Our updated strategic framework, a Centennial Vision for AIP, builds on our current momentum and sets forth a vision of AIP as a unifying force within the diverse physical sciences enterprise: convening communities, enabling action, and catalyzing ideas.
AIP brings coherence and an informed voice to a complex ecosystem — supporting discovery, advancing educational and career opportunities, and stimulating positive change throughout the physical sciences enterprise.
Empowering Our Community
2025 was a year of tremendous change, challenge, and turbulence. For AIP, it was a time to come together and leverage our collective strength as a Federation and an Institute. This year served as a powerful reminder that as a community of independent organizations we are stronger together, with a unifying vision: to move the physical sciences — and humanity — forward. Our work over the past year is evidence of how we continue to link individuals and organizations with the content, research products, reporting and other tools they need to learn, progress, and thrive.
I am proud of the many accomplishments AIP continues to make toward advancing our mission. However, several areas should be highlighted:
Preparing for AIP’s Next Century of Impact
2025 saw us complete and adopt a renewed and forward-looking vision for AIP, one that will guide us as we head toward our centenary celebration in 2031. The five-year framework, A Centennial Vision for AIP , builds and expands on the strength of who we are today — a Federation and an Institute that empowers organizations and people who make scientific discoveries possible.
Expanding Our Research
2025 saw us launch AIP’s first annual research agenda to explore pressing topics at the nexus of history, policy, and culture. Our strong focus on research is central to what we do: empowering our community with data and information to help them make informed decisions in addition to linking past and present to establish building blocks with which to create a better future.
The year marked the launch of our new policy analysis capability. We hired our first Associate Director of Public Policy Research and Analysis and created two primers in response to policy changes that have major implications for the physical sciences community. Policy primer: A new $100,000 fee on H-1B Visas explored the implications of a major change made by the federal government in immigration processing. Policy primer: The 2025 government shutdown helped our community understand what made the 2025 shutdown different from previous shutdowns.
With this work, AIP continues to build bridges across the physical sciences and bring people together around big-picture issues. During a time when science is under attack, credible, fact-based information is more important than ever. Signing up to receive AIP’s research and policy updates, along with additional newsletters, will keep you abreast of the information you need.
Responding to Our Community
2025 also saw AIP respond to our community’s needs with the Board’s creation of AIP Rapid Response Grants to help societies that lost federal funding, due to cuts in science. $200,000 was set aside to support grant aid to Member Societies that applied for help. Both the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) benefited from this emergency stopgap funding — allowing programs time to find alternate longer-term funding.
Evolving with Our Times
During 2025, we completed the migration and integration of our flagship publication, Physics Today, onto and into our modern digital platform. Along with a digital-first approach to delivering PT articles and news, the migration gives us the ability to be more responsive to our audience’s needs. It also allows us to understand better how our readers are interacting with our content, in addition to cultivating more effective connections with diverse communities of practice that constitute the magazine’s readership. AIP teams can now seamlessly integrate PT content across AIP digital channels. Be sure to sign up to get PT delivered to your inbox.
Fostering Inclusive Practices
Building and sustaining inclusive practices across the physical science enterprise is foundational to AIP. We are committed to fostering active environments where collaboration and a culture of belonging are baked in. Guided by data, we work to identify and remove systemic and cultural barriers that disproportionately impact those who are underserved and face the starkest impediments to academic and professional success. Through intentional policies, partnerships, and community-driven efforts, we expand access, support persistence, and ensure that opportunity within the physical sciences is equitable and sustainable for all with an interest in a career as a physical sciences professional.
To learn more about how we are advancing, promoting, and serving the physical sciences, please continue reading.
Michael H. Moloney
Chief Executive Officer
OUR VISION is a better world shaped in part by a physical sciences enterprise that is welcoming and filled with opportunity and success.
OUR OVERARCHING STRATEGY is that AIP catalyzes and strengthens positive change in the physical sciences enterprise by advancing the success of our Member Organizations and empowering our community with content, context, and connection.
