FIP sponsored or co-sponsored 4 sessions:

B4, FIP, Panel Discussion: Physics in Africa
J6, FIP and FGSA, Panel Discussion: Policy for Physics and Science in Developing Countries
Q3, FIP and DPF, Keys to Success in Global Collaborative Physics Projects
Y4, FIP and FED together with the AAPT, Panel Discussion: What Can We Learn from Physics Teachers in High Scoring Countries on the TIMSS and PISA International Assessments?

Following are summaries of these sessions.

Panel Discussion: Physics in Africa

Reported by Paul Gueye

Sponsored by the FIP and the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP)
Chairpersons: David Ernst (Vanderbilt University) and Paul Gueye (Hampton University)

The Physics in Africa session, was organized as a FIP sponsored panel discussion session on Saturday, February 13, 2010. The session format included three speakers followed by a panel discussion: Jean-Pierre Ezin (on "Science and Technology in Africa: The African Union Initiative and Financial Support Perspectives", Paul Gueye (on an "International Interdisciplinary Research Institute Project in Senegal") and Gordon McLeod (on "African Astronomy and the Square Kilometer Array"). Due to the weather conditions in Washington, DC, Jean-Pierre Ezin could not be present; in his place a short presentation was made by Charles McGruder (on the future of the African population and its international scientific impact using astronomy as an example).

Paul Gueye is a Research Professor with the Hampton University Physics Department at the Center for Advanced Medical Instrumentation and participates in experiments at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. He is a Member-at-Large of the FIP Executive Committee.

Policy for Physics and Science in Developing Countries

Reported by Paul Gueye

Sponsors: FIP, FGSA
Chairpersons: Paul Gueye (Hampton University) and Galileo Violini (Universita della Calabria)

The Policy for Physics and Science in Developing Countries session was organized as a FIP-FGSA sponsored panel discussion session on Sunday, February 14, 2010. The session format included six speakers: Carlos Aguirre-Bastos (on “Policy for Research and Innovation in Latin America"), Jean-Pierre Ezin (on "Science and Technology in Africa: The African Union Initiative and Financial Support Perspectives"), Mustafa El-Tayeb (on the "Perspective from UNESCO"), William Lawrence (on the "Perspective from the US"), Jose Hipolito Garcia-Garcia (on perspective from the Graduate Students) and Gustavo Atilio Crespi (on “The Financial Support Perspective”). However, due to the inclement weather conditions in Washington, DC, neither Carlos Aguirre-Bastos nor Jean-Pierre Ezin could be present. Galileo Violini presented on their behalf. Mustafa El-Tayeb was prevented from attending by a visa related issue and was also represented by Galileo Violini. William Lawrence was out of the country as part of US State Department related travel.

An Informal Closed Session Panel Discussion followed the two sessions and was held on Sunday with the intent of summarizing both sessions and identifying concrete steps to address some of the challenges to develop science and technologies in developing countries.

At that session there were twelve participants: Gustavo Crespi (Inter-American Development Bank), Chantale Damas (CUNY/The Graduate Center), Jose Hipolito Garcia-Gracia, (Tecnologico de Monterrey), Paul Gueye (Hampton University), Gordon MacLeod (Department of Science and Technology), Charles McGruder (Western Kentucky University), Lawrence Norris (National Society of Black Physicists), Giulia Pancheri (INFN-Italy), Fernando Quevedo (ICTP), Leo Violini (Universita della Calabria), Annick Suzor-Weiner (Embassy of France to the US) and Bahram Zandi (guest participant). The discussion was centered on the following topics:

The Square Kilometer Array: ways to support Africa's bid were addressed and included the possibility of a FIP-initiated study that would consider the socio-economical impact of SKA in both Australia and South Africa (this unbiased study would hopefully benefit Africa's bid);

ICTP support to increase the number of astronomers in Africa: the Sandwich Training Educational Program (STEP) was suggested as one of many training schemes within ICTP for this initiative;

Haiti reconstruction: contribution from ICTP, TWAS, UNESCO and IDB was addressed to foster the inclusion of Science and Technology in the reconstruction of the country's infrastructure following the devastating 2009 earthquake. A trip to the island that included participation from two members of this informal session (Chantale Damas and Annick Suzor-Weiner) was held in May;

