CAP News Bulletin – February 2019 (#18.1)
In this issue:
CAP NEWS
Update from CAP-NSERC Liaison Committee
Call for Nominations
- Volunteer Opportunities – CAP Board and Advisory Council Positions 2019-2020
- Theoretical/Mathematical Physics representative on the CAP-NSERC Liaison Committee
- Two positions on the Canadian IUPAP Liaison Committee (CNILC)
CAP Councillor Francesco Barletta Takes a CAP Membership Campaign on the Road
Message from the President
Dr. Bruce D. Gaulin
Dear CAP members;
I hope you’re having interesting and enjoyable winters across Canada or wherever you may presently be located. Your CAP executive and office have been busy with a number of important initiatives, which will be reaching fruition soon. As you may know, work is well underway for a new CAP Strategic Plan, complete with Mission, Vision and Values statements appropriate for our association in the 2020’s. On a more pragmatic level, the CAP office has been working hard on implementing a new Customer Relations Management system, which is intended to dovetail with our renewed website, and make routine administrative activities easier to plan for and execute.
As is always the case this time of year, we are working hard with the 2019 CAP Congress local organizing committee, led by Prof. Barbara Frisken. The 2019 Congress at Simon Fraser University in beautiful British Columbia will feature (our own!) Nobel Laureate, Donna Strickland, as a plenary speaker, and an engaging program covering the breadth of physics in Canada. I’m also pleased to tell you that plans are also underway for McMaster University to host the 2020 CAP Congress, with Prof. Maikel Rheinstadter as Chair of the local organizing committee. A big thank you to Barbara and Maikel for taking on these important leadership roles.
Finally, to better recognize your outstanding contributions to physics in Canada, the CAP will be initiating a new CAP Fellowship program with an expected launch later this year. Personally, I feel this latter initiative is overdue and will help us in that part of our mission that focuses on celebrating Canadian physics. Indeed there is a lot to celebrate. Hope to see you at SFU in June!
Best wishes,
Bruce D. Gaulin
President
Introduction to new Staff Member
We are pleased to welcome Matthew Hintermann to our office team as Program Assistant. He will be on contract with the CAP until after the 2019 CAP Congress. Matthew replaces Ann-Marie Robertson who left the CAP at the end of January to pursue new opportunities. The CAP thanks Anne-Marie for her invaluable service and wishes her every success in her new endeavours.
Update on Physics in Canada
As the introduction of the new management system required the dedicated effort of the office staff over an extended period of time last year, the production of the 2018 issues of Physics in Canada was delayed. Work has now been resumed on issue 74(3-4) – the Physics of Mining.
To allow the Editorial Board time to work with the CAP Communications Committee to review the responses received to our recent PiC survey and consider introducing improvements to the publication, the 2019 editorial calendar has been streamlined such that only two issues will be published this year.
Science Policy Update
2018 Canadian Science Policy Conference
Dr. Shohini Ghose, CAP Vice-President, and Sébastien Himbert, PhD student at McMaster University and member of the CAP’s Science Policy Committee, represented the CAP at the 2018 Canadian Science Policy Conference in Ottawa from November 7-9, 2018. The proceedings from the 2018 conference, as well as the archives of previous conferences, can be found at https://sciencepolicy.ca/cspc-2018-proceedings.
2019 Federal Budget to be released on March 19, 2019
The CAP Science Policy Committee awaits the release of the 2019 Federal Budget on March 19, 2019, following which a summary of the components related to research and post-secondary education will be prepared and issued. In the meantime, copies of all of the submissions presented to the House of Commons Finance Committee last Fall, as well as the testimonies of witnesses called to present to the Committee, can be found at https://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/FINA/StudyActivity?studyActivityId=10153612
Maikel Rheinstadter
McMaster
rheinsm@mcmaster.ca
Update from CAP-NSERC Liaison Committee
Take part in the Canadian Research and Development Classification 2019 consultation
SSHRC, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Statistics Canada are collaborating on the development of the Canadian Research and Development Classification (CRDC) 2019.
Members of the research community are invited to provide feedback on the draft CRDC. Individuals and groups can take part in the consultation by completing the online questionnaire. All questionnaires must be submitted by March 22, 2019.
Visit Statistics Canada’s website to find out how to participate.
NSERC has selected a new Vice-President to lead research grants and scholarships directorate
Dr. Danika Goosney Vice-President, Research Grants, NSERC
On February 4th NSERC announced the appointment of Dr. Danika Goosney as Vice-President, Research Grants and Scholarships Directorate. She’s taking over from Dr. Pierre Charest, who retired in January. More information is available on NSERC’s website.
