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Physics

Frederick Lamb, chair elect of the APS Forum on Physics and Society

1/24/2022 Siv Schwink for Illinois Physics

Illinois Physics Research Professor Frederick Lamb  is currently serving as the 2022 chair-elect of the American Physical Society (APS) Forum on Physics and Society (FPS). Founded in the late 1960s and incorporated as the very first APS forum in 1972, FPS members work to better understand, analyze, inform the public, and advise government officials on societal issues relating to science, including climate change, proliferation of nuclear weapons, and national security. Lamb was was elected to the leadership line of the FPS in 2020 and served as vice-chair in 2021. He will go on to serve as the chair in 2023, and the past chair in 2024.

Among Lamb’s goals as a leader of the Forum are to help increase understanding of important science-policy issues by members of the APS and society at large. These include how best to address the COVID-19 pandemic, the growing climate emergency, and the dangerous new upward spiral of the nuclear arms race. Other issues Lamb is seeking to help FPS address are the need for renewable energy sources, the vital importance of increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in science and our society generally, and a growing disregard of facts and the understanding provided by science.

Written by Siv Schwink for Illinois Physics

Frederick K. LambIllinois Physics Research Professor Frederick Lamb  is currently serving as the 2022 chair-elect of the American Physical Society (APS) Forum on Physics and Society (FPS). Founded in the late 1960s and incorporated as the very first APS forum in 1972, FPS members work to better understand, analyze, inform the public, and advise government officials on societal issues relating to science, including climate change, proliferation of nuclear weapons, and national security. Lamb was was elected to the leadership line of the FPS in 2020 and served as vice-chair in 2021. He will go on to serve as the chair in 2023, and the past chair in 2024.

Among Lamb’s goals as a leader of the Forum are to help increase understanding of important science-policy issues by members of the APS and society at large. These include how best to address the COVID-19 pandemic, the growing climate emergency, and the dangerous new upward spiral of the nuclear arms race. Other issues Lamb is seeking to help FPS address are the need for renewable energy sources, the vital importance of increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in science and our society generally, and a growing disregard of facts and the understanding provided by science.

At Illinois, Lamb is the Brand and Monica Fortner Endowed Chair of Theoretical Astrophysics emeritus and a core faculty member in the Program on Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security. Lamb has made seminal contributions to atomic physics and to high-energy and relativistic astrophysics. He played a leading role in NASA’s Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer mission and is currently a member of the Science Team of NASA’s Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission.

With more than 40 year’s experience working to advance national and international security, Lamb is also an expert on space policy, military uses of space, ballistic missiles, missile defenses, anti-satellite weapons, and the technical aspects of nuclear test bans, verification of arms control agreements, and nuclear nonproliferation.

Read Lamb’s national security biographical sketch here.

Madeline Stover is a physics doctoral student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign studying atmospheric dynamics applied to forest conservation. She interns as a science writer for Illinois Physics, where she also co-hosts the podcast Emergence along with fellow physics graduate student Mari Cieszynski. When Stover is not doing research or communications, she enjoys hosting her local radio show, singing with her band, and cooking with friends.

Daniel Inafuku graduated from Illinois Physics with a PhD and now works as a science writer. At Illinois, he conducted scientific research in mathematical biology and mathematical physics. In addition to his research interests, Daniel is a science video media creator.

Karmela Padavic-Callaghan, Ph. D. is a science writer and an educator. She teaches college and high school physics and mathematics courses, and her writing has been published in popular science outlets such as WIRED, Scientific American, Physics World, and New Scientist. She earned a Ph. D. in Physics from UIUC in 2019 and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Jamie Hendrickson is a writer and content creator in higher education communications. They earned their M.A. in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2021. In addition to their communications work, they are a published area studies scholar and Russian-to-English translator.

Garrett R. Williams is an Illinois Physics Ph.D. Candidate and science writer. He has been recognized as the winner of the 2020 APS History of Physics Essay Competition and as a finalist in the 2021 AAAS Science and Human Rights Essay Competition. He was also an invited author in the 2021 #BlackinPhysics Week series published by Physics Today and Physics World. 

 

Karmela Padavic-Callaghan, Ph. D. is a science writer and an educator. She teaches college and high school physics and mathematics courses, and her writing has been published in popular science outlets such as WIRED, Scientific American, Physics World, and New Scientist. She earned a Ph. D. in Physics from UIUC in 2019 and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.

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This story was published January 24, 2022.