9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Morning Sessions

Welcome & Opening Remarks

• Michael H. Moloney – Chief Executive Officer, American Institute of Physics
• Richard Clark– 2024 AIP Federation Assembly Vice-Chair, and Past President, American Meteorological Society 

Celebrating Big Wins

Scientific societies are facing substantial challenges in the current landscape. We will kick-off our day hearing about how societies across the federation have risen to the occasion in service to mission and to our member communities. Society leaders will be encouraged to share recent success stories to help us gain a deeper understanding of the good work being done among our peer organizations.

Making Membership Attractive to All

As a new generation of scientists emerges, scholarly societies must adapt to members’ changing needs and expectations, delivering value in new ways to cultivate strong, connected communities. This session will explore the value that societies deliver today and how improve in response to and in anticipation of our members’ needs, especially those of our student and early career members.

Moderator: Stella Kafka, Executive Director, American Meteorological Society (AMS)

Panel:

• Stephen Roberson, Lead Physicist, 4S Silversword Software Services & President, National Society of Black Physicists (Presentation)
• Charles Brown, Assistant Professor of Physics, Yale University
• Cortney Bougher, Director of Membership, American Physical Society (Presentation)

Plenary Q&A

Breakout Sessions
Annual Forum attendees will participate in group discussions about challenges and opportunities in the membership paradigm, with specific topics driven by attendee input. Society leaders will discuss the gnarly issues facing their membership programs as well as approaches to delivering greater value.   

Making Membership Attractive to All Breakout Notes

Break

Navigating the challenges to societies in championing DEI efforts

One pressing issue with which all of us face is the prevailing threat to programs designed to address diversity, equity, and inclusion in our communities. Many of our societies’ staff leaders have had the opportunity to discuss aspects of this issue, but that’s not the case for many of our volunteers who are tasked with leading their societies. In this brief session, we will hear a legal perspective on this issue’s impacts and implications for scientific societies.

Moderator: Jovonni Spinner, AIP Diversity, Equity, & Belonging Officer

Speaker:

• Arthur L. Coleman, Managing Partner and Co-Founder, EducationCounsel LLC (Presentation)

1:00 – 4:30 PM  Afternoon Sessions

Open Forum Discussions

Attendees will drive the content of the Annual Forum by suggesting topic areas for informal, “unconference” discussions with peers.

Open Forum Breakout Notes

Focus on Innovation: Venture Grant Poster Session

AIP’s Venture Grants support collaborative activities that are strategy-driven and promote growth, increased stature, and innovation in and among the Federation’s Member Societies and Affiliates. Here, principal investigators of recently funded projects will share their project outcomes, impacts, successes, and lessons learned. 

• Green Meetings –AMS
• Equity Assessment – AMS
• Science Trust – APS 
• Increasing Access to Medical Physics Education and Research–AAPM 
• Vacuum Technology Course Content for Underserved Communities –AVS and AAPT
• Summer REU in Acoustics for Underserved Communities – ASA
• Collective Action on DEI Programming for Physics/Astronomy Depts –AAPT, APS, AAS, and AIP
• Career Counseling Portal –AMS
• Crystallography Educational Video Library –ACA 
• Solar Eclipses of 2023 & 2024 – AAS, AAPT, AMS, Optica, SPS
• AIP Federation DEIBA Strategic Plan – AIP

Speaking out on Societal Issues – Balancing Divergent Member Calls for Action and Business Needs

When is it appropriate for societies speak out about issues facing society at large? Should professional associations only speak on issues affecting science? How can societies effectively respond to members’ concerns? This session will discuss leading practices that societies can use to determine when to speak and how to leverage their stature in broader civil society.

Speaker:

• Paul A. Argenti, Professor of Corporate Communications, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College (Presentation)

4:30 PM

Reception & Closing Remarks

Welcome & Opening Remarks (Recorded)

Speakers:

• Michael H. Moloney – Chief Executive Officer, American Institute of Physics
• Amy V. Walker – 2023 Federation Assembly Chair, American Institute of Physics

8:55 AM – 11:15 AM: Plenary Session

Plenary: Roles & Responsibilities of Science and Scientists in Society Today - Part I (Recorded)

Drawing from his experience as a teacher, scientist, administrator, and policymaker, Dr. Rush Holt will speak on the social and political elements inherent in the scientific enterprise and what scientific societies can do to enhance public awareness of, and support for, scientific research.

