yet play in the nation’s security Initiative in Data-intensive Astro- and cooperation related to the and economic future, but also its physics, a program to make the teaching and learning of physics ICPE Chair Pratibha Jolly offers a piece of birthday cake celebrating ICPE’s 50 years. cultural heritage,” Beasley said in university one of the world leaders at all levels of instruction. As with his candidate statement. in the fields of astrophysics. He is all of the commissions of IUPAP, terials which are a benefit in many as well. Rather than just including Suzor-Weiner is currently the also chair of the Sloan Digital Sky ICPE seeks to foster cooperation different situations. presentations and workshops, this Counselor for Science and Tech- Survey’s exoplanet science team and collaboration on issues related Within physics education re- conference will focus on identify- nology at the French Embassy and a member of the Large Syn- to research and development in the search, similarities of student ing common interests in physics in Washington D.C. She came to optic Survey Telescope executive teaching and learning of physics. learning and struggles with phys- education research and develop- the United States after teaching at committee. He participated in the Of course, education systems are ics seem much more common than ment. the Université Paris-Sud in Orsay, National Research Council’s 2010 vastly diverse in different coun- they are different. To encourage The format of the conference France since 1987. There she was Decadal Survey of Astronomy and tries (and sometimes even in dif- exchange of best practices, the mentioned above will be mod- promoted to the highest rank of Astrophysics. ferent regions within a country). Commission undertakes a variety eled on the education strand of professor in 2005 and served as its “I’ve never been entirely sure However, research over many of activities to encourage physics the World Conference on Phys- vice-president for international af- whether to think of myself as an years has shown that physics in- educators and physics education ics and Sustainable Development fairs. She was also the vice presi- astronomer or as a physicist. Be- structors at all levels face many researchers to share their research, (WCPSD; http://www.wcpsd.org/) dent of the International Union for ing elected to the APS Council of the same challenges and can success and concerns through that was held in Durban, South Pure and Applied Physics from suggests that the wave function utilize many of the same solutions sponsoring an annual conference Africa in 2005. During the 2005 2005 through 2008. has collapsed,” Stassun said. worldwide. In this article, I will on a specific physics education WCPSD, one of the working “I did not expect it, but I am When asked what he hoped to discuss some of ICPE’s approach- theme. In 2010, the conference en- groups of the education strand grateful to the APS members who accomplish as a general councilor, es to international collaboration in tailed a joint meeting with Groupe noted that many of the instruc- allow me to work more closely he at first quipped that he wanted physics education. International de Recherche sur tional innovations which are based with APS,” Suzor-Weiner said. APS to sponsor National Talk The international character I’Enseignement de la Physique on physics education research “Since my year in Chicago as a Like a Physicist Day. of physics education research is (GIREP) and the Multimedia in had not had wide dissemination postdoc with Ugo Fano, and then “Seriously, I think two impor- very apparent in an area of re- Physics Teaching and Learning and implementation in develop- as visiting scientist at NIST with tant issues are what you might search called conceptual change. Group (MPTL). Both GIREP and ing countries. The working group Fred Mies, I have had many fruit- call ‘big data’ and ‘big diversity.’ As an example, we find that many MPTL are international groups proposed establishing a series of ful collaborations with American As a profession we need to begin students come to us with a some- with a majority of their member- workshops which could provide physicists and I am more than deliberately preparing the future what Aristotelian world view–a ship in Europe. The theme of the hands-on experiences for physics happy if I can help in any way to leaders of our field for the data- constant force results in a con- conference was “Teaching and faculty in these countries. In 2009, strengthen the role of physics on intensive revolution that is already stant velocity. Helping students to Learning Physics Today: Chal- three members of ICPE (Pratibha the American and international underway. At the same time, we learn the limitation of this view, lenges? Benefits?” and was held Jolly, Elena Sassi and Dean Zoll- scenes.” must make a renewed, high-level, and to adopt a Newtonian view, at the Université de Reims, Cham- man) working with Priscilla Laws She said that she hoped to fur- concerted effort to recruit, train, is to change the students’ concep- pagne Ardenne, Reims, France. A created the first such workshop. ther international collaborations and retain a truly diverse next gen- tual view of nature. Reinders Duit summary of the conference can be