Join Professional Organizations

Professional organizations provide an environment in which scientists can interact with other scientists in similar technical fields or with a similar technical background who have been working in the field much longer than they. Specifically, recent PhD graduates have typically had the opportunity to interact with other new PhD graduates and with their advisor. The opportunity to join professional organizations provides exposure to many other experienced scientists who may have worked in a field for decades. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a list of organizations and to encourage the scientists to join the relevant organizations and to consider volunteering their expertise and time.

List of Professional Organizations

American Physical Society (APS)
Physics Today (free monthly magazine for APS members)
APS News (free monthly circular)

American Association of Physics Teachers (AAAS)
"the world's largest scientific society"

American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT)

American Astronomical Society (AAS)

Materials Research Society (MRS)
MRS Bulletin (free monthly magazine for MRS members)

Optical Society of America (OSA)
Optics and Photonics News (free monthly for OSA members)

Engineering Societies:

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
IEEE Spectrum

IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society
IEEE SSCS Newsletter (free for SSCS members)

IEEE Lasers and Electro-optics Society (LEOS)
IEEE LEOS Newsletter (free for LEOS members)

IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE)