Hybrid scientific conferences: An ongoing experiment

Feder discusses hybrid scientific conferences which is an ongoing experiment. Before the pandemic, remote participation in conferences was often frowned on. But now "the genie is out of the bottle" for remote participation in meetings, which can have the advantage of accessibility and sustainability. Hybrid formats are here to stay, he says, even as "there is a lot of pressure to get back to how we held meetings prepandemic." The purposes of scientific conferences include sharing knowledge, providing visibility for early-career scientists, and maintaining and extending networks. Hybrid options could improve some traditional conferences, which may not always deliver what scientists want from them.

College instructors adapt their teaching to prevent cheating

Feder discusses the efforts of college instructors in the US to adapt their teaching to prevent cheating. Cheating isn't new, but university instructors say its incidence has grown significantly with the easy access afforded by the internet and with changes in social and study habits brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. College instructors across the US and beyond are grappling with how to deter cheating and reassessing how they assess their students. Students are turning to online education companies for exam answers. Chegg offers libraries of searchable solutions and the option to post new problems with requests for solutions. The companies bill themselves as tutorial services for many subjects, including physics. But students can--and do--use the services to cheat.

The US is in dire need of STEM teachers

Feder discusses the shortage of STEM teachers in the US as of February 2022. Schoolteachers report career satisfaction. Jobs are plentiful. Pay is better than in many professions. Pensions are good. Yet for decades the US has struggled with acute teacher shortages, especially in physics, math, and chemistry. The shortage of math and science teachers was emphasized as far back as 1983 in the government report A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. These days, COVID-19 is exposing and exacerbating existing strains in education systems. But even as the stresses of the pandemic are pushing some teachers to consider quitting, others are persevering and working for change.

Universities overcome bumps in transition to online teaching

Instructors grapple with how to administer exams that meaningfully assess students, suppress cheating, minimize anxiety, and preserve privacy. Here, Feder discusses that universities overcome bumps in transition to online teaching amid the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers at universities worldwide are catching their breath as the first term in mass online teaching wraps up. Faculty had to move their courses online, work from home, and engage students who had varying external distractions and uneven internet access. The difficulties of the transition- including the thorny issue of exams- cut across all subjects, but huge introductory classes and laboratory instruction pose particular challenges in physics.

Stressed? Depressed? You are not alone

Many physicists find that establishing work–life balance is crucial to battling the COVID-related stresses of isolation, low productivity, and despondency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Physics Today is the property of American Institute of Physics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Stuck at home, physicists pivot to combat COVID-19

Scientists around the world have turned their attention to COVID-19. Among the projects physicists are working on are apps for proximity tracing, mobile care deployment, and supply-chain simplification;ventilators from easily sourced parts;numerical simulations of ways to reopen civic life and reboot the economy;and molecular simulations to search for therapeutics and vaccines. Besides creativity and handiness with electronics and computers, physicists have expertise in managing big data and large teams. And approximating is part of every physicist's training, notes John Langford, a researcher at Microsoft who helped design protocols for contact-tracing apps. Some scientists are working on contact-tracing apps to help identify and notify people who may have become infected from being near someone who tests positive for COVID-19.