PHYSWARE: A Collaborative between APS and other physical eration of professional physicists. at the Institut für Pädagogie der found in the Commission’s news- Workshop to Promote Physics societies around the world. She For too long physics has been the Naturwissenschaften in Kiel, Ger- letter which is available at http:// Teaching and Learning in the De- emphasized the need to work with least diverse of all the sciences. many has created a bibliography web.phys.ksu.edu/icpe. This con- veloping World was held at the In- both European nations where the With thought and care and dedica- on research concerning concep- ference ended with a celebration ternational Centre for Theoretical United States has a long history of tion, we can change this. Shame tual change. A quick glance at this of ICPE’s fiftieth birthday. Physics (ICTP). Support for the collaborating with, but also with on us if we don’t,” Stassun said. bibliography (http://www.ipn.uni- The next conference, “Training workshop came from a variety of kiel.de/aktuell/stcse/stcse.html) Physics Teachers and Educational sources including follow-up funds shows that the study of this topic Networks”, takes place in Mexico from the World Conference, ICTP and development of materials to City, 15-19 August 2011. The co- and APS. Thirty-two faculty from sponsor for this conference is the Africa, Asia and South America address it are truly international. IRANIAN continued from page 1 Of course, differences between Latin American Physics Education participated and agreed to further countries in teaching and learning Network. The website is http:// disseminate the ideas of the work- Initially Kokabee’s family had travel to the country as a student. do exist. For example, we see at www.icpe2011.net. shop in their home regions. More wanted to keep the matter quiet so Instead he received his masters the secondary level, differences Most of the ICPE conferences information can be found in the as not to provoke the Iranian gov- at the Universitat Politecnica de in achievement on standardized have had a format typical of phys- International Newsletter on Phys- ernment. Catalunya in Spain then enrolled tests such as The International ics conferences. Thus, they in- ics Education and at the website “There’s no rational reason in the University of Texas at Aus- Mathematics and Science Study clude plenary lectures and invited for the workshop at http://cdsa- for his arrest. He’s not a political tin’s PhD program after a concert- (TIMSS) and Programme for In- and contributed presentations. genda5.ictp.trieste.it/full_display. person,” said John Keto, the ad- ed effort on the part of the univer- A somewhat different format is php?ida=a07137. This workshop visor for graduate students at the ternational Student Assessment sity. Keto described Kokabee as a (PISA). The meaning of these being envisioned for the World was conceived to be the first in a University of Texas at Austin. “He “remarkable” student, who had al- differences is discussed widely Conference on Physics Educa- series of such workshops on phys- was a serious dedicated scientist ready produced a number of scien- and is beyond the scope of this tion (http://www.wcpe2012.org/) ics pedagogy for university fac- who was mostly interest in his sci- tific papers and traveled to many article. However, in spite of cul- which will be held in Istanbul, ulty in developing countries. Pres- ence.” tural differences and a variety of 1-6 July 2012. ICPE and GIREP ent plans are to hold a regional The trial for Kokabee was orig- conferences across Europe. educational systems throughout are the primary sponsors of this PHYSWARE workshop in Delhi, inally slated for July 15th, but was The arrest has also worried the world, physics instructors and conference and the American As- India, in the autumn of 2011. unexpectedly postponed. other Iranian students studying in physics education researchers find sociation of Physics Teachers Using this model, we antici- Kokabee first tried coming to the United States. “The Iranian a large number of common con- Executive Board has endorsed it. pate that the 2012 World Confer- the United States to pursue his students are very concerned about cerns and are frequently able to Other physics education organiza- ence on Physics Education will masters degree a few years ago, whether they should ever go home share results and instructional ma- tions are expected to be involved COMMISSION continued on page 7 but he could not secure a visa to again,” Keto said. APS NEWS August/September 2011 • 7

