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NES/APS & NES/AAPT meeting

Spring 2003 Joint Meeting of the New England Sections of
the American Physical Society and
the American Association of Physics Teachers

Friday & Saturday, April 11-12, 2003
Williams College
Williamstown, Massachusetts

The Williams College Department of Physics will host the NES/APS and NES/AAPT meeting in the College’s recently completed Unified Science Center. The science center combines renovated buildings dating from the 1890’s with a new modern laboratory building and science library.

Registration begins Friday April 11th at 1:00 PM, with the first talk at 2:30, and the conference will conclude the following afternoon. A banquet with poster session immediately preceding will be held at the nearby Williams Inn on Friday evening.

About the Program

There will be both invited/plenary and contributed/parallel sessions. In addition, a number of workshops will be offered on Saturday afternoon. Richard Wilson of Harvard Univeristy will give an after dinner talk on the “Role of Physicists in Public Policy.” A social event primarily for student attendees is being planned for Friday night, hosted by the local Society of Physics Students chapter.

Invited Session Themes and Speakers

Friday PM (APS/AAPT): “Quantum Bits”

  • William Wootters, Williams College, “Quantum Entanglement: How a Former Paradox is Becoming a Technology”
  • David Branning, Univ. of Illinois, “Creation, Manipulation, and Measurement of Photonic Qubits”
  • David Mermin, Cornell Univ., “Teaching Quantum Mechanics to Computer Scientists”

Saturday AM (APS): “Ultrafast Pulses Beyond the Visible Spectrum”

  • Xi-Cheng Zhang, Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., “Terahertz Wave Sensing and Imaging”
  • Phil Bucksbaum, Univ. of Michigan, “Ultrashort X-ray Pulses”

Saturday AM (AAPT/APS): “The Teaching of Physics”

  • Stuart Crampton, Williams College, “Teaching Advanced Physics to Non-Majors Using Interactive Computer Movies.”
  • John Hubisz, North Carolina St. Univ., “My Adventures Reviewing the Physical Science in the Most Popular Physical Science Texts in U.S. Middle Schools”

Call for Papers

We invite participants to contribute oral papers or poster papers to be given during one of the several parallel sessions on Saturday morning or during the poster session to be held on Friday evening. Other than the general registration fee, there is no charge to submit an abstract through either the APS or the AAPT, unless one wants the abstract to appear in the APS bulletin.

Individuals wishing to have their abstracts printed in the APS bulletin should submit these through the APS website. There is a $35 fee per abstract which must accompany the conference registration. See the registration form for details. The deadline for submitting papers to be printed in the bulletin is March 21, 2003.

Individuals wishing to submit their papers through the AAPT should see the AAPT website for information. The deadline to submit an abstract through the AAPT is April 4, 2003.

Registration Deadlines and Fees

To allow orderly planning we would appreciate receiving your registration form by March 21. Registrations must be received by March 28 to ensure a place at the banquet. For registrations received after March 28 we will refund the banquet fee if space is not available. Walk-in registration will be available; if possible we would appreciate an e-mail alerting us that you plan to attend.

APS members and AAPT New England Section members may register for $30. Non-members pay $40. Students pay a discounted fee of $5. Please see the registration form for details of the registration fees and the cost of the meals.

NES/APS may reimburse student presenters each up to $100 for registration fees, abstract publication fees, banquet tickets, hotels, meals, and travel to and from the meeting.

Workshops

The AAPT organizers have scheduled a set of workshops to be held on Saturday afternoon. Any participants interested in attending one or more workshops should note any relevant workshop fees and then indicate their choices on the registration form. Workshops will be filled on a first-come first-served basis. For the best chance of getting into a workshop, please send us your registration by March 21.