Keynote Speaker:

• Rush D. Holt – Former Member of Congress; CEO Emeritus AAAS; APS Fellow; and Life Member of AAPT

Moderator:

• David J. Helfand – Board of Directors Chair, American Institute of Physics

9:45 AM

Roles & Responsibilities of Science and Scientists in Society Today - Part II (Recorded)

Building off the prior discussion, a panel of experts from across the physical sciences will discuss initiatives to communicate science to different audiences, enhance public trust in the scientific enterprise, and combat misinformation

Speakers:

• Jenny Luray – Vice President, Strategy and Communications, Research!America
• Nathan Sanders – Chair, ComSciCon Leadership Team
• Francis Slakey – Chief External Affairs Officer, American Physical Society
• Rush D. Holt – Former Member of Congress; CEO Emeritus AAAS; APS Fellow; and Life Member of AAPT

Moderator: 

• Robert Rosner – 2023 Federation Assembly Vice-Chair, American Institute of Physics

11:15 AM – 11:45 PM: AIP Updates

AIP Federation Assembly 101 (Recorded)

The Federation Assembly is a transparent and flexible convening body that enables AIP Member Societies to consult one another and coordinate on issues of shared interest or concern. The Federation Assembly leadership will take time to introduce the body, explain its relationship to the Annual Forum, and its efforts to create new collective action across the Federation.

Speakers:

• Amy V. Walker – 2023 Federation Assembly Chair, American Institute of Physics
• Robert Rosner – 2023 Federation Assembly Vice-Chair, American Institute of Physics

AIP Venture Grants Overview

AIP’s Venture Grants annually support collaborative activities with AIP that are strategy-driven and promote growth, increased stature, and innovation in and among the Federation’s Member Societies and Affiliates. This will give a brief introduction to the fund and highlight an opportunity to learn more about the innovative projects funded in 2022 during the lunchtime poster session.

Speaker:

• Nathan Sanders – Venture Grant Advisory Committee Chair, American Institute of Physics

1:15 PM – 2:45 PM: Concurrent Sessions Round 1

A: The Future of Scientific Societies (Recorded)

As scientific societies deal with seismic shifts in membership trends, meeting structures, and publishing business models, this session will explore the role of scientific societies in coming years, the transformations that are currently happening as societies evolve, and the areas where new innovation will be needed.

Speakers:

• Dr. Sheri Sesay-Tuffour – Board Member, American Society of Association Executives/Chief Executive Officer, Pediatric Nursing Certification Board
• Frank Krause – Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
• Yvonne Towse – Chief Operating Officer, AVS: Science and Technology of Materials, Interfaces, and Processing
• Chelsy Chesterman – Lab Head, GlaxoSmithKline/Industrial Scientific Interest Group Chair Elect, ACA: The Structural Science Society 

Moderator:

• Matt Loeb – Chief Transformation Officer, American Institute of Physics

B: Building Inclusion into Scientific Culture: the Nuts and Bolts of Structural Change

An intimate discussion of the systemic issues affecting physics cultures, the unique challenges of changing the culture of physics departments, and the responsibilities of different elements of the physical science enterprise. This session will be very discussion heavy and encourages participation and dialog from attendees.

Moderator:

• Mary James – former Dean for Institutional Diversity and A.A. Knowlton Professor of Physics, Reed College

3:00 PM – 4:30 PM: Concurrent Sessions Round 2

A: Publishing: The Challenges of Mandated Open Access (Recorded)

In August 2022, a new update to the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy Memorandum on Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Research proposed significant changes to the current publishing business model and has raised many questions to be answered on how societies should move forward. We bring together the perspectives of publishers of multiple sizes, look at some transformative changes to journal business models, and how publishers can and should adjust their efforts to best support the scientific enterprise.

Speakers:

• Rachel Burley – Chief Publications Officer, American Physical Society
• Penelope Lewis – Chief Publishing Officer, AIP Publishing
• Kevin B. Marvel – Executive Officer, American Astronomical Society
• Eray Aydil – Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A & B

Moderator:

• Kevin B. Marvel – Executive Officer, American Astronomical Society

B: Lessons Learned: Conferences Post COVID

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced societies to experiment with new ways of holding scientific conferences, new demands from attendees, and new business models to try and accommodate these shifts. Our panel will discuss what we have learned over the past years, what has worked, what hasn’t, and what still needs to be discovered.

Speakers:

• Jennifer Pesanelli – Executive Officer, Biophysical Society
• Hunter Clemens – Director of Meetings, American Physical Society
• Jen Ives – Director of Meetings, American Meteorological Society
• Beth Cunningham – CEO, American Association of Physics Teachers

Moderator: 

• Jennifer Pesanelli – Executive Officer, Biophysical Society

Reception & Closing Remarks

Speakers:

• Michael H. Moloney – Chief Executive Officer, American Institute of Physics
• Amy V. Walker – 2023 Federation Assembly Chair, American Institute of Physics