DOE continued from page 1 Change to APS Bylaws universe. The experiments would study. “It’s not saying that it’s look to directly detect dark mat- more important than the others, At its meeting in April, Council approved a change to the Bylaws consisting of a new article ter through a third-generation but it’s made special because concerning APS Public Policy Statements. The text of that article follows. At its upcoming dark matter detector, attempt to there’s an intense neutrino source November meeting, Council will hold a second vote, and if approved with a 2/3 majority, the determine if a neutrino is its own at Fermilab.” new article will become part of the Bylaws. antiparticle by looking for neu- The NRC’s report found that trinoless double beta decays, and the three proposed experiments ARTICLE XVI hunt for evidence of CP viola- were a “top priority” and recom- tions in neutrino oscillations. mended that the experiments be APS PUBLIC Policy STATEMENTS The DOE report looked at pursued. multiple construction options “Our first conclusion was or the APS website. for the deployment of these ex- that there were three extremely A. Introduction 6. Archiving Article IV Section 2f of the APS Constitution authorizes the Statements of the American Physical Society are subject to periments. Possible plans ranged important experiments that we APS Council to review public policy statements issued by the review on the 5th anniversary of issuance or renewal, or earlier from locating all of the experi- thought were of the utmost im- Society. The processes by which statements are drafted and at the discretion of POPA or the Council. POPA will provide a ments as deep as 7,400 feet un- portance,” Lankford said. He approved are described herein. The APS recognizes three recommendation to the Council, and the Council will vote to approval processes: either renew or archive the statement. derground, 4,850 feet or as added also that the NRC report shallow as 800 feet, installing and the DOE reports looked at 1) The Normal process results in a statement to be designated C. Procedure for Issuing Executive Board Statements different experiments at different as a Public Policy Statement of the American Physical In accordance with Article 6 section d of the Constitution, The different aspects of the planning Society (“APS Statement” or “APS Public Policy Statement”.) Executive Board or Presidential Line (President, President levels, or building some of them of the lab. “They’re very comple- Elect, Vice President, and Immediate Past President) may in existing labs in other parts of mentary. Ours is to focus on the 2) The Expedited process results in a statement to be determine that it is in the interest of the American Physical the world. science assessments and the oth- designated as an American Physical Society Executive Society to issue a public policy statement in an expedited “We were asked to evaluate Board Statement (“APS Executive Board Statement”.) manner. Expedited statements shall be designated as er issues that I call programmat- Executive Board Statements. what it would take if the DOE ic, while theirs focuses primarily 3) The APS unit process results in a statement to be designated 1. Drafting wanted to do the three experi- on cost and technical issues.” as an American Physical Society Unit Statement (“Unit The Executive Board or Presidential Line shall draft the ments at what would be DU- William Brinkman, the head Statement”.) statement. SEL,” said study chair Jay Marx 2. POPA review of the DOE’s Office of Science, B. Procedure for Issuing Public Policy Statements: The POPA steering committee shall review the draft statement of Caltech and executive direc- has said that he wants to go for- 1. Initiation and solicit comments from the PPC and the APS Office of tor of LIGO. He added that they ward with the proposed experi- Any APS member in good standing, group of members, or Public Affairs. The POPA steering committee may edit the draft were charged “just to gather in- ments. However, what final form APS unit may submit a proposal to POPA for a Statement. before returning it to the Executive Board for final approval. formation and evaluate the cost, POPA will consider those proposals which meet the POPA 3. Executive Board Approval they may take is up in the air be- Guidelines for Submission of APS Statements. If a decision The Executive Board shall review the draft statement and the time scale and the technical cause of continued budget uncer- is made not to proceed with drafting a Statement, POPA will any comments from the PPC and Office of Public Affairs. risks.” tainties. Whatever final budget convey its decision to those who submitted the proposal. Additional edits to the draft require POPA steering committee 2. Statement Drafting approval. Upon final Executive Board approval, the Executive The report concluded that if is passed for the department will the experiments were to be lo- POPA has exclusive responsibility for drafting Statements. Board Statement is distributed by the APS Executive Officer determine how the facility will The Chair of POPA has the responsibility for ensuring that and passed to POPA to determine if the Normal Procedure cated in the South Dakota mine, ultimately be built. the Statement draft incorporates appropriate APS member (outlined in ARTICLE XVI, Section B) should be initiated to bundling the experiments on the “I am optimistic about things expertise. Members with conflicts of interest should not turn the statement into an APS Public Policy Statement. participate in Statement drafting or approval (see section E 4. Publication same underground level would coming together,” said Kevin save a lot of money because they below). PPC input to the draft statement will be solicited as The APS Executive Officer shall publish and distribute the Lesko of the University of Cali- described in Article III, Section b7 of the APS bylaws. Executive Board Statement, at a minimum informing APS unit could share