The APS Global Summit is a ginormous event, featuring dozens of parallel sessions at any given time. It can be exciting for first-time attendees, but also overwhelming. Here, I compile some advice on how to navigate the meeting and some suggestions for sessions and events you might like to attend.

General Advice

• Use the online schedule and the mobile app to help you navigate the meeting. If you create a login, the online schedule allows you to add things to your personalized schedule, which you can view on the app at the meeting. This is a very useful thing to do because making decisions of where to go on the fly is difficult.
• Do not overschedule yourself. I know it is tempting to figure out how to go to as many things as you can, and run between sessions on opposite sides of the convention center. This will be harder to accomplish than you imagine. The meeting gets very crowded and it is exhausting to sit through a full three-hour session of talks. Schedule some break time and, where possible, schedule blocks of time in one location rather than running all over the place.
• You will have noticed that most talks at the meeting are 12min long (10min + 2min). These are called contributed talks. Since they are so short, they are more like adverts for the work than a detailed explanation. They are usually aimed at experts and, quite frankly, many speakers do not know how to give these talks well. It is not worth attending these talks unless one of the following applies:
  • You are already an expert in that research area.
  • You are strongly considering doing research in that area.
  • You are there to support your friends and colleagues who are speaking in that session.
  • You are so curious about the research area that you are prepared to sit through a lot of opaque talks to get some idea of what is going on in the area.
  • The session is on a topic that is unusually accessible or the session is aimed at undergraduate students.
• Instead, you should prioritize attending the following kinds of talks, which you can search for using the filters on the schedule:
  • Plenary talks: These are aimed at a general physics audience and are usually by famous speakers (famous by physics standards anyway). Some of these might also be…
  • Popular science talks: Aimed at the general public.
  • Invited Sessions: These sessions consist of 30min talks by invited speakers in a common research area. There is no guarantee that they will be accessible to novices, but it is much more likely than with the contributed talks. Go to any invited sessions on areas of physics you are curious about.
  • Focus Sessions: Focus sessions consist mainly of contributed talks, but they also have one or two 30min invited talks. It is not considered rude to switch sessions between talks, so do not be afraid to just attend the invited talks. They are not always scheduled at the beginning of the session. In fact, some groups deliberately stagger the times of the invited talks so that people can see the invited talks in more than one focus session.
• There are sessions that list “Undergraduate Students” as part of their target audience. A lot of these are “Undergraduate Research” sessions. It can be interesting to go to one or two of these to see the variety of undergraduate research experiences that are on offer. However, I would not advise only going to sessions on this list. For one thing, undergraduate research projects are not banned from the other sessions, so many of the best undergraduate projects will not be in those sessions. Going to sessions by topic is a better bet most of the time.
• It is helpful to filter the sessions on the schedule by the organizing Unit (Division, Topical Group, or Forum). You can find a list of APS units here. For example, if you are particularly interested in Quantum Information and Computation then you will want to look at the sessions organized by DQI (Division of Quantum Information). Sessions organized by Forums are often particularly accessible, as they tend to be about less technical issues (DEI, Education, History and Philosophy, etc.)

The next sections contain some more specific suggestions about events, talks and sessions that you might like to attend.

Orientation and Networking Events

I have never been to an orientation or networking event at the APS meeting, but then again I did not go to the APS meeting as a student. Networking is one of the best things you can do at the meeting, so do take any opportunities to meet and talk to people.

Sunday March 16

Tuesday March 18

The student lunch with the Experts is especially worth it because you get a one-on-eight meeting with a physicist who works on a topic you are interested in. You also get a free lunch. Spaces are limited, so you need to sign up for it on the Sunday, and early if you want to get your choice of expert.

Generally speaking, food is very expensive in the convention center. Therefore, the more places you can get free food the better. There are networking events, some of which are aimed at students and some of which have free meals. Other good bets for free food include the receptions and business meetings. (With a business meeting you may have to first sit through a boring administrative meeting for an APS unit, but at least the DQI meeting will feature me talking about The Quantum Times.)

Sessions Chaired by Chapman Faculty

The next few sections highlight talks and sessions that involve people at Chapman. You may want to come to these not only to support local people, but also to find out more about areas of research that you might want to do undergraduate research projects in.

The following sessions are being chaired by Chapman faculty. The chair does not give a talk during the session, but acts as a host. But chairs usually work in the areas that the session is about, so it is a good way to get more of an overview of things they are interested in.

Talks involving Chapman Faculty, Postdocs and Students

The talks listed below all have someone who is currently affiliated with Chapman as one or more of the authors. The Chapman person is not necessarily the person giving the talk.

The people giving the talks, especially if they are students or postdocs, would appreciate your support. It is also a good way of finding out more about research that is going on at Chapman.

