YoungParticlePhysicists@SLAC

SLAC's YPP representative election

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There are two candidates. Their statements are in alphabetical order by surname.

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Martin Mueller

Graduate Student, Stanford University

High-Energy Astrophysics, GLAST

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I got interested in the activities of YPP from attending some of their first

meetings here at SLAC and talking to the people who organised them. I quickly

realised how important it was for us to be thinking about the kind of

questions that were brought up at Snowmass 2001, not only within the particle

physics community, but also in conjunction with astrophysics, accelerator

physics and the theoretical groups. I believe that these fields will depend

on each other even more in the future than they do today, especially at U.S.

national labs.

Thus, even though I am not currently working in HEP, I believe I can make a

difference in YPP, both on the global level as well as here at home. With its

diverse communities of young people, SLAC is perhaps uniquely suited to

promote increased participation from fields of study that have not

traditionally been part of YPP. Nevertheless, we must not forget that the

decisions as to which new HEP machines to build will most directly affect

young people in HEP.

Besides attending most of the YPP@SLAC meetings, I have been part of the core

group since August last year and have helped put together the Dark Matter and

Accelerator Physics lecture series. I have expressed interest in working on

concrete outreach projects here at SLAC and to facilitate the interaction

between young people at SLAC through social events organised by YPP.

My vision for YPP for the future is twofold: First, I think it is of utmost

importance to increase the visibility of YPP within the young communities at

the labs as well as the universities. We need to inform larger groups of

people about the issues that YPP addresses. We should think about ways of

getting in touch with undergraduates in physics with an interest in HEP. We

have to think about using opportunities to work with students at the high

school level. All of this will eventually require some form of funding, in

addition to the continued support from our workplaces. It may also require

us to confront universities about the issue of balancing the time spent on

scientific work that is expected of graduate students and postdocs and the

non-scientific work that we ourselves might feel very strongly about.

Second, within the YPP community, I believe we need to continue the

discussions and consensus-finding that was so well started with the survey

conducted at Snowmass 2001. These types of survey should perhaps become a

recurring feature of YPP. It is also important to facilitate the exchange of

ideas before the surveys and the discussion of the results at all levels

within YPP. Only then will we have a means of making our voices heard at the

decision-making level, and only then will we be able to point to documented

evidence for changes in the field that we believe are important for the future

 or to voice our support for measures taken today.

It is with these two pillars in mind that I would approach the position of

SLAC representative to the global YPP. In addition to the work at the global

level, I would continue to work with all of you to implement these visions

right here at SLAC, where we already have a very strong local chapter.

Irrespective of who will be elected as next representative - and I'm sure

either one of the candidates will do an excellent job -, I would encourage

you to get more involved with YPP and to support the people on the core group

with your ideas and some part of your time, or indeed to join the core group

yourself. Thank you to the election committee for facilitating this election.

And finally, I would also like to thank Chris Potter for all the work that he

has done in steering YPP@SLAC for the past year, and I wish him all the best

back at the University of Oregon.

Sincerely,

- Martin Mueller.

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Abi Soffer

Researcher, Colorado State University

HEP, BaBar and Linear Collider

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I thank the nominations committee and the nominators for the opportunity to

run for SLAC representative to the global YPP.

I am currently a researcher with Colorado State University, working on BaBar

and the Linear Collider. My involvement with YPP started at Snowmass 2001, and

I have since been active in the YPP@SLAC core group.

Thanks to the work of many people, SLAC has the most active YPP chapter. Our

greatest success has been in activities within SLAC, most notably organizing

several well-attended lecture series. While we will maintain momentum in these

activities, it is also commonly felt that we should be doing more in the area

of outreach, as a means of educating the public of what we do and generating

support for HEP. My own outreach effort in the past two years has been serving

as a mentor for the SLAC/Stanford QuarkNet program, and organizing a program

to link SLAC mentors with high school students who do research at SLAC for

school credit. We currently have three students doing accelerator physics research,

and have had more requests to join. In the next year I would like to focus our

efforts on strengthening such programs (most notably Amanda and Martin's Three

Questions project,

http://www-project.slac.stanford.edu/ypp/meetings/meet101502/meet101502.html),

to make sure they get active participation and can continue well after their originators

have left SLAC.

Finally, the goals and activities of YPP@SLAC are largely driven by the

participation of its members. As YPP@SLAC representative, the most important

part of my job would be to encourage and help people to turn their ideas and

interests into action.

Abi Soffer

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Please contact the election committee in case of questions.

Our election committee consists of:

Please direct any questions with respect to the election to them.

Page last updated by Chris Potter on 11 August 2003