Success means that by being part of AIP, our Member Organizations are more empowered and better equipped to advance their own missions.
AIP Launches Two Working Groups
2025 saw rapid policy-driven change in the physical sciences enterprise. In response to and at the impetus of our Member Organizations, AIP launched two new topical working groups covering Government Affairs and Advocacy along with Meetings and Expositions.
In our role as a convener, AIP continues to bring together Member Organization staff and volunteer leaders to respond to shared interests and build on the strength of the Federation to benefit all.
Federation in Action
The Government Affairs and Advocacy Working Group meets every other week and provides representatives of AIP Member Organizations with the opportunity to discuss their efforts, seek partners, and report back on activities. The agenda is set by the working group members and focuses on fostering conversation and exploring the opportunity for shared action. The group, which began with 40 members, grew to 75 people by the end of 2025 and multiple joint activities and campaigns have emerged — including the sharing of advocacy infrastructure by these independent organizations.
The Meetings and Exposition Working Group was formed in response to multiple Federation conversations on the dramatically changing landscape surrounding conferences and events. The group is co-chaired by representatives from the American Meteorological Society and APS. Topics focus on what’s on the horizon as organizations reimagine meetings, how to continue to deliver value to participants, how government policy changes impact scientific meetings, and how to mitigate risks when planning meetings several years in advance.
The 2025 AIP Annual Forum explored timely topics, such as navigating the rapid changes in today’s science landscape and leveraging AI technology for association operations. The daylong convening of Member Organizations and other leaders in the physical sciences community was held at the American Center for Physics in Washington, D.C.
Get Involved
Interested in participating in a working group or have an idea for a new group? Contact membersocieties@aip.org .
We are dedicated to creating a physical sciences community where everyone can thrive.
AIP Office Strengthens Commitment to Opportunity and Advancement
The Office of Career Opportunity and Advancement continues its work to expand career pathways, including academic opportunities, across the physical sciences community. This work reinforces AIP’s long-term commitment to helping identify and remove barriers to ensure that anyone who is interested in pursuing a career in the physical sciences has the opportunity to do so.
Advancing STEM Excellence through Opportunity
Evidence demonstrates that excellence, creativity, and innovation in STEM is enhanced when the fullest spectrum of perspectives and backgrounds are present. By removing barriers and expanding opportunity, particularly for those facing the starkest barriers, we strengthen the entire field, unlock innovation, improve outcomes, advance educational excellence, and drive scientific progress — the very essence of STEM Excellence.
Our data show that not everyone has the same access to resources, support, and opportunity. We recognize that long-standing barriers, such as an unwelcoming environment, being excluded from opportunities, or generally not being supported, can discourage and even prevent talented individuals from entering the physical sciences. AIP supports students and professionals, including those who face the starkest barriers, in a variety of ways. Our work in 2025 included community-building, professional development, scholarships, and awards.
In February 2025, AIP Hosted the Inaugural AIP Summit on Championing Inclusion and Expanding Opportunities in the Physical Sciences. The summit brought together approximately 60 leaders from Member Organizations for a day of community building, skill building, and knowledge sharing. The event was held in Washington, D.C., at the American Center for Physics.
In April 2025 in Washington, D.C., AIP hosted 60 CEOs from the STEMM Opportunity Alliance — a national effort led by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an AIP Member Organization. The alliance, of which AIP is a founding member, brings together organizations and entities, from across sectors and scientific communities,that are committed to ensuring any American, no matter their background or location, has the access and opportunity to enter and thrive in the STEMM economy.
STEM excellence means more than technical achievement. It is about creating strong learning environments that promote a sense of belonging, drive inclusive professional career opportunities, and break down systemic barriers to allow people to grow, lead, and make meaningful contributions to the physical sciences. It is about combining rigorous high standards in science and education with the support people need to succeed and stay in the field.
Our mission at TEAM-UP Together is to catalyze cultural and structural changes in physics and astronomy by significantly increasing graduation outcomes for undergraduates who face the starkest barriers, including African Americans, in physics and astronomy.
