Division of Polymer Physics

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May 2014 Newsletter

Inside this Issue

Deadlines

Brazil-U.S. Exchange Program, applications due Friday, May 30. Please watch upcoming deadlines for other travel grant opportunities (ITGAP, India).

Nominations for APS Fellow. Due Monday, June 2.
Description and instructions available online.

Proposals for focus topics at the 2015 March meeting. Email: thepps@udel.edu
See more info below.

Nomination for the Polymer Physics Prize. Due Tuesday, July 1.
Description and instructions available online.

Nomination for Dillon Medal. Due Tuesday, July 1.
Description and instructions available online.

Application for the new Ovshinsky Sustainable Energy Fellowship. Due Tuesday, July 1.
Description and instructions available online.

March meeting abstracts.

Nomination for Frank J. Padden Jr. award. Send nominations by email to Wesley Burghardt (w-burghardt@northwestern.edu) using the subject line “Padden_name of student”.

Nomination for UKPPG/DPOLY Polymer lecture exchange.
Description and instructions available online.

DPOLY 2014 Business Meeting

The minutes to the business meeting held at the Denver March meeting can be found on the meeting minutes document. Please note there the clarification concerning letters of nomination. Questions can be directed to any Executive Committee member.

DPOLY Program for the APS March Meeting 2015

The next APS March Meeting is March 2-6, 2015 in San Antonio, TX. Organization of this meeting already has begun. Focus sessions and invited sessions are crucial to support our vibrant and evolving field. All DPOLY members are encouraged to propose topics for these sessions. Please contact the 2015 Program Chair, Thomas H. Epps, III (thepps@udel.edu) with suggestions and/or questions.

Focus Sessions typically contain one invited (36 min) talk per session and a series of contributed (12 min) talks that are organized by 1-3 people who pick the topic, select potential invited speakers, and advertise the topic to encourage the submission of contributed abstracts. A major purpose of these sessions is to bring new, emerging, and rapidly-evolving topics to the APS meeting. Example topics from the 2014 meeting can be found on the DPOLY Focus Topic Descriptions web page.
Please send suggestions for focus sessions by June 15 to thepps@udel.edu. Thank you.
Invited Sessions are single sessions with 5 invited talks in each session. Each invited talk is 36 min. Suggestions for invited sessions on a particularly current/exciting topic are welcome to thepps@udel.edu. Note: the number of invited sessions is limited.

Additionally, if you have any general suggestions for the 2015 March meeting, please contact Thomas Epps by email.

APS Corporate Reform

APS is reorganizing its governing body; for more info, see the APS Corporate Reform page. Although there is no specific proposal yet, it is expected to have these two elements:

Instead of APS Council, there will be a smaller governing board. Council will no longer decide fiduciary details and then can address priorities for APS more adequately. For example, APS’s strategic goals can be discussed and acted on with greater energy and attention.
The APS staff will be restructured, likely under one head.

Our DPOLY councilor, Mark Ediger, is seeking that small divisions be protected. After a final plan is developed and approved by APS Council, it will be taken to a full society vote.

GSOFT Update

GSOFT is officially a new topical group. They are selecting their initial leadership, and the DPOLY programming committee looks forward to working with them while organizing the 2015 March meeting.

Upcoming Meetings of Interest

Soft Materials under External Constraints, a summer school for PhD students and postdocs organized by the International Research Training Group (IRTG) “Soft Matter Science” (a collaboration between U. Freiburg, Germany and U. Strasbourg, France). The school will be held in Mittelwihr, France during July 6-11; the registration deadline is May 25.

Polymer Physics Gordon Research Conference. July 13-18, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA. This conference, “New Developments in Polymer Dynamics, Crystallization, Self-Assembly, and Interface/Confinement Effects,” is chaired by Sindee Simon.

Polymer Physics Gordon Research Seminar. July 12-13, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA. This forum for graduate students and post-docs, “At the Intersection between Physics, Chemistry, and Engineering”, is chaired by Laura Gray.

This DPOLY newsletter was prepared by: Steve Hudson, Secretary-Treasurer; Amalie Frischknecht, Member-at-Large and Publicity Committee Chair; Karen Winey, Executive Committee Chair. The articles in this newsletter represent the views of their author(s) and are not necessarily those of the Unit or APS.