2014 Assembly of Society Officers
Thursday, March 27, 2014
9:30 am SESSION I: Cultivating the membership-base in the private sector
Presentations, small group discussion, panel discussion
A significant fraction of individuals with a degree in the physical sciences work in the private sector. These scientists (especially early-career scientists) generally become lost to the professional societies, which tend to gear their products and services to the needs of those working in academia. Conferences, scholarly journals, academically-focused mentoring and networking are some of the benefits that their members highly value. Scientists employed in the private sector typically do not get the same degree of personal or professional development that comes from membership in a disciplinary society. Nevertheless, there are opportunities for societies to better serve scientists in the private sector. This session will explore ideas for bridging the gap between scientific professional societies and potential members who work in the private sector. The session will draw heavily upon input from scientists who work or have worked in industry, while also using examples from societies that have had success for reaching out to early-career professionals in industry and/or increasing their industrial membership.
Chair and session organizer: Steven Lambert, APS Industrial Physics Fellow
APS Interactions: Spanning a Career from Academia to Industry
- Robert Doering, Texas Instruments
Societies' Industrial Focus
AVS Programs for Industrial Outreach
- Bridget Rogers, AVS, Chair of Manufacturing Science and Technology, Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University (14 years’ experience at Motorola)
Recent OSA Initiatives to Engage the Industrial Sector
- Melissa Russell, OSA, Chief Industry Relations Officer
Status and Plans for ACS Interactions with Industry
- David Harwell, ACS, Assistant Director of Industry Programs
Engagement with Early Career Physicists
- Crystal Bailey, APS, Careers Program Manager
11:45 Lunch
12:45 pm SESSION II: Programs for retaining middle school students’ interest in science
Presentations, panel discussion
In countries all over the world, student interest in science wanes during middle school—especially, but not exclusively, for girls. These crucial years characterize a fissure in the STEM pipeline; ultimately limiting the STEM educated workforce. There are a number of creative, innovative, and high-impact programs underway that aim to tap the interest of young people before they self-select out of science. Panelists will discuss inventive, informal science education programs that involve scientists, teachers, and/or families focused on recruiting and retaining young students in STEM. Professional societies can play a central role in engaging the informal science community to grow the effort, retaining middle school student interest into high school science and beyond.
Getting involved in K-12 outreach and informal science education
- Larry Bell, Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, Museum of Science, Boston
- Richard Tankersley, Program Director, Division of Graduate Education, National Science Foundation
- Rebecca Thompson, Director of Public Outreach, American Physical Society
Middle School Outreach from the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
- Philip Sadler, Director, Science Education Department, Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
2:30 Break
2:45 SESSION III: Public Access Developments and Implications for Scholarly Publishing
Presentations, panel discussion
This session will look at the publishing community’s response to the February 22 OSTP directive to federal funding agencies to develop plans for public access to the published research works that arise from government funding. How will such plans affect the scholarly publishing enterprise? Talks will include an update in public access policy and a discussion of the measure’s economic implications for the publishing industry. How are publishers coping in the short-term and what long-term strategies seem promising for future revenues?
The changing landscape of scholarly publishing due to the open access/public access pressures
- David Crotty, Senior Editor, Oxford University Press
- Howard Ratner, Executive Director of CHOR, Inc
Data management issues and how societies can contribute
- David Martinsen, Senior Scientist, Digital Publishing Strategy, American Chemical Society