Support for Students and Faculty in Physics and Astronomy in 2025:
- $870,000 in scholarships was awarded to 87 undergraduates majoring in physics and astronomy with financial need, thereby reducing economic barriers to persistence and degree completion for these scholars.
- $1.27 million was awarded to seven TEAM-UP Together (TUT) EXCEL grantees to support physics and astronomy departments and faculty engaged in systemic change initiatives. These grants focus on transforming departmental culture, policies, and practices to improve student belonging, support structures, and educational outcomes.
- TEAM-UP Together Student Experience 2025 , the second convening, brought together 60 undergraduate students around the theme “Quantum Noir: Claiming Space in Quantum Science” in recognition of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. Held just prior to the 2025 SPS Congress in Denver, the student experience conference provided students with an opportunity to build community, learn from professionals in the field, strengthen scientific identity, and explore pathways into quantum science and technology.
AIP’s research team is focused on delivering research products that empower positive change across the physical sciences.
AIP Launches First Annual Research Agenda
AIP launched its inaugural annual research agenda , identifying key issues where social science, policy insight, and historical research can advance the physical sciences. The agenda is a core part of how we explore pressing topics at the nexus of history, policy, and culture.
Turning Insight into Action
The inaugural agenda identified five areas of focus:
- The Next Generation of Scientific Society Leaders
- A Century of Breakthroughs in Quantum Science and Technology
- The Federal Physical Science Workforce
- Climate, Atmospheric, and Oceanic Sciences Education Pipeline
- The Faces of Physical Sciences
Each year, AIP staff work with leaders from Member Organizations, the Board of Directors, and the AIP Foundation Board of Trustees to identify three to seven new topics on which to focus our research activities for that year. One outcome from this effort is the Building Up the Next Generation of Scientific Society Leaders report, which features lessons for mentors and science and engineering societies anchored in the stories of 22 early-career scientists and engineers.
Stay Informed
Read more about AIP’s research agenda.
Sign up to receive monthly research updates.
Stay up to date on the latest science policy news.
In April, AIP conducted a survey to understand the impacts of restrictions on federal grant funding in physics and astronomy graduate programs.
The SPS Congress is about more than just bringing students together. We’re focused on building tomorrow’s leaders.
The SPS Congress provides a unique experience for undergraduate students to learn how to unleash their potential for their future careers.
Through SPS and Sigma Pi Sigma, students are not just participants in the physical sciences, they are emerging professionals shaping the future of these fields.
SPS Congress Focuses on Developing Future Leaders, Re-Engaging Alumni
Nearly 1,100 students, SPS alumni, and VIP stakeholders convened in Denver on Oct. 30–Nov. 1 for the 2025 Physics and Astronomy Congress, also called SPSCon (formerly PhysCon). The nation’s largest gathering of physics and astronomy undergraduate students is held every three years and focuses on supporting all the career choices of our undergraduate community. This year’s Congress added two new workshops: a day-and-a-half event that helped students develop their leadership skills and another session for SPS alumni that focused on finding ways to more effectively engage this community of 70,000+ graduates.
In a profession that has not always been seen as welcoming or supportive, retaining the best and brightest students to solve some of humanity’s most pressing challenges is critical and urgent. The Congress provides students interested in the physical sciences with a community to share and learn from each other and gain valuable skills for future career success, including the opportunity for undergraduates to present their research in a welcoming and supportive environment.
The 2025 Congress theme, “Supporting Our Phase Shifts,” focused on the changes and challenges undergraduates faced in the prior three years. The Congress featured, among other events, 15 workshops, a career expo, and a graduate fair. Students also had the opportunity to visit world-class research facilities and learn about career opportunities. Tours included visits to NIST-JILA, Colorado School of Mines, Chamberlain Observatory, Red Rocks Amphitheater, and Lockheed Martin.
Stay Connected
- Read more about the 2025 SPSCon.
- Hear from SPSCon Co-Chair Molly McDonough about how SPS and Sigma Pi Sigma provided her with community, connection, and a career.