Volunteer Opportunities – CAP Board and Advisory Council Positions 2019-2020
The CAP invites you to volunteer, or to nominate someone, to fill one of the positions available on the CAP Board, and Advisory Council starting in June 2019. We are also asking you to contact us if you are interested in serving on one of our many Board or Operating Committees. There are two Advisory Council meetings per year (one at Congress and one in the Fall in Ottawa), with all other business conducted via e-mail or teleconference. The Board has one additional meeting in Ottawa in the Spring and holds teleconference calls as needed throughout the year.
The list of all positions to be filled on the Board or Advisory Council appears below. Information on each of the positions and the required nomination form can be found at https://cap.ca/publications/cap-news/201920-board-council-positions-open-call-nominations/. Regional Councillors must reside in the district they represent.
CAP Board of Directors positions to be filled by election – June 2019:
- Vice-President Elect (4-year progression through Presidential line: 2019-2023)
- Director of Communications (3-year term; 2019-2022)
- Director of Student Affairs (3-year term; 2019-2022)
- Director of Industrial Affairs (3-year term; 2019-2022)
- Director of Member & Affiliate Services (2-year term; 2019-2021)
- Secretary-Treasurer (3-year term; 2019-2022)
Advisory Council positions to be filled by election or acclamation – June 2019:
Membership Councillors:
- Undergraduate Student Representative (2-year term; 2019-2021)
Appointed Positions to be filled as needed
- Regional Advisory Council Representatives
The CAP has a number of operating committees. If you might be interested in serving on any of these committees when a vacancy occurs, please send a message to Francine Ford, CAP Executive Director, at execdir@cap.ca.
Board Committees
- Governance Committee
- Finance / Audit / HR Committee
- Nominations and Awards Committee
- Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
CAP or Director Operating Committees
- Committee to Encourage Women in Physics members
- CAP/NSERC Liaison Committee members
- Canadian National IUPAP Liaison Committee members
- Science Policy Committee members
- Professional Affairs Committee members
- Professional Certification Committee members
- Communication Committee members
- Student Affairs Committee members
- Membership Committee members
Nominations for the Undergraduate Student Representative can be submitted by undergraduate student affiliates only. Every Full Member of the CAP has the right to make nominations for all remaining Board and Advisory Council vacancies. Nominations, signed by two Full Members (or two student affiliates in the case of the undergraduate representative position) and by the nominee, should be submitted to the CAP Membership Manager at membership@cap.ca. using the required form. Nomination Forms are available at https://cap.ca/about-us/cap-leadership/call-nominations-2019-2020/.
A full list of the current Board and Advisory Council members can be found by following the links at https://cap.ca/about-us or https://cap.ca/fr/propos-lacp/.
If you have any questions, please contact me at 204 474-6205 or
stephen.pistorius@umanitoba.ca
Thank You.
Dr. Stephen Pistorius, P.Phys.
Past president & Chair, CAP Nominations Committee
Call for nominations for Theoretical/Mathematical Physics representative on the CAP-NSERC Liaison Committee (3 yr term starting May 2019)
(Nomination deadline : noon EDT, Monday, March 25. Submit to execdir@cap.ca )
The CAP-NSERC Liaison Committee provides a forum for ongoing dialogue between the Canadian Physics research community and NSERC on matters of broad interest to the community. In addition to representation from the CAP and NSERC leadership, the Committee has seven representatives for the physics sub-discipline areas that closely relate to the NSERC physics evaluation group structure. The current Committee members and the formal terms of reference for the committee can be found at https://cap.ca/about-us/committees/cap-nserc-liaison-committee.
The CAP is currently seeking nominations for a CAP member to represent the Theoretical and Mathematical Physics community on this Committee for a three-year term starting May 2019. While we welcome all nominations, we are particularly interested in receiving nominations that will help to establish a balanced committee with a broad geographic and gender/equity representation.
Membership on the Committee requires a commitment to participate in a face-to-face meeting once per year at the CAP Congress, as well as quarterly teleconference calls throughout the year. Should there be pressing issues to discuss additional teleconference calls may be held.
A nominee for this position must be a member in good standing of DTP or DCMMP and remain a member throughout their term of appointment. Nominees must have agreed to their nomination before their name is submitted and must provide a one-paragraph (3-4 sentence) statement that explains why they feel that they should be selected, e.g., their previous service on behalf of the community.
Nominations and supporting material MUST be received by noon EDT on Monday, March 25th for the nominee to be included on the list of candidates. Please submit nominations to Francine Ford at execdir@cap.ca using the subject line “Nominations for TMP rep on CAP-NSERC Liaison Committee – (name of candidate)”. Should multiple candidates be received, we will open the voting prior to April 15.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the CAP Executive Director at execdir@cap.ca, or the Chair of the CAP-NSERC Liaison Committee, Dr. Rituparna Kanungo, SMU/TRIUMF at ritu@triumf.ca.
Ubi Wichoski
CAP Director of Academic Affairs
Ex-officio member of the CAP-NSERC Liaison Committee
Call for nominations for the Canadian National IUPAP Liaison Committee (CNILC)
The Canadian National IUPAP Liaison Committee, CNILC, serves as the link between IUPAP (The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics) and the Canadian physics community. More details about the work of IUPAP can be found at http://iupap.org .
