Thursday, March 27, 2014

SESSION I: Cultivating the membership-base in the private sector

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

Robert Doering, Texas Instruments

Societies’ Industrial Focus

Bridget Rogers, AVS, Chair of Manufacturing Science and Technology, Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University (14 years’ experience at Motorola)
AVS Programs for Industrial Outreach

Melissa Russell, OSA, Chief Industry Relations Officer

David Harwell, ACS, Assistant Director of Industry Programs

Crystal Bailey, APS, Careers Program Manager

SESSION II: Programs for retaining middle school students’ interest in science

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.

Larry Bell, Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, Museum of Science, Boston

Richard Tankersley, Program Director, Division of Graduate Education, National Science Foundation (find video below agenda)

Rebecca Thompson, Director of Public Outreach, American Physical Society

Philip Sadler, Director, Science Education Department, Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Middle School Outreach from the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

SESSION III: Public Access Developments and Implications for Scholarly Publishing

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?

David Crotty, ‎Senior Editor, Oxford University Press

Howard Ratner, Executive Director of CHOR, Inc

David Martinsen, Senior Scientist, Digital Publishing Strategy, American Chemical Society