DAMOP/DAMPhi 2007 – Information from the Local Committee
Rob Thompson
The 38th meeting of the Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics (DAMOP) of the American Physical Society will be held jointly with the Division of Atomic & Molecular Physics and Photonic Interactions (DAMPhi) of the Canadian Association of Physicists in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, from Tuesday, June 5 to Saturday, June 9, 2007. Make plans now to attend. See http://phas.ucalgary.ca/DAMOP07/ [Local Chair: Rob Thompson; Conference Secretariat: The Bayley Group].
The conference is once again bringing together a large number of quality presentations, with approximately 800 abstracts appearing in the conference program, forming a high quality series of invited, focus, and contributed sessions. The invited speaker list can be viewed at http://phas.ucalgary.ca/DAMOP07/invitedSessions.php .
Calgary is one of North America's most vibrant cities, at the foot of the Rockies close to the world famous towns of Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper. The June dates of DAMPOP/DAMPhi make this an ideal vacation opportunity and a chance to see this outstanding region.
Registration
The Deadline for Pre-Registration at the Early Registration Fee is 5:00 p.m. Friday, March 30, 2007 . On-line registration and printable registration forms are available on the DAMOP 2007 website under the Registration link. The registration fee includes all sessions, the Welcome Reception, the public lecture and the Conference banquet. Registration and Conference check-in will take place at the Palliser Hotel on Tuesday June 5th then at the TELUS Convention Center from the morning of Wednesday June 6th.
Special Events - Tuesday, June 5
Educators' Day returns to DAMOP for its second run with an exciting session being organized with Carl Wieman for teachers, college and university instructors, and even physics education students. The content will be two fold, focusing both on modern physics-instruction pedagogies, such as peer instruction, clickers, and instructional computer simulations, and on Atomic Physics research, with talks by Wieman, Debbie Jin, and Chris Monroe. Educators' Day activities will be held primarily on the Campus of the University of Calgary, although the educators will be joining conference attendees at the opening reception in Fairmont Palliser Hotel in the evening, so be sure to keep an eye out and introduce yourselves to these important people in the training of our next generation of students. The local organizers of Educators' Day for DAMOP 2007 are Phil Langill and Rob Thompson. For further information or visit the Educators' Day website at http://phas.ucalgary.ca/DAMOP07/educators.php .
As has become a regular event at recent DAMOP Meetings, a Graduate Student Symposium is planned for the morning and afternoon of June 5, 2007. The first half of the session, held at the Fairmont Palliser Hotel, will include tutorial presentations from four prominent AMO Physics researchers from Canada and the USA. These talks will be broken up by a catered lunch for all registered participants. Following the talks, participants will travel to the University of Calgary for tours of the university research facilities related to AMO Physics and Quantum Information Science. Speakers currently confirmed for this session include Bob McKellar (National Research Council of Canada) and Randy Hulet (Rice University). Pre-registration for this event, intended for graduate students and post-doctoral researchers, is required at a cost of $50 (Canadian dollars, CDN). Further information about the event, including a full list of speakers, topics, and abstracts will be available at the event web-site http://phas.ucalgary.ca/DAMOP07/gradStudents .
For those of you who arrive early on Tuesday, June 5, the Open House of the AMO Physics and Quantum Information Science research facilities at the University of Calgary main campus will be available to all conference attendees throughout the afternoon. The campus is located a short 20 minute commuter rail ride from the downtown convention centre. Information on taking the train to and from campus, and directions to the Physics and Astronomy Department will be available at the conference registration desk
Arrive in time to enjoy the Welcome Reception at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday June 5th in the historic Canadian Pacific Railway Pavilion. Attached to the Crystal Ballroom at the Palliser Hotel, this unique venue is steeped in history with vintage railway cars and artifacts from the origins of the railway in Canada.
Special Events - Wednesday, June 6
As has been recent tradition, the conference will open with its plenary prize session , which will take place from 8:00-10:00 a.m. in MacLeod Hall of the TELUS Convention Centre and will honor three APS Prize Winners: J. Ye (Rabi Prize), J. Bergquist (Broida Prize), and M. Lieberman (Allis Prize).