Monday March 17

Tuesday March 18

Wednesday March 19

Thursday March 20

Friday March 21

Posters involving Chapman Faculty, Postdocs and Students

Poster sessions last longer than talks, so you can view the posters at your leisure. The presenter is supposed to stand by their poster and talk to people who come to see it. The following posters are being presented by Chapman undergraduates. Please drop by and support them.

Thursday March 20, 10:00am – 1:00pm, Anaheim Convention Center, Exhibit Hall A

Leifer’s Recommendations

These are sessions that reflect my own interests. It is a good bet that you will find me at one of these, unless I am teaching, or someone I know is speaking somewhere else. There are multiple sessions at the same time, but what I will typically do is select the one that has the most interesting looking talk at the time and switch sessions from time to time or take a break from sessions entirely if I get bored.

Monday March 17

Tuesday March 18

Wednesday March 19

Thursday March 20

Friday March 21

The Exhibition Hall

It is worthwhile to spend some time in the exhibit hall. It features a Careers Fair and a Grad School Fair, which will be larger and more relevant to physics students than other such fairs you might attend in the area.

But, of course, the main purpose of going to the exhibition hall is to acquire SWAG. Some free items I have obtained from past APS exhibit halls include:

• Rubik’s cubes
• Balls that light up when you bounce them
• Yo-Yos
• Wooden model airplanes
• Snacks
• T-shits
• Tote bags
• Enough stationery items to last for the rest of your degree
• Free magazines and journals
• Free or heavily discounted books

I recommend going when the hall first opens to get the highest quality SWAG.

Fun Stuff

Other fun stuff to do at this year’s meeting includes:

• QuantumFest: This starts with the Quantum Jubilee event on Saturday, but there are events all week some of which you have to be registered for the meeting for. Definitely reserve a spot for the LabEscape escpae room. I have done one of their rooms before and it is fun.
• Physics Rock-n-Roll Singalong: A very nerdy APS meeting tradition. Worth attending once in your life. Probably only once though.

This position is part of the Southern California Quantum Foundations Hub, funded by the John Templeton Foundation.  The research project must be in quantum foundations, particularly in one of the three theme areas of the grant:

1. The Nature of the Quantum State
2. Past and Future Boundary Conditions
3. Agency in Quantum Observers. 

The university also provides other scholarships for the MPP program.  Please apply before January 15, 2025, to receive full consideration for the available funding.

Please follow the “Graduate Application” link on the MPP website to apply.

For informal inquiries about the position and research projects, please get in touch with me.

Travis Norsen in conversation with Matt Leifer

Wednesday October 21, 5pm PST (California Time)

The Institute for Quantum Studies at Chapman University presents an online discussion between Dr. Travis Norsen (Smith College) and Dr. Matthew Leifer (co-Director of the Institute for Quantum Studies at Chapman) on quantum mechanics and nonlocality.  After studying physics and philosophy as an undergraduate at Harvey Mudd College and then getting a PhD in theoretical nuclear astrophysics at the University of Washington, Travis Norsen returned to his two great passions:  teaching physics to undergraduates and working independently on the foundations of quantum mechanics.  He is currently a lecturer in the physics department  at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.   In addition to authoring the first systematic textbook on quantum foundations, Travis has written extensively on the EPR argument and Bell’s Theorem and has also worked on the de Broglie-Bohm pilot-wave theory.  One idiosyncratic theme of his thinking about foundational questions is a stress on the important role played by what Bell called “local beables” in making candidate theories empirically viable.  In addition to physics and philosophy, Travis (like Einstein) enjoys productive physical activities such as chopping wood; he loves gardening and cooking; and he plays, coaches, and has recently written a book about soccer.  The conversation will be broadcast live on YouTube at There will be an opportunity for audience Q&A after the event.

The Many Worlds of Quantum Mechanics
A Popular Physics Discussion
Sean Carroll in conversation with Matt Leifer
Wednesday September 16, 5pm PDT (California Time)

The Institute for Quantum Studies at Chapman University presents an online discussion between Dr. Sean Carroll (Caltech) and Dr. Matthew Leifer (co-Director of the Institute for Quantum Studies at Chapman) on the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.  Dr. Carroll is a theoretical physicist, specializing in quantum mechanics, gravitation, cosmology, statistical mechanics, and foundations of physics.  He is also a prolific author of popular science book and his latest – Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds ad the Emergence of Spacetime – argues that quantum mechanics is best explained in terms of multiple universes that are constantly splitting from one another, and explains how this point of view may help us to understand quantum gravity.  This will be the topic of conversation with Dr. Leifer, which will be accessible to a general audience.  The conversation will be broadcast live on YouTube at There will be an opportunity for audience Q&A and a book giveaway during the event.

