Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2018
Volume 63, Number 4
Saturday–Tuesday, April 14–17, 2018; Columbus, Ohio
Session B04: Getting the Word OutInvited
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Sponsoring Units: FECS FPS Chair: Maria Longobardi, University of Geneva Room: A120-122 |
Saturday, April 14, 2018 10:45AM - 11:21AM |
B04.00001: From Natural Laws to Writing Laws: A Physicist Turned Policymaker Invited Speaker: Anna Quider The US federal government touches all aspects of our lives through its \$4 trillion annual budget (although less than 4\% is for research and development), laws, regulations, rules, and policies. Dr. Anna Quider will discuss her experience as a physicist-turned-policymaker working within the federal government at the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Department of State, and external to the federal government as a higher education and science advocate. Attendees will learn about career paths into federal policymaking and how input from physicists and the public inform the federal policymaking process. This talk will complement the physics advocacy panel discussion organized by FPS and OPA. Dr. Quider is presently the Director of Federal Relations for Northern Illinois University and President of The Science Coalition, a national nonprofit dedicated to increasing US federal funding for fundamental scientific research. She was a 2011 APS Congressional Science Fellow and 2012 AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 14, 2018 11:21AM - 11:57AM |
B04.00002: Dinosaurs, Neutrons and a little Alchemy -- revealing the secrets of a long-lost past. Invited Speaker: Joseph Bevitt Dinosaurs as popular science icons are great conversation starters. They also provide an ideal pathway for engaging members of the public, both young and old, in the quest for scientific discovery. Dinosaur species are being discovered at an unprecedented rate, and remarkable discoveries are being made about their evolution, behavior and molecular biology. In partnership with Australian and international universities and museums, we are utilizing combining neutron tomography, isotopic and spectroscopic methods to digitally excavate fossilized soft tissue, determine dinosaur blood temperature, reveal nesting behavior and growth patterns. Importantly, before these discoveries are published in peer-reviewed outlets, they are shared on a regular basis with primary and secondary school groups through interactive and hands-on activities at museums, art galleries and tours of our nuclear facilities. Children are fascinated by dinosaurs, and are often the family experts on the subject, demonstrating a more detailed knowledge than their parents. Students and their teachers perceive that modern scientific discovery is far removed from the classroom and that the results of the very latest research are beyond their access.By partnering with local schools, we are developing activities that incorporate dinosaur discovery as a contextual basis for introducing the scientific method and abstract physical concepts aligned with the standard curriculum. Students are encouraged to make their own observations based on available material, and to challenge a scientist through unbounded questioning. In this manner, pupils explore the concepts of material characterization, instrumental methods and the peer-review process. These children have directly impacted our research, with new research partnerships formed through their introductions, have led to the unexpected and unprecedented discovery of a new dinosaur species via neutron imaging, and a broader community awareness of the benefits of nuclear science to society. Giving children the opportunity to be amongst the first to learn of new discoveries energizes them in the classroom, exposes them to the excitement of research and motivates them to consider their own potential as future scientists. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 14, 2018 11:57AM - 12:33PM |
B04.00003: Transformers, Origami, and Physics: Communicating Science While Navigating the Attention Economy Invited Speaker: Jesse Silverberg Have you heard? Attention is the new oil! And whether we like it or not, we as scientists are competing for the attention of referees, grant agents, and our peers. Considering that so much of our professional career trajectories depends on the attention and judgement of others, the question I'll be exploring in this talk is how to increase our effectiveness with the attention that we receive. I will be sharing some of my experiences of having research go ``viral,'' how I use visual design theory to reinforce research themes, and explain the process of constructing a ``message triangle.'' Through these examples, linguistic framing devices and conceptual metaphors will become the Swiss Army Knife of science communication as we navigate emerging pathways in the attention economy. Along the way, I'll be dissecting these strategies with examples from my own work on the physics of Transformer- and origami-inspired reprogrammable materials. Audience participation will be solicited from the first few rows of the venue. [Preview Abstract] |
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