Global Physics Summit, March 15-20, 2026 Denver
Industry Room
The Industry Room is a place for companies to showcase their innovations and for students and early-career professionals to develop their careers. This is the second year for this new program and included 40 sessions with presentations by industry representatives, panel discussions about industrial careers, and talks by physicists with experience working in industry. Highlights this year included:
The Annual Meet Your Future career panel discussion described below and shown in photo
Immigration Pathways for Students and Scientists
Physics at Work for Humankind - Building Startups that Matter
Where do I start? Innovation and Commercialization Strategies for Academic Physicists
The Employable PhD: Preparing your Students and Postdocs for Industry Careers
Where do I start? Innovation and Commercialization Strategies for Academic Physicists
A total of 40 Industry Room sessions included 29 presentations or panel discussions in rooms 501/502, and 11 Table Topics in the Exhibit Hall which were informal roundtables where discussion and questions were encouraged. Check out the Industry Room Event Tag next year and access these timely and useful topics.
FIAP Sessions
FIAP Vice Chair Jinghua Guo worked with many others to organize sessions and events for the FIAP program covering a variety of topics including eight invited sessions organized or cosponsored by FIAP:
MAR-G05 Precision Timing and Navigation
APR-S78 FIAP Prize Session
MAR-P08 Signs for a Potential Quantum Advantage in Optimization
MAR-S11 Advances in Cryogenic Refrigeration that Increase the Accessibility of Extremely Low Temperatures
MAR-U03 Quantum Technologies for Remote Sensing
MAR-W11 Computing Machines with Collective Dynamics for Materials Science Applications
MAR-Y11 Beyond Academic Research: High-Impact Career Paths for Physicists
MAR-Z05 Commercial Applications of Quantum Computing
The longer format of these invited talks allowed more detailed descriptions of the work and are a major focus of the organizing team each year. Details in the Scientific Schedule
FIAP Reception
This annual Thursday event was very well attended and included networking and social time with light refreshments. There were brief remarks by some of the organizers and sponsors, leaving lots of time to connect with colleagues. All are welcome, so put this on your calendar for next year!
Careers focus – Meet Your Future
Midhat Farooq of the Careers Team organized a special lunchtime panel discussion with four physicists who work in the private sector. They shared their perspective about physics careers and did an extensive Q&A. Topics included research opportunities for physicists in industry, strategies for successfully pursuing industrial jobs, and advice on how to thrive in this exciting and challenging work environment. Attending during a typically hectic GPS day was easy because a light lunch of pizza and salad was served. Join this annual event and get answers to your questions about non-academic career opportunities.
Personal highlight- 10,000 Einsteins: AI and the Future of Physics, MAR-C03
Matthew Schwartz is a high energy physicist at Harvard. He talked about the impact of AI on theoretical physics, and showed that large language models can be trained to do the calculations of high energy particle interactions. He and the next speaker, Matthew Ginsberg from Google DeepMind, agreed that humans should develop the talent of asking the right questions. It wasn’t obvious to me how to accomplish this since until now this skill is usually developed by grinding through calculations and problems. This will require innovation in how physicists acquire needed skills.
Unfortunately, Schwartz’s talk was not recorded, but a previous version from August 2024 is available as well as some ppt slides from his previous talks. You can also find other references to his similar work at this link. Two quotes from his August 2024 talk:
1. Due to AI, “in the next five years education will be totally different” due to personalized tutoring Link
2. “. . . we are going to be assisted by the use of AI to help us do what we’re doing better . . . people who were OK physicists will become great physicists with the help of AI.” This link includes the 10,000 Einsteins statement. Link
A colleague and I left the talk somewhat stunned that AI was already so capable. I expect the implications for other fields of physics will be quite different, but the clear message was that the practice of physics and physics education will be enhanced and changed by advances in AI.
The GPS next year will be held in Atlanta April 11-16, 2027. Hope to see you there!
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