Poster Sessions and Exhibits : Poster sessions will be held from 4:00-6:00 PM on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in the TELUS Convention Centre. Refreshments will be available. Various commercial and industrial firms will have exhibits in the MacLeod Hall Foyer during the poster and conference sessions. People presenting posters are asked to remove them no later than 6:30 PM on the day of the presentation.
PRA/PRL Session for Authors and Referees : The editors of Physical Review A and Physical Review Letters will hold an information session for referees from 4:00-5:00 PM in Glen 201-203.
Nobel Symposium : A special symposium featuring the 2005 Nobel Laureates in Atomic Physics will be held in MacLeod Hall from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Confirmed speakers at this time include Roy Glauber (Harvard) and Theodore Haensch (Max-Planck-Institute for Quantum Optics, Germany).
Special Events - Thursday, June 7
Public Lecture : Paul Corkum of the National Research Council of Canada will present the DAMOP Public Lecture on Attosecond Science on Thursday evening in the MacLeod Hall of the TELUS Convention Centre.
Special Events - Friday, June 8
A special Herbert Walther Memorial Session in tribute to the career of this leader of AMO Physics in Germany and beyond will be held at 8:00 a.m. on June 8. This series of invited talks by Prof. Walther's former students and collaborators will attempt to illustrate the breadth of the work of his career. Confirmed speakers for the session are M. Scully, G. Rempe, G. Raithel, and W. Quint.
Conference Banquet : The conference dinner at 7:00 p.m. will be preceded by a cash bar reception beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the TELUS Convention Centre MacLeod Hall Foyer. The after-dinner speaker is The Honourable Preston Manning – former Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the Canadian Federal Parliament. Mr. Manning has long been involved in issues related to science policy in Canada, and will be speaking on the importance of scientists being able to communicate with politicians and the public, and how we can do a better job at such communications.
Special Events - Saturday, June 9
There will be four parallel sessions starting at 8:00 a.m. on the last morning of the conference. These will be followed by a stand-alone Hot Topics Session starting at 10:30 a.m., which will wrap up the conference by 1:00 pm. Confirmed speakers for the Hot Topics Session include H. Batelaan, M. Brune, L. Childress, G. Gabrielse, and C. Westbrook.
Following the close of the conference, attendees will have the opportunity to take part in a selection of post-conference excursions to some of the interesting locations around Calgary. These excursion options include both after/evening trips and overnight activities. The excursions require pre-registration and are offered on a cost recovery basis. The conference organizers must reserve the right to cancel excursions that are under-subscribed. Information on these excursions may be found on the conference web-site at http://www.phas.ucalgary.ca/DAMOP07 .
Accompanying Persons Information
The Local Committee is planning a program of daytime activities for accompanying persons on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, in addition to the post-conference excursions mentioned above. Possible activities may be viewed on the conference web page ( http://phas.ucalgary.ca/DAMOP07/local.php ). Advance expressions of interest are welcome through the web page.
Accommodations
The conference will be held at the TELUS Convention Center and the Fairmont Palliser Hotel in the downtown area of Calgary.
Official DAMOP 2007 room blocks have been reserved at two hotels in downtown Calgary. The Fairmont Palliser is directly adjacent to the TELUS Convention Center where all meetings will be held. The special conference rate is $166 (CDN) plus tax per night for single or double occupancy. Please download this pdf file with more information on the special rate.
Additional rooms are being held at the Sandman Hotel Calgary, a short walk or trolley ride from the Convention Centre and the DAMOP conference rate is $129 (CDN) single or double. Make sure to mention DAMOP when making your reservation. Please make your reservations by April 15th as room availability and the special conference rate is not guaranteed after this deadline. Calgary is an extremely busy city in June and you must make your reservations before the deadline date.
Student Housing
Students and other attendees requiring less expensive accommodation at DAMOP 2007 have the option of staying at the University of Calgary in a completely furnished residence hall a 20-minute ride on the light rail from the conference site.
