APS Journals Highlights

We are happy to welcome Kazuhito Ohmi of the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) as a new Associate Editor of Physical Review Special Topics – Accelerators and Beams. Kazuhito will be responsible for synchrotron radiation, free electron lasers, and single-particle dynamics. He will be the journal’s first editor from Asia.

Frank Zimmermann
Editor

Today ORCID opened its registry allowing researchers in all fields and from around the world to distinguish themselves by registering for their own unique identifier. APS has been a long-time supporter of ORCID and, as one of the official Launch Partners, we have updated our author profile application so that authors may register their ORCID within our database of authors and referees. Widespread adoption of ORCID identifiers will improve the scholarly record and help researchers receive proper credit for all of their contributions. To get started, simply visit the APS Author Profile application.

Gary Grest of Sandia National Laboratories has stepped down as Senior Editor of Physical Review E (PRE). Gary has promoted PRE as the leading journal for statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics since 2002, and during his tenure, the journal's coverage of biological physics, complex systems, and networks has continued to expand. Gary led PRE through a reinvigoration of the review process and raised standards. Over his ten-year term, submissions to the journal grew substantially, while the number of published papers remained roughly constant. We are very grateful to Gary for his dedication and service to the journal.

We are extremely pleased to announce that Eli Ben-Naim of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is assuming the Senior Editor position of Physical Review E (PRE). Eli was previously an Editorial Board Member for the journal, and is an APS Fellow and Outstanding Referee. He is a very active researcher in many areas of relevance to the journal, and deputy group leader for condensed matter and complex systems at LANL. Eli was selected by a search committee chaired by Katepalli Sreenivasan of New York University from a group of outstanding candidates. We welcome Eli into the Physical Review family of journals, and are confident that PRE will continue to flourish while benefiting from his leadership and experience.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2012 Ig Nobel Prizes in Physics and Fluid Dynamics. Raymond E. Goldstein, Patrick B. Warren, and Robin C. Ball received a share of the Physics prize for their work on the shape and motion of human hair when bundled in a ponytail, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 078101 (2012). For additional information, see Ponytail Physics for a brief synopsis published in Physics. Rebecca Thompson, APS's Head of Public Outreach, wrote on the Physics Central blog about her attempt to duplicate the ponytail research. H.C. Mayer and R. Krechetnikov took home the Fluid Dynamics prize for their study on the dynamics of sloshing coffee, Phys. Rev. E 85, 046117 (2012), which was highlighted in Physics, Science of Slosh, back in April 2012. We also note that our very own prognosticator, Brian Jacobsmeyer, predicted both winners back in July (http://physicsbuzz.physicscentral.com/2012/07/who-will-win-ig-nobel-prize.html).

Listen to this Physics Central podcast for more highlights and in-depth interviews with the winners.