infrastructure such fornia Berkeley and DUSEL officers and announcing the statement in the APS News and/ as electricity, utilities and mine Upon POPA approval, the draft shall be sent to Council or APS website. principal investigator. “I’m opti- shafts. It also found that while members for comment. The Executive Board will vote on the 5. Sunset mistic we have all the elements dollar for dollar it would likely proposed statement, taking into consideration the comments Executive Board Statements will be archived after one year on hand to help the DOE decide from Council members. Should the Executive Board not and are not renewable. An Executive Board Statement be cheapest to locate the dark how they want to go forward approve the draft, the Executive Board will provide POPA with may become an APS Public Policy Statement if the Normal matter experiment or double beta a written list of concerns, and POPA may redraft and resubmit Procedure (outlined in ARTICLE XVI, Paragraph B) is followed. with the facility.” the statement to the Executive Board. A second disapproval decay experiments in Ontario’s D. Procedure for Issuing Unit Statements Lesko added that despite the shall terminate the process. Executive Board approval leads SNOLAB, there are other less 1. Guidelines to a Membership review. unexpected handoff, having the Units will establish guidelines for issuing their own policy tangible benefits for basing the 3. Membership Review Department of Energy take over statements (“Unit Statements”). Units will take into experiments in the United States. Upon Executive Board approval, the APS Executive Officer consideration the impact of the statement on the Society and the operations of the facility shall actively solicit comments from the entire Membership. “Locating the facility in the the physics community and evaluate whether or not it is within wasn’t a bad thing because it has Members shall have a minimum of 30 days to provide US would help to promote US the area of expertise of the unit’s members. Unit Statements comments. At the end of the comment period, all comments considerable experience running must not be in conflict with statements of other units or the leadership in these fields for the will be made available to POPA, appropriate APS staff, the large national labs. “It’s a more APS as a whole. Unit Statements will clearly denote that the foreseeable future,” the report Executive Board, and the Council. natural role for the DOE to run statement does not necessarily represent the position of the read. APS as a whole. such a facility.” If POPA determines that member comments justify The Long Baseline Neutrino 2. Process modification or rejection of the draft statement, POPA will The Homestake Mine in Lead Units will establish their own process for drafting, approving, Experiment is the focus of much transmit its recommendation to the Executive Board in the South Dakota is a sprawling web publishing and periodically reviewing and archiving their unit’s scrutiny. While the dark matter form of a POPA-approved redraft or a letter that the statement statements. At a minimum, this process will require the unit of underground chambers and process should be terminated. POPA, with the help of the APS and double beta decay experi- to solicit comments from unit members and input from the tunnels at depths up to 8,000 Executive Officer and staff, will provide the Executive Board ments could conceivably be lo- PPC and Office of Public Affairs, and to consider possible with a verbal synopsis of member comments and the impact feet. When the mine shut down in conflicts with other APS unit statements. Units must have a cated at a different facility, the of those comments on the statement. neutrino experiment is bound to 2002, it was the largest and deep- process incorporated into their bylaws before they may issue statements. est mine in the country. After the The Executive Board shall determine if Member comments Homestake because it relies on a 3. Concurrence have been adequately addressed and if the statement is ready stream of neutrinos from Fermi- shut down, water began flooding The Unit Statement, along with a plan for publicizing the Unit for Council approval. Two denials by the Executive Board the lowest levels. Congress ap- Statement and summaries of comments from unit members, lab. subsequent to membership review terminate the process. At the PPC, and the Office of Public Affairs, will be sent to the The design of the neutrino de- propriated $15 million in funding no time may the Executive Board edit or redraft the statement. POPA steering committee for comments and to the Executive to keep pumps running to keep 4. Council Approval tector is still up in the air. The two Board for review. Concurrence is required from the Executive POPA will present the verbal synopsis described in B-3 to competing designs would use ei- upper levels dry and viable for Board prior to publication of any Unit Statement. any future science experiments. the Council. The synopsis and subsequent discussion will be ther a water Cherenkov detector reflected in the minutes of the Council meeting. If the Council E. Conflict of Interest or a liquid argon-based detector. “The science is absolutely approves the statement, it is deemed ready for