COVID-19

A Message to Our Community

“We face a time of extraordinary challenges. We know, however, that our physics community will be resilient and resourceful in the face of crisis as the world confronts the coronavirus pandemic.”

Read the full letter from APS President Phil Bucksbaum (2020 APS President) and APS CEO Kate Kirby (2015-2020)


APS Continues to Support You

APS is committed to doing its part to slow the spread of the coronavirus, while continuing to serve our members, customers, and broader community, as well as ensuring the health and safety of our employees. Therefore, APS staff are currently at home, performing their regular work in support of APS's mission. Please be assured that we will continue to do all that we can in support of you and the physics enterprise. If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know via this form.


Special COVID-19 Innovation Fund Cycle (IF-COVID19)

While the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on our community, it is also the case, as stated by the APS President and CEO, that the pandemic presents "an existential challenge, which can accelerate positive change, spur innovation, and make us stronger and more resilient." To facilitate these activities and respond to unique needs of the community as a result of the pandemic, APS reopened the Innovation Fund for a condensed cycle to fund projects that address critical needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The APS Innovation Fund provides funding to advance collaborative projects that support the APS mission "to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics for the benefit of humanity, promote physics, and service the broader physics community."

APS awarded two grants led by current APS members for projects that advance an interest of the physics community that have arisen as a result of current circumstances and align with the APS Strategic Plan.

Learn more


Physical Review Journals

Read detailed, up-to-date information about all aspects of the Physical Review journals’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key updates include the following:

  • All Physical Review editorial and publishing functions continue to operate at full capacity.
  • APS is extending increased support and flexibility to authors, referees, readers, and librarians experiencing challenges due to COVID-19, including:
    • Many researchers now find themselves working away from their institutions and, thus, may have trouble accessing the Physical Review journals. To address this, we have been improving remote access via several different mechanisms. Learn more
  • APS is highlighting a collection of peer-reviewed research from the Physical Review journals potentially relevant to COVID-19, and taking steps to make it more discoverable, accessible, and usable, including:

Status of Scientific Meetings

Meetings Operating Status

All in-person APS meetings and unit meetings have been canceled through December 31, 2020, and APS is working closely with our unit executive committees and program committees to coordinate virtual meetings and events in their place. 

We are carefully monitoring the situation and will provide updates regarding the status of the 2021 March Meeting later in the fall. 

The operating status of all APS meetings will be posted on our meetings calendar.


Membership

During the COVID-19 pandemic, APS is offering renewing members a one-year waiver of unpaid membership dues (including unit dues), if they have suffered hardship due to the pandemic. Members who have become unemployed, furloughed, have had hours or wages reduced, are facing illness or family care responsibilities, or are experiencing other pandemic related hardship are eligible for this waiver. Further information will be provided in member renewal notices and questions may be directed to membership@aps.org.


Supporting Educators

Many physics instructors have suddenly found themselves in an unprecedented situation: their institutions are immediately transitioning to a completely online format. Find strategies and lists of resources to get started:


APS News and Physics Today

APS members will continue to receive print copies of APS News and Physics Today.

If you currently receive them at your workplace, you may go to your my.aps.org profile to add a delivery address to receive them at home.

We would also like to remind everyone that they can read all the articles published by APS News free online. Read APS News


COVID Research and Resources Group (CRRG)

To foster a coordinated community among physicists working or interested in COVID-related research, the APS Topical Group on Medical Physics (GMED), in partnership with other APS units, has recently created the new COVID Research & Resources Group (CRRG) on the APS Engage platform. APS Engage is an online community where users can participate in discussion forums, post and view resources, and network with other community members.

CRRG will serve as a meeting and discussion hub for COVID-related research, resources, and activities within APS. These activities may include broad-based COVID research webinars and events within focused interest groups (e.g., modeling, imaging, technologies) such as journal clubs, discussion forums, the formation of research consortia, as well as communications with partner organizations, societies, industry corporations, and news media.

Join this new online community by logging into APS Engage with APS credentials and opting into the COVID Research and Resources Group (CRRG).


Questions/Support

If any of your questions are not addressed above, you can always contact us using the information on our Contact Us page.