Friday, 14 Jan 1994 Washington, DC
1. JUDY FRANZ ACCEPTS POSITION OF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE APS!
An APS Fellow and chair of the Condensed Matter Division, she has
served on the APS Council, Executive Committee, and half-a-dozen
other committees, including chair of the Committee on Education
and the Committee on the Status of Women in Physics. She has also
been President of the American Association of Physics Teachers,
and a member of the Governing Board of the American Institute of
Physics, the Council of the Association of Women in Science and
the Advisory Committee of the NSF Division of Materials Research.
(Maybe there's more than one Judy Franz!) Currently, Dr. Franz
is Professor of Physics at the University of Alabama. In making
the announcement, APS president Burton Richter said the Society
"is very gratified and proud that a physicist of Judy Franz's
stature, experience and commitment will serve as one of its
operating officers. She will join the Treasurer and the
Editor-in-Chief at the helm of the Society on or about April 1, 1994."
2. "NEW ALLIANCES FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT," AN APS ROUNDTABLE,
will be held in Charlottesville, VA next Friday. Hosted by U.S.
Senator Charles Robb, the APS, and universities in Virginia, the
Roundtable will address the need for research and educational
partnerships among universities, industry and government. This
is the pilot for roundtables the APS is organizing in other
states: Rep. George Brown will host one in California, Rep. Rosa
DeLauro and Sen. Chris Dodd in Connecticut, Sen. Patty Murray in
Washington, and Sen. John McCain and Rep. Jon Kyl in Arizona.
3. THE "SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE" GOES PRIVATE!
Changing its name to "High Resolution Microwave Survey" was not
enough to save SETI
(WN 24 Sep 93). Although the cost would have
been less than 0.1% of NASA's budget, any search for intelligence
was bound to attract jokes in this town. A high giggle factor
always dooms programs in Congress, and appearing to hide behind
an alias only made things worse. NASA had already spent 20 years
and $70M developing the equipment, which operated for one year.
No messages were received, and Congress balked at spending $12M
for operating costs in 1994. Anonymous donors have now pledged
to pick up the tab--and SETI can drop the assumed name.
4. ALTERNATIVE SCIENCES UPDATE: GAO INVESTIGATES 1947 UFO CRASH!
With all the revelations of secret radiation experiments, it was
inevitable that the Air Force would be pressured to come clean
about the crash of a flying saucer in New Mexico. At the request
of Rep. Steven Schiff (R-NM) the General Accounting Office agreed
to take the case. Can GAO find the alien that survived? Clue:
it's humanoid with suction cups on its fingers (WN 4 Sep 92).
5. OOPS! CHARLES KENNEL WAS NOT ON THE DIRECTED ENERGY WEAPONS
panel of the APS
(WN 7 Jan 94). It's not the things I forget
that worry me, it's the things I remember that never happened.
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