Like many arrogant physicists, the temptation to become an armchair epidemiologists at the moment is sometimes overwhelming. I want to use my technical skills to help with research, but I recognize that it would be better to work with experts and contribute to projects already going on than to start my own thing. I started the wiki to organize the different ways of doing this. I am also including other ways to help with research, such as volunteering for clinical trials and donating money or equipment.

I hope you will distribute this link widely and help keep the wiki up to date.

16th International Conference on
Quantum Physics and Logic
(QPL 2019)

June 10-14, 2019
Chapman University, Orange,
California, USA

https://qpl2019.org

* * *

The 16th International Conference on Quantum Physics and Logic
(QPL 2019) will take place at Chapman University June 10-14, 2019.

The conference brings together researchers working on mathematical
foundations of quantum physics, quantum computing, and related areas,
with a focus on structural perspectives and the use of logical tools,
ordered algebraic and category-theoretic structures, formal languages,
semantical methods, and other computer science techniques applied to
the study of physical behaviour in general. Work that applies
structures and methods inspired by quantum theory to other fields
(including computer science) is also welcome.

IMPORTANT DATES

April 1: abstract submission
April 7: paper submission
April 30: application for student support
May 12: notification of authors
May 17: early registration deadline
May 24: final papers ready
June 10-14: conference

INVITED SPEAKERS

John Baez (UC Riverside)
Anna Pappa (University College London)
Joel Wallman (University of Waterloo)

INVITED TUTORIALS

Ana Belen Sainz (Perimeter Institute)
Quanlong Wang (University of Oxford)

SUBMISSIONS

Prospective speakers are invited to submit one (or more) of the
following:

– Original contributions consist of a 5-12 page extended abstract
that provides sufficient evidence of results of genuine interest
and enough detail to allow the program committee to assess the
merits of the work. Submission of substantial albeit partial
results of work in progress is encouraged.

– Extended abstracts describing work submitted/published elsewhere
will also be considered, provided the work is recent and relevant
to the conference. These consist of a 3 page description and should
include a link to a separate published paper or preprint.

The conference proceedings will be published in Electronic
Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science (EPTCS) after the
conference. Only “original contributions” are eligible to be
published in the proceedings.

Submissions should be prepared using LaTeX, and must be submitted in
PDF format. Use of the EPTCS style is encouraged. Submission is done
via EasyChair:

https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=qpl2019

There will be an award for the best student paper at the discretion
of the programme committee. Papers eligible for the award are those
where all the authors are students at the time of submission.

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Bob Coecke (co-chair, University of Oxford)
Matthew Leifer (co-chair, Chapman University)
Miriam Backens (University of Oxford)
Giulio Chiribella (University of Oxford)
Stefano Gogioso (University of Oxford)
John Harding (New Mexico State University)
Chris Heunen (The University of Edinburgh)
Matthew Hoban (University of Oxford)
Dominic Horsman (University of Durham)
Kohei Kishida (Dalhousie University)
Aleks Kissinger (Radboud University)
Joachim Kock (UAB)
Ravi Kunjwal (Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics)
Martha Lewis (University of Amsterdam)
Dan Marsden (University of Oxford)
David Moore (Pictet Asset Management)
Michael Moortgat (Utrecht University)
Daniel Oi (University of Strathclyde)
Ognyan Oreshkov (Université Libre de Bruxelles)
Anna Pappa (University College London)
Dusko Pavlovic (University of Hawaii)
Simon Perdrix (CNRS, Laboratoire d’Informatique de Grenoble, University of Grenoble)
Neil Ross (Dalhousie University)
Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh (Queen Mary University of London)
Ana Belén Sainz (Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics)
Peter Selinger (Dalhousie University)
Sonja Smets (University of Amsterdam)
Pawel Sobocinski (University of Southampton)
Robert Spekkens (Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics)
Isar Stubbe (Université du Littoral)
Benoît Valiron (LRI – CentraleSupelec, Univ. Paris Saclay)
Jamie Vicary (University of Oxford)
Alexander Wilce (Susquehanna University)
Mingsheng Ying (University of Technology, Sydney)
Margherita Zorzi (University of Verona)
Magdalena Anna Zych (The University of Queensland)

STEERING COMMITTEE

Bob Coecke (University of Oxford)
Prakash Panangaden (McGill University)
Peter Selinger (Dalhousie University)

LOCAL ORGANIZERS

Lorenzo Catani (Chapman University)
Justin Dressel (Chapman University)
Matthew Leifer (Chapman University)
Drew Moshier (Chapman University)

For further information, please contact qpl2019@easychair.org.