The CNILC is currently looking for a candidate in each of the following two areas for the January 1st 2020 to December 31st 2022 term.
- Condensed Matter, Statistical and Mesoscopic Physics
- Medical and Biological Physics
Formal Letters of nomination that include the nominee’s CV and a brief description of the nominee’s involvement in international activities should be sent to the Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Physicists at execdir@cap.ca no later than April 15th 2019.
More details about the work of the CNILC can be obtained at
https://cap.ca/about-us/committees/cdn-natl-iupap-liaison-cttee/, or you can contact the CNILC Chair, Rituparna Kanungo, directly at ritu@triumf.ca
Rituparna Kanungo, CAP’s Director of International Affairs and Chair, CNILC
Andrew Sachrajda, Secretary, CNILC
CAP Councillor Francesco Barletta Takes a CAP Membership Campaign on the Road
Francesco Barletta (center) with Denis Lefebvre (left) and Olivier Riche (right) at the Maurice Lamontagne Institute.
Over the past few years, the CAP has been actively working towards expanding its engagement with non-academic physicists and reached out to our Council members with a request to build this into their membership recruiting strategy.
Francesco Barletta of the Matapédien Centre of Collegial Studies (MCCS), CAP Regional Councillor for Québec (South and East), took this call for action to heart. He decided to take advantage of a visit he had scheduled in December 2018 with Maurice Lamontagne Institute (MLI) and the Marine Sciences Institute of Rimouski (MSIR) to arrange an opportunity to promote the CAP and its activities to physicists at those institutes.
Using a powerpoint presentation developed in collaboration with the CAP’s Membership Manager, Chantal Étheve-Meek, Francesco highlighted the benefits of becoming individual members or joint members with COMP, CASCA, or CIC, as well as making them aware that their institute would be welcome as institutional members of the CAP.
We extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to Francesco for this initiative and invite any members who may be interested in doing something similar to contact Chantal at membership@cap.ca.
Update from Student Affairs
The Student Affairs Committee has been focusing on the establishment of the first CAP Student Advisory Council.
The initial part of this process has involved a Working Group, who have discussed and submitted to the Board a Terms of Reference Document for the operation of the Student Advisory Council. The Council’s role is to raise, at the Board level, the concerns of the undergraduate and graduate student membership and ensure that those concerns are addressed to the extent practicable. The Council are also responsible for helping to identify student representatives as necessary to support the work of the other CAP Committees and for supporting CAP activities like the Canadian Undergraduate Physics Conference.
The first Student Advisory Council will have eight to twelve members from across the country and the Working Group is currently establishing the procedure for a call for nominations. Please, if you are a student member and would like to be involved in the governance of the CAP, keep an eye open for the nomination call. If you are not a student member, but can think of a physics student who might like to be involved, please alert them that the Student Advisory Council is on the horizon.
Thanks are due to the student members of the Working Group: Athithya Aravinthan, Guarav Madan, Nathan Murtha, Matthew Robbins, Matt Steffler and Noah Stocek.
2019 CAP Lecture Tour is Underway
The 2019 Cap Lecture Tour is now underway at universities across Canada. This program brings unique and interesting talks to undergraduate students on a wide range of physics topics. The program allows physics departments to strengthen collaborations with the CAP, helps to increase our organization’s visibility and promotes student membership.
Each Lecture Tour speaker was nominated by their department chairs or colleagues for their dynamic and engaging presentation styles.
The full schedule of confirmed speakers and event dates can be found on the CAP website.
Do you have a photograph that captures a beautiful or unusual physic phenomenon? Enter it in the 2019 CAP Art of Physics Competition!
The CAP is accepting entries for the 2019 Art of Physics competition until April 15, 2019. The challenge is to capture photographically a beautiful or unusual physics phenomenon and explain it in less than 200 words in terms that everyone can understand. Entries are accepted in one of three categories: High School/CEGEP Class projects; HS/CEGEP students; or Open. Full details are available at https://cap.ca/programs/art-physics/current-competition/.
Upcoming Dates and Deadlines
2019 March 3 – Deadline for submission of abstracts to CAP 2019 Congress
2019 March 19 – Date of release of 2019 Federal Budget
2019 March 25 – Deadline for nominations for theoretical/mathematical physics representative on the CAP-NSERC Liaison Committee.
2019 April 1 – Anticipated date when registration opens for 2019 CAP Congress
2019 April 9 – CAP High School / CEGEP Prize Exam Date
2019 April 15 – Deadline for submission of CAP Art of Physics competition entries
2019 April 15 – Deadline for nominations for two positions on the Canadian National IUPAP Liaison Committee
2019 June 3-8 – 2019 CAP Congress at SFU in Burnaby BC