The apartments are self-contained units with four bedrooms, kitchen, living room and bathroom. Kitchens are not equipped with cookware. The rate is $50 (CDN) per bedroom. To book a room you must complete the Conference Housing Reservation Form which can be submitted by fax to 403-220-6760, by phone to 403-220-3203 or 1-877-498-3203 or by mail to Conference Housing, 104 Cascade Hall, 3456 24th Ave NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4V5 and is available at http://phas.ucalgary.ca/DAMOP07/accommodation.php .
The Conference Housing office is located in the lobby of Cascade Hall.
Travel to Calgary
Calgary is easily accessible by air, with airport information available at http://www.calgaryairport.com/index.htm . Currently, direct scheduled flights exist between Calgary and the following US cities: Chicago, Dallas/ Fort Worth, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Minneapolis Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York JFK, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Seattle. Air carriers connecting Calgary with the USA include Air Canada, West Jet, Continental, Northwest, Alaska, Delta Connector, Frontier, Horizon, United, and US Airways. Air Canada, West Jet, Continental, and Northwest airlines are all offering conference discount rates, with further information available on the conference web-site at http://phas.ucalgary.ca/DAMOP07/transportation.php .
Visas for Visitors to Canada
Citizenship and Immigration Canada provides general information on visiting Canada about visa regulations at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/faq/visiting-1.html . Attendees who wish to have a letter of invitation for the purpose of applying for a Canadian Visa should contact Rob Thompson, Local Chair. Please include with your message the following:
- Your complete name and mailing address
- Whether you are giving an invited or contributed presentation
- The title(s) of your presentation(s)
Adequate time should be allowed for processing visa applications. Applicants should initiate the process as early in their travel plans as possible. To visit Canada you require a valid passport, proof of whom you are or other travel documents. Information regarding Canadian visa policy is available at www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/ . A list of countries that require visas in order to visit Canada may be viewed at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.html . DAMOP does not get involved in the visa application process.
Canada does not pay for hospital or medical services for visitors. Make sure you have health insurance to pay your medical costs before you leave for Canada.
Information for Visitors from the U.S.A.
Visitors from the US should be aware that certain US government regulations may apply if you plan to travel to Canada. You may ask your employer if special regulations apply to you. In general, beginning January 23, 2007, ALL persons, including U.S. citizens, traveling by air between the United States and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda will be required to present a valid passport.
The following documents are NOT valid to enter or re-enter the United States: voter's registration, hospital birth certificate, baptism record, or driver's license.
How do I obtain a U.S. passport or renew a U.S. passport? The Passport Services Office provides information and services to American citizens about how to obtain, replace or change a passport at http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html
Conference Deadlines
Pre-registration (reduced fee): March 30, 2007
Discount accommodation rates: April 15, 2007
DAMOP/DAMPhi 2007 – ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Program On-line
The DAMOP program can be viewed on-line at http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DAMOP07 .
Student Travel Support
Students may apply for travel support to Calgary in 2007. For the purposes of this application, please note that a “paper” means either a talk (invited or contributed) or a poster. We have about 80 applications so far and hope to be able to provide $300 to $500 support to more than 30 students. DEADLINE: March 30, 2007.
Additional Visa and Passport Requirement Information
Owing to a new policy that comes into effect in January 2007, all travelers to Calgary who return to the U.S. by air must have valid passports to enter the U.S. Previously, U.S. citizens could enter the U.S. from Canada using other forms of identification. At the time of the Calgary meeting a valid passport will be required for ALL travelers entering the U.S. by air.
Dr. Amy Flatten, Director of International Affairs at APS, has kindly provided the following weblinks for information regarding visa issues that was found useful by attendees of the recent March Meeting in Montreal, Canada (2004): http://www.aps.org/programs/international/visa/mar04/, and for US travelers going to other countries
http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/brochures/brochures_1229.html; (click “ C ” and/or scroll down to “ Canada ” for the latest passport/visa requirements for US citizens trying to enter Canada).