Physics Careers Seminar by Dr. Saad Hebboul, Editor, PRL, RESCHEDULED FOR NOV. 8

The Fall 2012 Physics Careers seminar series continues on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012 (NOTE RESCHEDULED DATE) with alumnus Dr. Saad Hebboul:

Time: 11 a.m. on Thursday, November 8, 2012 (refreshments served at 10:30 a.m.)

Location: 204 Loomis Laboratory (Interaction Room)

Title: Editorial Experience At Physical Review Letters

Speaker: Dr. Saad Hebboul, Senior Assistant Editor, Physical Review Letters

Abstract: I will present an overview of my experience as a member of the editorial staff of Physical Review Letters. I will first describe the editorial job for full-time editors who handle dozens of manuscripts per day in various real-time queues. I will show that editorial work is divided into several tasks for each manuscript at different times during the anonymous review. Next, I will describe the goal of Physical Review Letters to publish well written accounts of major progress in all areas of science in order to serve a broad readership and promote new fields of research via cross-disciplinary fertilization. To realize this challenging goal, the journal relies heavily on referees and board members from around the world for the review of a growing number of submitted manuscripts in all scientific areas. I will then review the two-step procedure for selecting suitable referees for new manuscripts that pass the initial evaluation by the editors. The new manuscripts that do not pass the internal examination are returned to their authors who may later decide to resubmit revised versions for an external anonymous review. After introducing the editors, I will briefly compare the editorial environment to other career environments and deduce a list of crucial skills that are needed for a successful editorial career. I will conclude by offering few tips for enhancing job applications that are aimed at editorial positions.

Bio:
EDUCATION:
Ph.D. in Physics, 1988, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
M.S. in Physics, 1982, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
B.S. in Physics, 1981, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH

EMPLOYMENT:
(1). 02/1999 - Present: Editorial Staff Member, Physical Review Letters,
The American Physical Society, Ridge, NY
(2). 10/1998 - 01/1999: Lecturer, Physics Department, Ohio State University,
Columbus, OH
(3). 02/1993 - 09/1998: Senior Research Associate, Physics Department,
Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Research project: Transport properties of high-temperature and low-temperature superconductors
(Associated with J. C. Garland Group)
(4). 07/1988 - 12/1992: Postdoctoral Researcher (J. C. Garland Group),
Physics Department, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Research project: Radio-frequency response of two-dimensional superconducting arrays of niobium Josephson junctions
(5). 09/1982 - 06/1988: Graduate Research Assistant (J. P. Wolfe Group),
Physics Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
Ph.D. Thesis: Imaging of large-k phonons in III-V semiconductors using superconducting tunnel junctions
(6). 09/1981 - 05/1982: Graduate Teaching Assistant, Physics Department,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL

You can see the rest of the Fall 2012 Physics Careers Seminar series here: http://physics.illinois.edu/events/seminars.asp?cal=4014