In the mid 1800s, English scientist, Michael Faraday gave a series of lectures aimed towards the general public and especially young adults with the hopes of conveying scientific phenomena. His intentions were to raise awareness and inspire them. This series became known as The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, a series of lectures on a single topic, which have been held in London each year since 1825 and still continues today. The lectures present scientific subjects in an informative and entertaining manner. Michael Faraday initiated the first Christmas Lecture series in 1825. This came at a time when organized science education for people was scarce. A pioneering researcher, Michael Faraday was also one of the seminal science communicators.

Dear FOEP Members
With this issue of the newsletter I would like to welcome again what has become a regular news feature of the APS Forum on Outreach and Engaging the Public: The FOEP Newsletter. The FOEP is one of seven APS Forums that are a membership-driven group of people—any APS member can join—with a common interest that falls outside the research-oriented focus of the APS divisions.

This is an important time in outreach activities, and the FOEP has an essential role to play. I am honored to serve FOEP and its members as Chair of the Executive Committee during this time of opportunity and challenge. Exciting breakthroughs in physics are occurring at an accelerating rate, and these advances should be advertised and explained to the public. I believe that FOEP can be a key voice in articulating and championing the importance and impact of physics to broad audiences. We also need to remain focused on the participation of graduate students and post-docs who are joining our community.

Our community has not yet managed enough to engage the general public in the excitement of physics research, and if possible to educate them in understanding the importance of this research to their daily lives. This is an important challenge that will not easily be addressed, but it is critical to make efforts to do so, in part to attract the next generation of physicists, but also to ensure that the value of our research is clear to the public.

I believe that FOEP serves the physics research outreach community itself very well through the dedication of the Executive Committee, and I am keen to be involved in this important task. The FOEP publishes a newsletter, sponsors invited sessions, gives the yearly Nicholson Medal Award, proposes APS Fellows, and helps support conferences on physics outreach. We especially need to ensure that the March and April Meeting remain a venue for promoting our activities and fostering the interactions that will lead to even greater impact. Finally, your participation and interest in the FOEP activities listed below is very much appreciated and welcome. We encourage you to participate in any form appropriate.

APS Fellows
In 2015 FOEP was again honored to handle the successful nomination of four new Fellows of the APS for their efforts and contribution to engage the public in the excitement of physics. More information is given by Ivan Schuller, chair of the 2015 Fellowship Nomination Committee, on pages 5 and 6 in this newsletter. This year deadline for you to submit nominations is May 2, 2016. Please learn more at the APS Fellows page.

Dwight Nicholson Medal
Our Forum is also in charge of the Dwight Nicholson Medal for Outreach, that shall be awarded to a physicist who either through public lectures and public media, teaching, research, or science related activities, has successfully stimulated the interest and involvement of the general public on the progress in physics. More information about the two 2015 awardees is given on page 4 of this newsletter by Dan Dahlberg, chair of the 2015 selection committee. The launch date for the 2016 online nomination system is not yet decided.

FOEP Survey
FOEP wished to have an overview of the outreach activities of its members. These are separate from education activities, so direct teaching and related activities are not considered outreach here. The experience gained by this survey is presented on page 7 in this newsletter by Michael Barnett, organizer of this very interesting initiative.

FOEP Bylaws
The revised FOEP bylaws, which mostly account for changes in APS governance and which were approved by our membership, have now been approved by the APS Council.

FOEP Invited Sessions
One of the main responsibilities of the Forum is to organize FOEP Invited Sessions at the March and April meetings of the APS. These are described later in this newsletter.

We thank all those that have run for election for the FOEP Executive Committee. The new elected members are:

Chair-Elect: Itai Cohen
Vice Chair: Larry Gladney
Members at Large: Alice Bean, Heide Doss, and Amber Stuver

We thank outgoing members of the committee:
Ivan Schuller, Sidney Perkowitz and Brian Schwartz

Yvan Bruynseraede