publication. Conflict ofI nterest is defined as “any financial or other interest Water detectors are a long estab- first rate. The idea of putting which conflicts with the service of the individual because it (1) could significantly impair the individual’s objectivity or (2) lished technology for detecting things in the same place to share If the Council does not approve the statement, it shall be sent infrastructure and share intel- back to POPA with a written list of concerns. POPA may edit could create an unfair competitive advantage for any person neutrinos, while liquid argon is the draft and return it to the Executive Board and the Council or organization.”1 Anyone, particularly POPA and Council much newer and unproven. The lectual excitement makes sense. or terminate the statement process. members, who can reasonably be perceived to have a conflict report was largely critical of the It might not make sense for the of interest, shall recuse themselves from all aspects of the biological or geological sciences A second denial by the Council normally terminates the Statement process, including drafting, commentary, and proposed liquid argon detectors. voting. The President of the APS shall be the final arbiter of because they have an interest in process. At no time may Council edit or redraft the statement. If the liquid argon technology 5. Publication potential conflicts of interest. variability,” said Marvin Mar- The APS Executive Officer shall publish and distribute duly did prove to work, the report said 1 National Academies of Science, Policy on Committee Composition it would still take a substantial shak of University of Minnesota, approved statements, at a minimum informing APS unit and Balance and Conflicts of Interest for Committees Used in the amount of funding until at least who founded the underground officers and announcing the statement in the APS News and/ Development of Reports (May 12, 2003.) 2015 to complete the necessary laboratory at the Soudan mine research and development to cre- in Minnesota. “For the physics, ate the detectors. which is really more interested COMMISSION continued from page 6 The DOE report is comple- in the experiments than charac- encourage collaborations which physics education has emerged as Physics Education continues to be mented by a second study, done terizing the site, it makes a lot of will continue after the confer- one of the areas of research and active and vital to the improve- by the National Research Coun- sense.” ence in much the same way that development that has a home in ment of physics teaching-learning cil (NRC), that came out at about APS News reported on the the PHYSWARE Workshops de- many physics departments. This worldwide and to the goals of the the same time. “In our view, the NSF pullout in the January is- veloped in Durban have contin- emergence has provided an in- physics community. LBNE, the long baseline neu- sue, and featured a Back Page on ued beyond the 2005 WCPSD. creased need to pay attention to Dean Zollman is University trino experiment, is somewhat DUSEL/SURF by Kevin Lesko The Commission and GIREP an- the international nature of this Distinguished Professor at Kan- special,” said Andrew Lankford in the July issue. (both available ticipate holding such a conference sub-discipline of physics. Thus, sas State University and Secretary of the University of California, online at www.aps.org/publica- once every four years. after 51 years since its founding, of IUPAP's Commission on Phys- Irvine, who chaired the NRC tions/apsnews.) Over the past 20 plus years, the International Commission for ics Education. 8 • August/September 2011 APS NEWS The Back Page

or most of the last 150 years, America’s Developing a National Innovation Strategy afford to postpone. Fleadership in science, technology, engineer- The hostility to scientific research extends ing, and innovation was unquestionable. Our na- By Rush Holt unfortunately beyond direct federal funding. tion invented the light bulb, the telephone, the The new majority in Congress has also sought Model T, the personal computer, and the Inter- to repeal regulations that support energy ef- net. We discovered penicillin, abolished polio, ficiency and innovation. For example, in early and helped to rid the world of smallpox. America’s capacity July, the House of Representatives held a surreal debate on for innovation was not only the envy of the world; it was the so-called Better Use of Light Bulbs (BULB) Act. The also the driving force behind the world’s economic prog- BULB Act had one purpose: to repeal energy efficiency ress, helping to lift billions of people out of poverty. The standards that had been enacted with bipartisan support in sky seemed to be our limit–and, as Neil Armstrong proved 2007 and signed into law by President Bush, requiring that in 1969, even that limit could be breached. new light bulbs use about 25 percent less energy than tradi- So what changed? tional incandescent light bulbs. (Most undergraduate phys- There is no doubt that America remains capable of ex- ics students probably know that 90 percent of the energy traordinary innovation. We are still the nation of Google and from incandescent bulbs is wasted as heat.) Facebook, of the iPhone and the Chevy Volt. Yet