Larry Cain, Chair Elect – Forum on Education, Davidson College

The Forum on Education program committee has completed its work selecting the sessions for the APS March Meeting from March 5-9, 2018 in Los Angeles, CA and the APS April Meeting from April 14-17, 2018 in Columbus, OH. The Chair Elect of the Forum on Education is the chair of the program committee. The program committee has developed a great slate of sessions which should be of interest to a broad audience.

As program chair, I would like to thank the committee for all their hard work putting together these sessions. This year’s program committee included Forum on Education Executive Committee members Chuhee Kwon and Geraldine Cochran, Janelle Bailey representing the American Association of Physics Teachers, Larry Gladney representing the Forum for Outreach and Engaging the Public, Alex Maries who contributed an AAPT co-sponsored session, and Monica Plisch representing APS and who also contributed an AAPT co-sponsored session. The committee also consulted closely with Ted Hodapp from APS and John Thompson from the topical group on physics education research (GPER). Informal invitations have gone out to the speakers who will soon receive a formal invitation from the APS, so a speaker list cannot be announced at this time. However, session titles can be announced.

APS March Meeting from March 5-9, 2018 in Los Angeles, CA

Session 1 – Reichert Award Session – This session will feature the Reichert Award recipient and other speakers discussing Advanced Laboratory instruction.

Session 2 – Diversity and Inclusion in Graduate Education (co-sponsored by Division of Materials Physics) – This session will feature speakers discussing programs designed to change physics graduate education so that it is more diverse and inclusive. It will feature discussions of the Bridge Program, admissions requirements, fostering diverse programs, and student mental health in high-diversity STEM programs. A panel discussion as the last slot in the session will allow questions from the audience.

Session 3 – Effective practices for student career preparedness and departmental programmatic assessment – This session will feature speakers discussing recent efforts to improve physics undergraduate education, including talks on 21st century careers and outcomes, effective practices in undergraduate physics programs, and Physics Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education.

Session 4 – How to Get a Job: Expanding Career Perspectives for Physicists – This session addresses the issue of careers for undergraduate and graduate students in physics, both within academia and in the private sector. It will feature speakers from industry, national labs, a primarily undergraduate institution, and speakers who have taken alternate career paths. It is meant to be particularly appropriate for the many student (graduate and undergraduate) attendees at the meeting.

Session 5 – Physics for Everyone – We are co-sponsoring this Division of Materials Physics session which will have the theme of “Physics of Life”. The speakers will be asked to give general talks about contemporary approaches to solving grand problems in biology using a physicist’s approach.

APS April Meeting form April 14-17, 2018 in Columbus, OH

These sessions are not complete at this time, but session topics have been determined. When these sessions are finalized, an announcement will be placed on the Forum website.

Session 1 – Forum on Education Excellence in Physics Education Award – This session will present this year’s award recipient and include two other talks on physics education topics.

Session 2 – The Cutting Edge of Physics Education Research (co-sponsor with GPER) – This session will feature speakers whose work is pushing forward the boundary of physics education research.

Session 3 – Research in Recruiting Physics Teachers (AAPT contributed session)

Session 4 – Preparing graduate students for careers outside academia (AAPT contributed session).

Session 5 – Effective Practices for program review and improvement: APS Task Force preliminary report.

Disclaimer – The articles and opinion pieces found in this issue of the APS Forum on Education Newsletter are not peer refereed and represent solely the views of the authors and not necessarily the views of the APS.