- Stay involved as an SPS alum.
Learn how AIP Foundation Supports Student Success Through SPS .
In conjunction with the 2025 SPSCon in Denver, AIP Board Chair David Helfand moderated a fireside chat on “Science and Society: Essential Connections” with Ana María Cetto , winner of the AIP 2025 John Torrence Tate Medal for International Leadership in Physics, and Steven Chu , winner of the AIP 2024 Karl Taylor Compton Medal for Leadership in Physics. Cetto and Chu spoke about the importance of nurturing the next generation of physical scientists.
The migration of Physics Today onto AIP’s digital platform allows us to deliver value to our audience in ways we’ve never been able to before.
Physics Today Transforms into a Digital-First Brand
Physics Today completed its migration onto AIP’s digital platform to become a true “digital-first” publication. Digital first means content is published online before it appears in print. A benefit of membership for the 100,000+ individuals in AIP Member Societies, AIP’s flagship publication continues to be available in print.
The magazine’s digital transformation responds to how content is increasingly consumed by audiences today. Unlike a print publication, which is static, a digital-first publication enables flexibility, including posting updates in real time; incorporating multimedia components, such as videos and audio; and adding new features and exclusive content to give readers a reason to come back and engage.
The new digital platform offers other benefits. For the first time, all of PT’s digital products are together in one place. As articles are written, they are immediately posted online, avoiding the weeks of lead time inherent in producing a monthly print magazine. Readers can find and read content that is most relevant to them, and by seeing what content readers are seeking, PT’s editors can better tailor future content that meets readers’ needs and interests. Also, AIP’s flagship publication is now integrated directly onto the AIP website, reinforcing the AIP brand.
Discover What’s New with PT
- Check out the new Physics Today .
- In recognition of 2025 being the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, PT culled its archives to assemble the best quantum-related articles over the past 77 years into a Special Archival Issue .
AIP Launches New Community Platform
In June 2025, AIP launched AIP Exchange, a new digital community platform built to connect people across the Federation. AIP Exchange is designed to strengthen collaboration and knowledge-sharing, giving staff, partners, and stakeholders a digital space to exchange ideas, align on goals, and stay connected between meetings.
The digital platform is part of a broader initiative to connect the AIP community. AIP Exchange helps us see where conversations naturally form across the physical sciences and gives us new ways to support that organic collaboration. It provides a dynamic forum for conversation across AIP’s stakeholders — for instance, TEAM-UP Together scholars and participants in Federation working groups. The platform can also support Member Organization communities such as the private community for the Society of Rheology and its membership that launched in late 2025. Plans are in place to support additional communities, such as PT and FYI readers, researchers, students, and educators.
The new, digital-first Physics Today and AIP Exchange platform.
We believe in the power of the physical sciences to shape a better world, and we want to ensure our brand reflects that.
AIP Elevates Its Brand Story
AIP crystalized its brand story to showcase who we are, reflecting that today AIP is, first and foremost, a Federation and an Institute. While AIP’s collection of programs may evolve and change over time, the focus remains the same: to empower the organizations and people who work to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.
In today’s highly competitive marketplace, organizations need to clearly communicate the reason they exist — known as their “brand story” or “brand narrative” — or they risk becoming irrelevant.
In 2022, AIP launched a new visual identity with a more modern look and feel. Since that time, AIP has continued to finetune how we talk about our organization through our brand story. As a part of that effort, through 2025 we conducted a series of staff workshops to ensure everyone is telling the same story, reinforcing that we are “one AIP” that exists to advance, promote, and serve the physical sciences for the benefit of humanity.
See What’s Happening at AIP
Take a look at AIP today .
The incredible generosity of AIP’s donors and partners enables us to support the next generation of scientists, preserve scientific history, provide crucial science policy journalism, and drive opportunity and excellence in the physical sciences — all for the benefit of humanity.
AIP Foundation’s mission is to inspire philanthropy that advances, promotes, and serves the physical sciences for the benefit of humanity.
