Dear APS Student Member,
Do you like talking about physics? Would you like to meet other graduate students across the country? Ever wanted to take a more active role in the APS?
We are pleased to announce the creation of a new APS unit: the Forum on Graduate Student Affairs (FGSA). The Forum was established by a group of graduate students who wanted to expand the opportunities for involvement in the APS. Over 200 students signed a petition earlier this year; the Forum was approved at the April APS meeting by the APS Council. If you were among those who signed the petition, thank you for your support!
The Forum on Graduate Student Affairs was created with the following objectives: to enhance the ability of the APS to meet the needs of graduate students, to offer support services, and to provide increased opportunity for inclusion and participation in the activities and decision-making of the physics community. In particular, the Forum may:
* Arrange sessions at APS meetings that would be of particular interest to graduate students or others interested in physics graduate student education.
* Nominate students to serve on key APS committees that deal with such issues as increasing the number of women and minorities in physics, careers, international affairs, educations, and membership, and provide a way for these students to report on their activities through a graduate student listserv and a Web site.
* Act as a clearinghouse for issues of concern to graduate students and attempt to address these concerns.
* Make educational tools such as class notes, TA tips, booklists, theses, and student-generated material readily available on the web.
* Seek funding for student travel to APS meetings.
Membership in the FGSA is open to *all* APS members. Undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, graduate advisors, industry professionals, and anyone interested in graduate student education are welcome to join. Please feel free to forward this e-mail to any colleagues whom you feel may be interested.
If you are already an APS member and are interested in joining this new Forum -- at no cost to you this year -- just e-mail the Membership Department at membership@aps.org or sign up using the APS web form at http://www.aps.org/memb/unitapp.html. You can also sign up through our new web page at http://www.chaogic.com/aps/. Please send us any comments or ideas for this new page and we'll add them to the resources already listed there!
Undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in physics (or related) programs who are not currently members may join APS through a Free Trial Membership; see http://www.aps.org/memb/students.html for details.
We look forward to hearing from you soon!
Sincerely,
The FGSA Executive Committee:
P.S. Questions? Comments? E-mail us! You can reach the Executive Committee at FGSA@aps.org.
Susan Niebur, Chair
Chad Topaz, Chair-Elect
Greg Recine, Treasurer
Louise Parsons, Secretary
Joshua Patin, Member-at-Large
Jennifer West, Member-at-Large
Hsuan-Yeh Chang, Newsletter Editor
Xin Chen, Webmaster