June 10-14 2019

Chapman University, Orange, California

https://qpl2019.org

The 16th International Conference on Quantum Physics and Logic (QPL 2019) will take place at Chapman University June 10-14, 2019. The conference brings together researchers working on mathematical foundations of quantum physics, quantum computing, and related areas, with a focus on structural perspectives and the use of logical tools, ordered algebraic and category-theoretic structures, formal languages, semantical methods, and other computer science techniques applied to the study of physical behaviour in general. Work that applies structures and methods inspired by quantum theory to other fields (including computer science) is also welcome.

A call for papers and registration details will follow in a few weeks and will also be posted on the conference website at https://qpl2019.org

STEERING COMMITTEE

• Bob Coecke (University of Oxford)
• Prakash Panangaden (McGill University)
• Peter Selinger (Dalhousie University)

LOCAL ORGANIZERS

• Matthew Leifer (Chapman University)
• Lorenzo Catani (Chapman University)
• Justin Dressel (Chapman University)
• Drew Moshier (Chapman University)

For further information, please contact qpl2019@easychair.org.

Please visit our website to register, make hotel reservations, and find instructions for submitting a poster abstract: https://www.chapman.edu/research/institutes-and-centers/quantum-studies/aav.aspx

Also, note that the March Meeting of the American Physical Society takes place the following week (March 5-9) in Los Angeles, CA, which is near Chapman University, providing you with a triple reason to come visit with us in sunny Southern California.

Further details about the aims of the conference follow below.

The concept of a weak value, first formulated by Aharonov, Albert and Vaidman in their 1988 PRL paper “How the result of a measurement of a component of a spin-1/2 particle can turn out to be 100” (PRL 60:1351, 1988) has attracted widespread attention, which has only increased in recent years. It has given rise to a lot of interesting thought experiments, many of which are now being implemented in the lab. The mathematical formalism of weak values has also given rise to the related concept of superoscillations, which have been of great interest to mathematical physicists.

In recent years anomalous weak values have been shown to be related to quantum contextuality, and have attracted increasing attention for their possible application to quantum metrology, known as “weak value amplification”.

This symposium will survey the development of weak values, and explore the current debates about their foundational significance and practical applications.

Conference Organizing Committee:

Jeff Tollaksen
Matthew Leifer
Justin Dressel
Cristian Bourgeois

The Institute for Quantum Studies within Schmid College of Science and Technology at Chapman University invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Foundations of Quantum Theory, beginning August 2018.

Chapman University, located in the heart of Orange County, California, is ranked in the top tier of western universities by U.S. News and World Report, and has gained national recognition for its commitment to excellence through innovative research and teaching. Schmid College of Science and Technology embodies Chapman’s commitment to interdisciplinarity, fostering an outstanding community of teacher-scholars across a broad range of undergraduate and graduate programs. More information on the College and its future 140,000 square foot home, the Keck Center for Science and Engineering, can be found here: www.chapman.edu/science.

Qualifications

Postdoctoral Fellow must hold a Ph.D. or an equivalent of a doctoral degree by the beginning of employment at Chapman University. The doctorate or equivalent must have been awarded within the last five years and candidate has not exceeded five years of prior postdoctoral experience.

A publication record showing a strong promise for future independent research is highly desirable.

Responsibilities

The postdoc will work in the group of Dr. Matthew Leifer on the project “Fine Tunings and the Nature of Quantum Reality”.

A “fine tuning” refers to a property of the operational predictions of quantum theory that cannot hold at the level of reality. Fine tunings are exposed by the various no-go theorems for realist accounts of quantum theory, such as Bell’s theorem, the Kochen-Specker theorem, and recent results on the reality of the quantum state. The project encompasses: rigorously defining the notion of a fine tuning, characterizing and quantifying fine-tunings in a resource theoretic framework, exploiting fine tunings for information processing advantages, developing ontological frameworks for quantum theory that are free of fine tunings, and explaining fine tunings as emergent.

The postdoc is expected to work with Dr. Leifer on this project, but may also pursue their own independent research.

The postdoc is expected to publish their findings in academic journals and present their work at academic conferences and workshops. The postdoc is also expected to contribute to the research culture of the institute and university. Examples of ways of doing this include: giving seminars, helping to organize conferences and workshops, helping to organize seminars and talks, and discussing research with undergraduate and graduate students who are working on research projects.

Contact Information

Applicants should send electronic copies of their CV, research statement, list of publications, and three references to Dr. Matthew Leifer at leifer@chapman.edu.

Applications should be received before December 7, 2017 in order to receive full consideration, but the position will remain open until filled.

Fellows are offered a competitive salary, benefits, research support, and personalized professional development in research.
Chapman University is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive academic global community. The University is dedicated to enhancing diversity and inclusion in all aspects of recruitment and employment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, military and veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by state or federal law. The University is committed to achieving a diverse faculty and staff and encourages members of underrepresented groups to apply.

Chapman University, One University Drive, Orange, CA 92866 Human Resources Department