Turkish Physicists Meet at 2015 APS March Meeting

American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting, the largest gathering of worldwide physics community, took place in San Antonio, TX between March 2-6. During this wonderful week, a relatively small but passionate group came together for an important initiative. Approximately 40 Turkish physicists, from Turkish, American and international institutions, gathered Tuesday night to discuss the start of Turkish Physicists Network under APS. The network will promote the connections within the Turkish physics community as well as the connections of Turkish physicists with APS.
Dr. Ercan Alp of Argonne National Laboratory, also the past chair of APS Forum on International Physics, was the organizer of the night. In his address, Dr. Alp encouraged the Turkish physics community to be more proactive in outreach activities as well as scientific ones in order to create the productive environment necessary to conduct science. Dr. Amy Flatten, Director of APS Office of International Affairs, also honored the night and gave her full support to the initiative. Dr. Flatten especially mentioned the importance of APS activities outside of the USA and suggested that the Turkish Physics Network may be the driving force for the APS organizations in Turkey. Dr. Refik Kortan of National Science Foundation, also, expressed his excitement and supported the initiative. The meeting continued with brief self introduction of attendees and discussion of possible action items, including organizing an invited session and recognizing a young Turkish physicsts with an award in 2016 APS March Meeting. At the end of the meeting, Dr. Ahmet Uysal of Argonne National Laboratory, and Prof. Bulent Tanatar of Bilkent University were assigned as representatives of the group in the USA and in Turkey respectively.

Turkish Physics Network is also planning to be a part of Turkish American Scientists&Scholars Association (TASSA) with an inaugural event during TASSA 2016 Conference.