we are no Opponents of these efficiency standards launched an all- longer the world’s unquestioned leader. In 2009, the Infor- out, unscientific attack, using rhetoric that bordered on the mation Technology and Innovation Foundation found that absurd. The Wall Street Journal, in a blistering op-ed that five other nations had pulled ahead of the U.S. in overall railed against the “light bulb police,” falsely claimed that innovation and competitiveness–and we are falling further “Washington will effectively ban the sale of conventional behind. Over the last decade, every one of these competitors incandescent light bulbs.” This was, of course, untrue. No has improved its innovation capacity faster than America type of light bulb was banned. No consumers were forced to has. use one type of light bulb over another type. The new stan- I suppose we should be heartened that other nations are dards simply required that light bulbs be more efficient. As making their own strides forward in science and technology. policy makers had expected and intended, lighting compa- If a scientist in China were to cure AIDS tomorrow, it would nies reacted to the 2007 standards by investing appropriate be not merely a victory for the Chinese people; it would be resources in research and development, producing for the a victory for all mankind. Yet America must not be content consumer market new, more energy-efficient incandescent ogies and ideas. Worldwide, at least 30 countries have es- to piggyback on other countries’ inventions. We have never bulbs, as well as a variety of even more efficient fluorescent tablished their own competitiveness plans. Yet the U.S.– accepted dependency. We have been proud of our status as and LED lighting technologies. alone among the world’s technological leaders–has failed a world leader, and we can still be the world’s engine of The rhetoric surrounding the BULB Act is especially to draw up a roadmap for innovation. Is it any wonder that, economic and social advancement. troubling because, if it continues unchecked, it could un- In 2005, the National Academies laid out the problems with no clear view of our destination, America has failed to dermine America’s tradition of supporting innovation by facing America’s future competitiveness in an influential make strides in the right direction? setting technological standards. That tradition dates back report titled Rising Above the Gathering Storm. The report During the most recent Congressional debate on the at least to 1838, when Congress first mandated regular in- described a nation at risk of falling behind our competitors: COMPETES Act reauthorization, I worked to address this spections of steamboat boilers, which until then had caused not educating our children in science, technology, engineer- shortcoming. I successfully offered an amendment requiring frequent, deadly explosions. Since 1978, Congress has re- ing, and mathematics; not inventing at the same pace as the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy quired auto manufacturers to meet fuel economy standards, other nations; and not producing new jobs in high-technol- to submit to Congress a comprehensive national competi- leading to a near-doubling of the fuel efficiency of new au- ogy fields. The report was a call to action, and for a brief tiveness and innovation strategy. Further, the Secretary of tomobiles. (Allan Hoffman, who was an APS Congressional moment, it captured the attention of scientists, economists, Commerce must complete a National Competitive and In- Fellow in the 1970s, was instrumental in drafting this law.) think tank experts, government officials, and lawmakers. novation study by early 2012, laying out recommendations Congress also has required manufacturers to create new, And then the moment passed. Despite the attention de- on how America should invest in human capital, facilitate more energy-efficient refrigerators, air conditioners, and voted to the Gathering Storm report, most of the goals it entrepreneurship and innovation, provide federal support other appliances. If the BULB Act’s proponents have their laid out remain unaccomplished. The problems it described for locally and regionally driven innovation, strengthen the way, Congress could lose this important tool for promoting remain unresolved–in many cases, even unaddressed. economic infrastructure and industrial base of the United Yes, America has made some halting progress. Most States, and improve the international competitiveness of the innovation. notably, Congress passed the America COMPETES Act, United States. Unfortunately, after some legislative wrangling, the which authorized a doubling of the budgets at many of our My amendment was included in the law signed by the U.S. House of Representatives adopted the language of the key science agencies. The same law created the Advanced President, and America is finally on course to implement a BULB Act. The legal status of the new energy efficiency Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E), a new pro- national innovation strategy. That’s the good news. The bad standards is now in flux, creating expensive uncertainty in gram at the U.S. Department of Energy intended to identify news is that Congress has not demonstrated a willingness