March Meeting Task Force

APS leadership has convened the March Meeting Task Force to examine how we can continue to provide optimal experiences for all participants, better respond to the emerging needs of various communities involved, address future growth, and connect people and speakers around the world.

Susan Coppersmith of the University of New South Wales and Barbara Jones of IBM Research - Almaden serve as Task Force Co-Chairs.

Charge

Throughout its existence, the APS March Meeting has continued to grow, largely organically, in size, complexity, and cost. Starting in 2017, attendance has increased at more than 10% per year. While this speaks to the success of the March Meeting, such growth has also created challenges. For example, the number of oral contributed sessions cannot easily be accommodated in most convention centers. Also, the growth of APS membership and its APS units, as well as the evolution of physics itself, has created increased demands for invited sessions. Together, these issues have created tension among the participating APS units.

In order to convene a must-attend meeting, provide optimal experiences for all participants, better respond to the emerging needs of the various communities involved (especially students and early-career scientists), address issues of future growth, and accommodate new technologies to connect people and speakers around the world, APS needs to open-mindedly examine a range of issues related to the March Meeting. Questions to be addressed include:

  • What motivates various cohorts, e.g., students, postdocs, private sector, international, etc., to attend the March Meeting?
  • What can prevent them from attending? Should a representational chair line be introduced?
  • Should the March Meeting be split into component - APS unit - parts?
  • What criteria should be used in the selection of future venues?
  • What technologies/capabilities should be anticipated or adopted for meetings of the future?
  • What opportunities exist to create synergies between the March Meeting and the Physical Review journals?
  • How should the program schedule be optimized for the best attendee experience?
  • Should the tradition of all APS members being allowed to present at the meeting continue?
  • Should plenary sessions be scheduled without programmatic competition?
  • What criteria should be used when allocating sessions to participating APS units?
  • What should be the balance of contributed, focus, and invited sessions? What is the role of poster sessions? Can they be made more attractive to accommodate contributed papers?
  • What criteria should be used in the setting of registration fees? Should participating APS units continue to receive a financial return from the March Meeting?
  • If so, how should the share(s) be determined?

Members

Susan Coppersmith
Co-Chair

University of Wisconsin /
University of New South Wales
DCMP, DQI, DSOFT, GSNP, PSAPS

Barbara Jones
Co-Chair

IBM Almaden
DBIO, DCMP, DCOMP, DMP, DQI, DSOFT, GMAG, FDI, FIAP, FWS

Pinar Akcora
Stevens Institute
DPOLY, SNYS

Scott Anderson
The University of Utah
DAMOP, DCP, DLS, S4CS

Daniel Arovas
University of California, San Diego
DCMP, SFW

Richard Averitt
University of California, San Diego
DCMP, DLS, DPB, FHP, FIAP

Kenneth Breuer
Brown University
DBIO, DFD, DSOFT

Kenneth Brown
Duke University
DAMOP, DQI, SESAPS

Todd Brun
University of Southern California
DAMOP, DQI, FEd, FHP, SFW

David Cahill
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
DMP

Lincoln Carr
Colorado School of Mines
DAMOP, DCMP, DCOMP, DCP, DFD, DQI, DSOFT, GSNP, FEd, S4CS

Patrick Charbonneau
Duke University
DCMP, DCP, DSOFT, GDS, GSNP

James Chelikowsky
The University of Texas at Austin
DCMP, DCOMP, DMP

Siu-Tat Chui
University of Delaware
SMAS

Brad Conrad
Society of Physics Students
DCMP, FECS, FEd, SESAPS, SMAS, SNES, SNYS

Daniel Cox
University of California, Davis
DBIO, DCMP, DCP, DPOLY, DSOFT, GPC, FDI, FIAP, FOEP, FPS, SFW

Michael Flatté
University of Iowa
DCMP, DLS, DMP, DQI, GMAG, FHP, FIAP, SPAPS

Krista Freeman
University of Pittsburgh
DBIO, FECS, FHP, FOEP, FPS, SOH

Margaret Gardel
University of Chicago
DBIO

Jason Gardner
Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory
FECS, FIP

Michael Gordon
IBM TJ Watson Research Center
FIAP, SNES

Stephen Hill
Florida State University
DCMP, DMP, GMAG, SESAPS

Michelle Johannes
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
DCOMP, DCP, DMP, GERA, GMAG

James Kakalios
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
DCMP, DMP, FEd, FIAP, FOEP, FPS, SNYS

Matt Kim
QuantTera
FECS, FEd, FIAP, SFW, SNYS, S4CS

Maria Longobardi
BAQIS
DCMP, GDS, GMAG, FECS, FIAP, FIP

Wolfgang Losert
University of Maryland, College Park
DBIO, DSOFT, GDS, GSNP, FEd, SMAS

Allan MacDonald
The University of Texas at Austin
DCMP, DLS, SNYS, STX

Cristina Marchetti
University of California, Santa Barbara
DBIO, DCMP, DPOLY, DSOFT, GSNP, FIP, FOEP, SNYS

Ernesto Marinero
Purdue University
DBIO, DCMP, DMP, DPOLY, GERA, GMAG, GMED, FIAP, SOH

Brad Marston
Brown University
DCMP, DFD, GPC, GSNP, FOEP, FPS, SNES

Laurie McNeil
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
DCMP, DMP, GPER, FDI, FEd, FPS, SESAPS

John Mitchell
Argonne National Laboratory
DCMP, DMP, GMAG, SPAS

Ilya Nemenman
Emory University
DBIO, GDS, GSNP, SESAPS

Ivan Oleynik
University of South Florida
DCMP, DCOMP, DCP, DMP, GSCCM, FIAP

Jesús Pando
DePaul University
FDI, FIP

Mark Pederson
The University of Texas at El Paso
DCMP, DCOMP, DCP, DMP, FEd, FIP, FOEP, SMAS

Dvora Perahia
Clemson University
DPOLY, DSOFT, GSNP, FPS

Stewart Prager
Princeton University
FPS

William Ratcliff
National Institute of Standards and Technology / University of Maryland, College Park
DCMP, DMP, GDS, GMAG, FIAP, SMAS

Jie Ren
Merck
DMP, DPOLY, DSOFT, GDS, GSNP, FECS, FIAP

Brian Schwartz
City University of New York
DCMP, DMP, FED, FHP, FIAP, FOEP, FPS

Annabella Selloni
Princeton University
DCMP, DCOMP, DCP, DMP

David Simmons
University of South Florida
DPOLY, DSOFT

Gary Slater
University of Ottawa
DBIO, DPOLY, DSOFT

Antoinette Taylor
Los Alamos National Laboratory
DLS, DMP, S4CS

Craig Taylor
Colorado School of Mines
GERA, FOEP, S4CS

Matthias Troyer
Microsoft
DCMP, DCOMP, DMP

Eric Weeks
Emory University
DCMP, DFD, DPOLY, DSOFT, GSNP, FDI, FEd, FOEP, SESAPS

Renata Wentzcovitch
Columbia University
DCMP, DCOMP, DCP, DMP, FIP, SNYS

Wojciech Zbijewski
Johns Hopkins University
GMED, FIAP

Timothy Zwier
Sandia National Laboratory
DCP, DLS

Staff Support

Hunter Clemens
Director of Meetings

Lee Bullis
Manager of the Executive Office