ICTP Science & Economic Research Group: consideration of creating/hosting an ICTP-initiated science/economic research group to foster collaboration between scientists and economists to stimulate economic growth through S&T in Africa and developing countries; African Economic Research Consortium: this entity provides advanced policy research and training in economics to the whole African continent. A close collaboration between ICTP and AERC could be initiated to create a science and economics research consortium for Africa;

Science and Economics Forum: the possibility of ICTP hosting a Davos World Economic style forum in science and economics in Africa to bring together scientists, engineers, economists, high level government officials, NGOs and businesses together to discuss science and economic policies for Africa; and

South-South cooperation: a cooperation between Latin America, Central America and Caribbean Universities on one end and Africa on the other to encourage cooperation between universities in these regions and leverage the language barrier between the two continents (for example: Mozambique, Brazil and Portugal are all Portuguese speaking countries).

Paul Gueye is a Research Professor with the Hampton University Physics Department at the Center for Advanced Medical Instrumentation and participates in experiments at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. He is a Member-at-Large of the FIP Executive Committee.

Keys to Success in Global Collaborative Physics Projects

Reported by Harvey Newman

Sponsor: FIP
Chairperson, Harvey Newman (CalTech)

This deeply informative session at the April 2010 meeting, co-sponsored with DPF, explored the key issues in science, technology and global collaboration that face some of the largest and most diverse experimental programs today, which are driving the leading edge of our fundamental knowledge. Steve Myers, Director of Accelerators and Technology at CERN, in a talk entitled "The Large Hadron Collider", spoke of the many technical and international collaborative challenges and accomplishments of the LHC project which defines the leading edge at the high energy frontier of particle physics, as well as the new plans of CERN to broaden global participation.

Samuel C. C. Ting (MIT; Nobel Prize 1976) described "The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) on the International Space Station", a truly groundbreaking project in science and international collaboration jointly sponsored by NASA and DOE. This project will measure the production of electrons and ions as well as their antimatter counterparts during its planned 20 year stay on the International Space Station, and may shed new light on the exciting indication of a positron excess in cosmic rays reported elsewhere at the meeting. Ting also gave a perspective on his career in physics, where each project has been at the leading edge of international collaboration.

Finally, the Marshak Lectureship award winner Mukhles Sowwan (Al-Quds University, Palestinian Authority) gave a wide ranging talk on "SESAME, An International Collaborative Science Project in the Middle East". The SESAME synchrotron radiation facility is a unique multidisciplinary center in Jordan which brings together several hundred scientists from the regions well as other parts of the world, and covers investigations ranging from archaeology to biomedicine to condensed matter and atomic and molecular physics to nanotechnology. The unprecedented success of SESAME in bringing together scientists from Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Pakistan and Turkey to work together in harmony in spite of the politically volatile environment in the region, with the encouragement and help of leading scientists from Europe and the U.S., was a highlight of the session.

Harvey Newman is a Professor at CalTech, a high-energy physics experimentalist and Chair-Elect of the FIP. In that role he is the FIP Program Chair and is currently organizing the sessions for the APS Spring 2011 meetings.

Panel Discussion: What Can We Learn From Physics Teachers in High-Scoring Countries on the TIMSS and PISA International Assessments?

Reported by Cherrill Spencer

Sponsor: FIP, FEd
Chairperson, Cherrill Spencer (Stanford)

What can we learn from physics teachers in high scoring countries on the TIMSS and PISA international assessments? Report on an invited session at the 2010 “April” APS meeting held in Washington DC on 16th February, 2010. The session was organized and chaired by Dr Cherrill Spencer, a member-at-large of the Executive Committee of the Forum on International Physics, who has written this detailed summary for the FIP newsletter so that more people than the 30 who attended the session can learn about this topic. This session was co-sponsored by FIP and the Forum on Education.

The Session was of high interest to many in the FIP community and a very extensive description of the talks and discussion is presented in this newsletter as a SPECIAL FEATURE.

Cherrill Spencer is a Member-at-Large of the FIP Executive Committee, and is a Mechanical Engineer at the SLAC National Accelerator Center at Stanford University.

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