AIP Honors Outgoing Board Chair, New Endowed Forum Named in Her Honor
After five years as the inaugural chair of the AIP Foundation Board of Trustees, 2025 saw the Honorable France A. Córdova’s being honored for her service, at a special tribute in her hometown of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The internationally recognized astrophysicist’s pioneering work across science, engineering, and education has helped shape science, science policy, and science funding. Córdova currently serves as president of the Science Philanthropy Alliance, whose mission is to advance science through visionary philanthropy.
Córdova’s impact on AIP and AIP Foundation as the inaugural AIP Foundation chair will be long-lasting and deep. In recognition of this remarkable contribution and her trailblazing extraordinary career, AIP has created the France A. Córdova Endowed Forum on Science Policy & Society . This new initiative, made possible by a generous donation from internet pioneer and former AIP Foundation Board of Trustee member Vint Cerf, will support an annual marquee event focused on addressing critical issues at the intersection of science, policy, and society.
Learn about France Córdova’s Impact
I believe that the health and continued investment in the physical sciences is critical to the future of humanity and that AIP and the Foundation fill a unique niche in fostering the physical sciences enterprise.
AIP Appoints New Board of Trustees Chair
2025 saw Julia M. Phillips named chair of the AIP Foundation Board of Trustees. Phillips served as vice president and chief technology officer for Sandia National Laboratories, where she retired in 2015 after nearly 20 years. She currently serves on the National Science Board and chaired the AIP expert panel that authored the Peril and Promise: Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Physical Sciences report in 2020.
Read more about Julia Phillips.
Philanthropy Enables AIP Initiative to Document Women’s Contributions to the Physical Sciences
AIP received a generous grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to launch a major initiative to document and celebrate women’s contributions to the physical sciences — one of five research themes from AIP’s 2025 Research Agenda.
Women’s contributions to the physical sciences have often been overlooked or undocumented. As part of this initiative, AIP is encouraging women at all stages of their careers to document their experiences — through words or images — and to contribute them for consideration for inclusion in the collections of AIP’s Niels Bohr Library & Archives. Selected materials will become part of the permanent collections and serve as a resource for current and future STEM professionals and historians.
The same grant from the Henry Luce Foundation enabled the Niels Bohr Library & Archives to hire a summer field study intern. Jamila Hinds, a University of Maryland graduate student, worked to preserve important collections that document the history of physics and allied sciences.
Preserving the Stories of Women in Science
- Read more about how AIP is giving a name to “Mrs. Scientist .”
- Help us document women’s contributions to the physical sciences by contributing a photo .
TEAM-UP Together Capital Campaign: A Celebration of Impact
In April 2025, donors, partners, students, and advocates gathered to celebrate the impact of TEAM-UP Together, a collective action initiative established by “Lead Partners” AAPT, American Astronomical Society (AAS), AIP, APS, and SPS. By working to improve graduation outcomes and creating a welcoming environment for physics and astronomy undergraduate students who face the starkest barriers to earning their degrees, TEAM-UP Together plays an important role in enhancing the national pipeline of STEM talent — critical for competitiveness, innovation, and economic growth.
TEAM-UP Together is 100% funded by private philanthropy. We wouldn’t be able to create this incredible impact and systemic change without the crucial support of donors, funders, and partners, including the Simons Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, Heineman Foundation, and many individual donors. The TEAM-UP Together Lead Partners are deeply grateful for the support of our donor community in advancing the TEAM-UP Together mission.
Since its inception in 2022, thanks to donor support, TEAM-UP Together has awarded 194 students who represent more than 100 schools with a total of $2.52 million in scholarships, helping them to persist, flourish, and imagine new possibilities for their careers through robust program offerings. The groundbreaking program has also awarded 18 academic departments with a total of $3.27 million to strengthen support systems and foster welcoming environments where students can thrive.
We see [TEAM-UP Together] as a key pillar in our overall strategy in how to create more pathways for young people to become mathematicians, scientists, and physicists.