to the lighting industry. and fund transformative energy research. The law also es- make the investments necessary to implement such a wide- Yet there is hope that science and innovation may yet tablished a handful of new science, technology, engineer- ranging, audacious plan. Too many members of Congress, win the day on Capitol Hill. The President’s proposed bud- ing, and mathematics education programs, which have had obsessed with cutting the size of government, are hostile get for fiscal year 2012 recognizes the need to support inno- varying degrees of success. to the funding required to sustain America’s leadership in vation. Even though the budget’s overall spending is frozen Yet although the COMPETES Act laid the groundwork science and technology. Despite evidence that investment at 2010 levels, it reflects a strategic decision to focus re- for a new era of investment in science and research, that in science can create jobs, these members have sought at sources on the nation’s innovation infrastructure, especially groundwork remains mostly bare. The law envisioned a every opportunity to slash funding for research, education, basic research agencies. Despite the House’s hostility to the doubling of science budgets, yet Congress has appropriated and infrastructure. president’s vision, the budget for Fiscal Year 2012 is not far less money than was authorized. ARPA-E received its For example, the 2011 budget eliminated the summer Pell final. There is still time for both chambers of Congress to first block of funding in the 2009 Recovery Act, yetTea program I helped establish to support students who work support innovation. Party members of Congress are now calling for the agency’s while earning a college degree. The 2011 budget also elimi- In the longer term, the White House’s new innovation elimination. Some are even calling for the elimination of the nated 19 elementary and secondary education programs, and competitiveness strategy will lay out, as required in the entire Department of Energy. The COMPETES Act passed including Even Start, Striving Readers, School Libraries, COMPETES Act, a path for future progress. The President the House by a vote of 367 to 57 in 2007, yet in 2010, the National Writing Project, and Reading Is Fundamental. The and federal agencies are also working to create regulatory House of Representatives needed three separate tries to re- 2011 spending bill also reduced funding for Department of certainty so that manufacturers and inventors can make the authorize the law, and the final vote was far closer and more Energy research programs and loan guarantees that are criti- long-term investments necessary for real innovation. partisan. cal for the development of sustainable energy technologies. Thanks to these developments, and in spite of the “gath- The U.S. response to the Gathering Storm report was, in More evidence of Congress’ skewed priorities can be ering storm,” I remain hopeful. We must not forget that, other words, uncertain and insufficient. The inadequacy of seen in the debate over the nation’s budget for Fiscal Year although the 20th century is now remembered as the era our efforts was recently laid out in the National Academies’ 2012. The House recently passed a bill that would slash of American innovation, it was also a time of missteps five-year follow-up report. The Committee unanimously funding for the Department of Energy Office of Science and misfortune. At any of the turbulent moments, Ameri- concluded that, since the issuance of the original report, to $800 million below the levels envisioned in the COM- cans might reasonably have wondered whether our coun- “our nation’s outlook has worsened”–and that the “Gather- PETES Act. During debate on the bill, I offered an amend- try would remain a global leader in science and innovation. ing Storm increasingly appears to be a Category 5.” ment to restore at least a portion of that funding so the Of- Yet America always continued to lead, and when we look How have other nations succeeded while America has fice might maintain its ongoing operations. My amendment back on the last century, we barely remember our nation’s stagnated? That question has no single answer, but one fact was defeated. tribulations and stumbles. We remember our successes, our is telling. Each of the five nations ranked by the Information Now is not the time to be slashing federal investment breakthroughs, our giant leaps. Technology and Innovation Foundation as “out-competing” in research and development in science. Investments in our America has more giant leaps to come. the U.S. has implemented a national competitiveness or in- federal science agencies and our national innovation infra- APS Fellow Rush Holt (D-NJ) is currently the only phys- novation strategy: that is, a unified plan to marshal their structure are minimal down-payments on our country’s se- icist serving in Congress. He has represented New Jersey’s governmental and private resources to support new technol- curity, public health, and economic vitality that we cannot 12th district in the House of Representatives since 1999.

APS News welcomes and encourages letters and submissions from its members responding to these and other issues. Responses may be sent to: [email protected]