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Sessions & Panels

List of Session Titles

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Plenaries

  • Reaching out to the Public: A Necessary Dialogue

      • Reaching Out to the Public: A Necessary Dialogue

      • PA01
      • Mon 08/01, 10:30AM - 11:30AM
      • by James Stith
      • Type: Plenary
      • What are the roles and responsibilities of scientists to reach out and establish a dialogue with the public? Why is it important for scientists to do this? This talk will also describe various American Institute of Physics (AIP) media efforts including the Discoveries and Breakthroughs Inside Science TV (DBIS) program. DBIS is a peer-reviewed, syndicate science news service that distributes twelve 90-second news segments to local television stations. Each month, DBIS can be seen by more than 52 million people in the USA and over 200 million people internationally. DBIS was supported by the National Science Foundation (2003-2007) and currently has financial support from a broad coalition of scientific societies.
  • APS Division of Condensed Matter Physics Session: Frontiers in Nanoscience

      • A Perspective on the Future of Nanotechnology

      • PB01
      • Mon 08/01, 3:30PM - 4:15PM
      • by Barbara Jones
      • Type: Plenary
      • I will give an overview of the state of nanotechnology, beginning with some current challenges, and including the promise it holds for the future, in particular for the IT industry. From carbon nanotubes to molecular electronics, spintronics to quantum computing, there are many promising avenues for new memory and devices, and I will show how these interesting systems all employ nanometer-scale, and even atomic-scale, critical features. I will give a specific example of my own nanoscience research, describing some surprises in the behavior of atomic-scale engineered spin chains. Finally, I will discuss some fundamental challenges that remain, and conclude with some open questions for the future of the IT industry and the important role that science can play.
      • Etch-a-Sketch Nanoelectronics

      • PB02
      • Mon 08/01, 4:15PM - 5:00PM
      • by Jeremy Levy
      • Type: Plenary
      • The popular children's toy Etch-a-Sketch has motivated the invention of a new method for creating electronic circuits that are so small, they approach the spacing between atoms. The interface between two normally insulating materials, strontium titanate and lanthanum aluminate, can be switched between the insulating and conducting state with the use of the sharp metallic probe of an atomic-force microscope. By "sketching" this probe in various patterns, one can create electronic structures with remarkably diverse properties. This new nanoelectronics platform may lead to new ultra high- density information storage and processing and sensing applications, create new types of particles (called Majorana fermions), and meet the challenge of quantum computation.
  • Robert A. Millikan Medal

      • All I Really Need to Know About Physics Education I Learned in Kindergarten

      • PC01
      • Tue 08/02, 10:30AM - 12:15PM
      • by Brian Jones
      • Type: Plenary
      • We learn by doing. To learn physics, our students must be active, perform investigations, solve problems, and communicate with their peers. The same is true of teaching. We learn by doing, and my work with the Little Shop of Physics program has given me invaluable practice as a physics teacher. For 20 years I have worked with a team of undergraduate students and fellow educators to present this unique hands-on science program to over 250,000 K-12 students. We have worked with students of all ages and all backgrounds, in schools all over the region and the world. Along the way, we have developed effective tools to teach scientific concepts and we have learned useful techniques to engage students. We have traded ideas and insights with thousands of teachers. Going on the road with the Little Shop of Physics takes me out of my classroom, and I return a much better teacher for it. I will share some techniques, some insights, and (of course) some demonstrations that I have developed with my Little Shop colleagues over the past 20 years.
  • Paul W. Zitzewitz Award for Excellence in Pre-College Physics Teaching

      • Blond Girls Can't Learn Physics

      • PC02
      • Tue 08/02, 10:30AM - 12:15PM
      • by Stacy McCormack
      • Type: Plenary
      • At the age of six, Stacy McCormack told her entire family that one day she would become a science teacher. Trained as a high school chemistry teacher, she was fearful of making the transition to teaching physics because of her own fear of physics--but the pleading of her students convinced her to make the switch. As she worked toward her graduate degree, one professor in particular made it especially awkward when he remarked I'll tell you right now, because you're a girl and have blond hair, you'll never understand physics. Stacy designed a guided-inquiry style high school physics class at Penn High School in Mishawaka, IN, that is lab-driven, student-centered, and uses numerous formative assessments to guide student learning. Now the 2011 Indiana State Teacher of the Year and an online adjunct instructor of Astronomy, Physics, and Physical Science classes for Ivy Tech Community College in South Bend, IN, Stacy shares her inexpensively created labs in a book for physics teachers titled "Teacher Friendly Physics." Amazingly, each year hundreds of high school students now find success in physics under the guidance of a blond girl.
  • David Halliday and Robert Resnick Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Physics Teaching

      • Teaching Space Science: A STEM Transformation Vehicle That Really Works

      • PC03
      • Tue 08/02, 10:30AM - 12:15PM
      • by Edward Prather
      • Type: Plenary
      • From assembly line worker to tenured faculty member, a struggle and journey that has made me hungry to help. Over the past decade I have worked closely with hundreds of college instructors, postdocs, graduate students, and undergrads in collaborative projects designed to understand issues of teaching and learning in college-level general education space science courses. The research results from these collaborations have been used to transform classrooms all over the country. We are creating learning environments that can significantly impact learners' science literacy and engagement in STEM for the 250,000 students that take these courses each year. By moving students along the continuum from non-science major, to peer instructor, to degree seeking student, we are creating the next generation's Ambassadors of Science.
  • Klopsteg Memorial Award

      • Halting Human-Made Climate Change: The Case for Young People and Nature

      • PD01
      • Wed 08/03, 10:15AM - 11:30AM
      • by James Hansen
      • Type: Plenary
      • Humans are now the dominant force driving climate change. The nature of the climate system -- its "inertia" and "tipping points" - makes the matter urgent. Business-as-usual would hand our children a situation out of their control - continually shifting shorelines, as many as half of all species committed to extinction, increasing climate extremes with greater floods, droughts, fires and stronger storms. Government policies are nearly useless. The intergenerational injustice raises a profound moral issue, as greenwashing governments feign ignorance of the actual situation and the fecklessness of their policies. The tragedy is that a simple honest solution is possible -- one that stimulates the economy, phases out fossil fuel addiction, and stabilizes climate -- but it requires putting the public's interest above that of special financial interests. Adults must unite with young people in a campaign to force well-oiled coal-fired governments, through legal remedies and democratic processes, to tell the truth and do their job.
  • Distinguished Service Citations

      • Summer 2011 Distinguished Service Citation Awardee

      • PD02
      • Wed 08/03, 10:15AM - 11:30AM
      • by Steve Turley
      • Type: Plenary
      • Summer 2011 Distinguished Service Citation Awardee

      • PD03
      • Wed 08/03, 10:15AM - 11:30AM
      • by John Roeder
      • Type: Plenary
      • Summer 2011 Distinguished Service Citation Awardee

      • PD04
      • Wed 08/03, 10:15AM - 11:30AM
      • by Todd Leif
      • Type: Plenary
      • Summer 2011 Distinguished Service Citation Awardee

      • PD05
      • Wed 08/03, 10:15AM - 11:30AM
      • by Drew Isola
      • Type: Plenary