See TEAM-UP Together in Action
- Watch the Celebration of Impact highlight reel.
- Learn more about TEAM-UP Together.
- Contribute to TEAM-UP Together.
Learn about other ways to donate to AIP Foundation.
Financial Performance
In 2025, AIP posted its 16th consecutive year of positive net operating results, a testament to our long-term commitment to operational excellence. 2025 also served as a year for achieving our major operational and strategic priorities, delivering on the success of our Strategic Framework and strengthening our commitment to our overarching strategy and our audiences’ experience of AIP for the coming years.
AIP remained financially strong and built on its organizational excellence from the positive experiences we had during the year.
Noteworthy 2025 Financial Highlights
- Net surplus from operations of $0.9M
- Investments generated a positive return of 16.0%, increasing to $280.5M
- Net assets increased by 9.4% to $304.1M
- Net assets released from restricted reserves of $18.1M
Net Assets and The Path Forward
Each year, AIP reviews and evaluates its financial assets and aligns them with the Institute’s goals and strategic priorities. The Board Designations are the culmination of this effort. In 2025, net assets released totaled $18.1M, coming from donor restrictions ($5.9M) and board designated funds ($12.2M). These funds provided valuable resources for implementing 2025 priorities and sustaining financial operations.
The Board continues to focus on how AIP is working to build out the overall stability and sustainability of our financial future, partly by using a multi-pronged approach that considers items for oversight of the operational budget and of spending formulas from quasi-endowments and other board designated funds, the special purpose funds that are guided by donor intentions, and the operational risk reserves fund for managing financial risk in the longer term. We continue to monitor the trends and benchmarks of our peers, mitigating risks amid uncertainty ahead regarding market performance, the economic and global environment, and real growth in AIP’s expense base. This Board mandate provides financial discipline that allows for long-term financial stability, balanced with a diversified investment approach that seeks stable asset appreciation.
AIP is grateful for the generous support from donors, foundations, and sponsors for its programs and awards, and will continue to be a disciplined steward of its financial assets.
Donor Recognition
AIP Foundation is truly grateful to the following donors for their generosity in supporting AIP’s mission to advance, promote, and serve the physical sciences for the benefit of humanity. Together, we support physical scientists in creating positive change. Donations can be made at www.aip.org/foundation/donate.
View the 2025 Donor and In Honor & Memorial lists below:
2025 AIP Foundation Donor Recognition (.pdf, 149 kb)AIP Publishing
The American Institute of Physics Incorporated (tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code) includes AIP Publishing, LLC (AIPP), a disregarded entity under the AIP tax exempt status. AIPP is a single member, wholly owned, and independently managed subsidiary of AIP. The primary purpose of AIPP is to support the charitable, scientific, and educational mission of AIP through scholarly publishing and activities supporting scholarly publishing in the fields of the physical and related sciences.
AIP Publishing is the sole shareholder in AIP Global, Inc. (AIPG), a for-profit corporation. The primary purpose of AIPG is to advance the physical sciences for the benefit of society by acting as a business liaison for the dissemination of knowledge of physics and to collaborate and network with physicists.
Purpose-Led Publishing
In 2024 AIP Publishing joined the American Physical Society and IOP Publishing to form the Purpose-Led Publishing (PLP) coalition. Together, as publishers that will always put purpose above profit, we have defined a set of industry standards that underpin high-quality, ethical scholarly communications. The PLP coalition is working together on initiatives to uphold rigorous research integrity standards and remove barriers for researchers to take part in the global physical sciences research endeavor.
Making Research More Accessible
AIP Publishing is committed to the sustainable, thoughtful expansion of our open science offerings. We’re exploring new business models like our Subscribe to Open (S2O) initiative, which directly benefits partner libraries and their research communities. Our growing portfolio of peer-reviewed open access journals supports emerging authors and new multidisciplinary fields of research. And our robust support for authors, including expanded licensing options and peer review certifications, ensures that every researcher has the tools and resources needed to succeed.
