Amy Flatten

The APS Office of International Affairs (INTAF) enjoys a strong partnership with the Forum on International Physics (FIP), with several members of the FIP Executive Committee serving on a key advisory body to INTAF — the Committee on International Scientific Affairs (CISA). Together, INTAF, FIP & CISA have built programs to offer travel grants to graduate students, postdocs and professors, to enhance collaborations among young physicists, to help build new networks and partnerships, and to bring speakers for units’ sessions at APS annual meetings. 

As deadlines for these opportunities will be fast approaching this fall, I want to use my remarks in the FIP newsletter to highlight these opportunities, and encourage you to apply. For those professors who may be reading this, we ask you to encourage your graduate students and postdocs to avail themselves of these programs. If you are planning to apply yourself, consider asking your student or postdoc to apply as well, so that they may accompany you on your travels.

U.S. - Brazil Young Physicists Forum
March 12-13, 2016; Baltimore MD
(The weekend before the 2016 APS March Meeting)

The U.S.-Brazil Young Physicists Forum (YPF) is cosponsored by APS, the Brazilian Physical Society (SBF), and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). The YPF will combine scientific sessions with career development and networking opportunities for the early-career physicists who are less than 10 years after completing their Ph.D. and are employed in a permanent professional position. Each country will send ~20 representatives (~40 total for this meeting). We especially wish to encourage U.S. early-career physicists without much prior experience in Brazil to join the meeting.

The Forum will span a day and a half, and focus upon Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Physics, along with all related scientific fields of the APS March Meeting. Through special topical and technical sessions, it will provide early-career physicists from the United States and Brazil with opportunities for:

• Building international & interdisciplinary networks
• Career development discussions on publishing in peer reviewed journals
• Panel sessions on university-industry cooperation
• Plenary sessions and networking opportunities with leaders in condensed matter and materials physics, and VIPs from APS, SBF and FAPESP

Travel Assistance: For those attending the 2016 APS March meeting, there should be no additional travel expenses beyond two extra nights in a hotel. Some financial assistance should be available for hotel costs.

Additional Information: More details on registration, etc. will be sent to directly FIP members in the near future from the APS Communications Dept., and additional information will soon be available on the APS March Meeting and International Affairs web pages.

Brazil-U.S. Exchange Program
Application Deadline for U.S. Applicants: October 26, 2015

The Sociedade Brasileira de Física (SBF) and the American Physical Society (APS) are pleased to sponsor an exchange program for physics Ph.D. students and professors in the U.S. and Brazil. Postdocs in the U.S. can also apply for support to undertake opportunities in Brazil. The Brazil-U.S. Professorship/Lectureship Program funds physicists in Brazil and the United States wishing to visit overseas to teach a short course or deliver a lecture series in the other country. The professorship grants are up to USD $4,000. Through the Brazil-U.S. Physics Ph.D. Student & Postdoc Visitation Program, graduate students and postdocs in the U.S. and Brazil can apply for funds to travel to the other country to pursue a breadth of opportunities in physics. Such opportunities might include:

• Attending a short-course or summer institute;
• Visiting with a professor in his/her field of study;
• Working temporarily in a laboratory; or,
• Undertaking another opportunity that the applicant and host believe is worthy of travel support.

Grants for students and postdocs are up to USD $3,000. The APS funds 10 Ph.D. students or postdocs each year, along with 5 professors traveling from the United States. (The SBF funds a similar number of awards for applicants traveling from Brazil.)  Calls for proposals are issued each fall and spring and the next deadline for proposals from U.S. applicants is October 26, 2015. See program application guidelines.

U.S. - India Travel Grant Program
Proposal Deadline for all Applicants: 26 October 2015

The Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) sponsors and APS administers the exchange of physicists, physics Ph.D. students, and postdocs between India and the United States. Similar to the Brazil program mentioned above, the APS-IUSSTF Professorship Awards permit physics professors from India and the U.S. to deliver short courses or a lecture series in the other country. The APS-IUSSTF Physics Ph.D. Student & Postdoc Visitation Program is intended for physics Ph.D. students and postdocs who wish to pursue opportunities in physics such as to attend a summer institute or work temporarily in a laboratory. The IUSSTF provides funds that enable 4 students and postdocs and 4 professors (total from U.S. and India) each year. Calls for proposals are issued each fall and the next application deadline is 26 October 2015. More information is available at the US-India Travel Grant Program page.

International Research Travel Award Program (IRTAP)
Application Deadline soon to be announced by FIP (look for more info this fall)

Also see the article in this issue: “APS International Research Travel Award Program:  Providing Support to International Collaborators,” by Michele Irwin

The APS International Research Travel Award Program (IRTAP), formerly known as the International Travel Grant Award Program (ITGAP), was established in 2004 by the Forum on International Physics to promote international scientific collaborations between developed and developing country scientists. The IRTAP continues to grow and flourish and now enjoys financial support from all APS Divisions, several Topical Groups, as well as the Forum on International Physics. Grantees are awarded up to $2,000 for travel and lodging expenses for international travel while visiting a collaborator. More information on the IRTAP is available at the  International Research Travel Award Program page.

Marshak & Beller Lectureships - Call for Nominations from Unit Chairs coming this fall 2015

The Society continues to bring international physicists to speak at APS meetings through both the Marshak and Beller Lectureship Awards, which support distinguished physicists from the developed and developing countries respectively. The Beller Lectureship was endowed by Esther Hoffman Beller for the purpose of bringing distinguished physicists from outside the United States as invited speakers at APS annual meetings. The Marshak Lectureship, endowed by Ruth Marshak in honor of her late husband and former APS president, Robert Marshak, provides travel support for physicists from "developing nations or the Eastern Bloc" invited to speak at APS annual meetings.

Each fall, the Chair of CISA and the Director of International Affairs solicits APS unit Chairs for nominations of outstanding speakers from outside of the United States, whom they have invited to speak during their sessions at the March and April meetings. Along with the travel funds of $2000, the international speakers will be honored in the meeting program and/or other printed materials as Beller or Marshak Lectureship recipients.

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The opportunities above are just a few of the programs developed by the APS International Office, in partnership with FIP and CISA. We hope that you will apply and we also ask you to encourage your graduate students and postdocs to participate in these programs. Please visit our website for more information on our joint meetings with other national physical societies, advice on visa issues, APS human rights activities and our other expanding efforts across the globe. Most importantly, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly — I’d welcome the chance to hear from my colleagues in the Forum on International Physics. Flatten@aps.org, www.aps.org/programs/international.

Dr. Amy Flatten is Director of International Affairs at the American Physical Society

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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.