Conference Banquet - Friday July 14

The Conference Banquet will be held on Friday July 14 from 6:00 PM to 10:30 PM at the Michigan Union.

Banquet Schedule

6:00 PM - Reception at the University Club

Please join us for a reception before the banquet, where music will be provided by a string quartet. Drinks will be available from a cash bar.

7:00 PM - Banquet in the Union Ballroom

We are offering a choice of three entrees for the banquet. You may select either fish, beef or vegetarian upon registering for the conference.

The banquet speaker will be Robert L. Park of `What's New' fame. He has recently authored the book `Voodoo Science'.

9:30 PM - Jazz in the Pendleton Room

The evening continues with a live jazz ensemble and with drinks available from a cash bar.

Robert L. Park

Robert L. Park is professor of physics at the University of Maryland and Director of the Washington Office of the American Physical Society. His preparation for law school at the University of Texas was interrupted in 1950 by the Korean War. Ignoring his legal talent, the United States Air Force insisted he should be an electronics officer. On his return to the University of Texas in 1956, Park decided the Air Force might have been on to something. He switched to physics and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with High Honors two years later. In 1960 he became the Edgar Lewis Marston Fellow at Brown University, where he studied surface physics under the late Harry Farnsworth, one of the pioneers of the field. Park received his PhD in 1964.

In 1965 he joined Sandia Laboratories in Albuquerque, and in 1969 became head of the Surface Physics Division at Sandia. He was appointed Professor of Physics and Director of the Center of Materials Research at the University of Maryland in College Park in 1974. He became chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy four years later.

He is the founding editor of Applications of Surface Science and he is a Fellow of the American Vacuum Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Physical Society.

On his sabbatical year in 1982, he was asked by the American Physical Society to open an Office of Public Affairs in Washington D.C. His sabbatical still seems to be going on; he divides his time between the APS and the University of Maryland. He has served on more committees and panels than he chooses to remember. Park is the author of `What's New', a controversial weekly electronic commentary on science policy issues. He is also a regular contributor of opinion articles in major newspapers, and a frequent guest on radio and television news programs.

In 1998, he received the Joseph A. Burton Award of the American Physical Society for his contributions to the public understanding of issues involving the interface of physics and society. He is the author of the book, `Voodoo Science'.

 

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