NRL's Jill Dahlburg Appointed Chair-Elect of APS Mid-Atlantic Section

Jill Dahlburg, Superintendent of the Naval Research Laboratory's Space Science Division, has been appointed as the inaugural Chair Elect and Chair of the Program Committee for the new American Physical Society (APS) Mid-Atlantic Section. This section includes technical society members in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The M-AS regional Section will provide a stimulating scientific and recruiting forum for NRL and Office of Naval Research scientists to interact with the local university, industry, and fellow Laboratory technical community on a broad range of basic research and development topics.

Dr. Jill Dahlburg has been appointed Chair-Elect of the American Physical Society Mid-Atlantic Section.
(Photo: U.S. Naval Research Laboratory)

To date, more than 250 APS members have expressed an interest in the newly formed regional Mid-Atlantic Section (M-AS). The Section Organizing Committee met on June 23rd at the American Center for Physics, and accomplished two large agenda items: (1) the discussion of the bylaws and (2) the nomination of Interim Officers. The draft version of the bylaws is similar to the bylaws of other Sections, with one notable exception. It was decided to limit the terms of the members at large to a two-year period to encourage participation of junior scientists, such as students and post-docs.

The M-AS Organizing Committee appointed the following Interim Executive Committee: Stephan Schlamminger (National Institute of Standards and Technology), Chair; Charles Clark (National Institute of Standards and Technology), Past-Chair and Chair of the Nominating Committee; Jill Dahlburg (NRL), Chair- Elect and Chair of the Program Committee; Claire Cramer (National Institute of Standards and Technology), Vice-Chair; Diandra Leslie-Pelecky (West Virginia University), Secretary; and, Mark Stollberg (Naval Observatory), Treasurer. The members at large include Barry Walker (University of Delaware), Boris Khusid, (New Jersey Institute of Technology), Vasudeva Rao Aravind (Clarion University), Joseph Tedesco (National Institute of Standards and Technology), Kurt Kolasinski (West Chester University), and Ray Elton (University of Maryland); and, Galen Hench (St. Mary's College), Student Representative.

The M-AS interim officers will lead the Section until January 1, 2014, at which point elected officers will take over. The M-AS will become formal once the APS Council has voted in favor of establishing the Section. The next APS Council Meeting is this November and the M-AS will be on its agenda. In 2013 the APS March Meeting will be held in Baltimore from March 18-22, and the M-AS Program Committee would like to take advantage of this large meeting on the new regional Section's 'home turf' to introduce the Section to the local technical community. The M-AS Organizing Committee agreed to hold the first full Section Meeting in 2014. The dates and location of the 2014 meeting are currently in discussion.

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