58^th Annual Physical Electronics Conference

The 58^th Annual Physical Electronics Conference will be held at Penn State from Sunday 14 June to Wednesday 17 June 1998. Mark your calendars now!

For information, contact: Renee Diehl or Paul Weiss 

The Conference on Physical Electronics provides a forum for the dissemination and thorough discussion of important new research results in the physics and chemistry of surfaces and interfaces. The conference will continue to emphasize basic, fundamental science at the atomic and molecular level. Both experimental and theoretical talks are solicited. Representative topics include the electronic, chemical, vibrational, and crystallographic properties of surfaces and interfaces; the kinetics and dynamics of physical and chemical reactions at surfaces; surface relaxation and phase transitions; adsorption onto and diffusion on surfaces; gas-surface interactions; and the atomistic mechanisms of surface and interface growth. Properties of both clean surfaces and those incorporating foreign atoms are of interest, as are new methods of measuring fundamental properties of surfaces and interfaces.

The conference will follow its traditional format of 15-minute oral contributed presentations followed by 5-minute discussion periods. The three-day format of the conference limits the total number of contributed oral presentations to about sixty. Apart from Nottingham Prize contestants (see below), a one-page abstract is the sole written submission required of contributors.

Registration Form

If you can't find the information you need on this site, try this one for late-breaking information. 

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Poster Session!!

This year, for the first time, we will be holding a poster session, provided a sufficient number of abstracts are submitted. If you wish to submit an abstract for consideration for the poster session only, please indicate this on the bottom of the abstract. Stay tuned for further information.

Location

The 1998 Conference will be held on the campus of the Pennsylvania State University in University Park, PA. Click for area and campus maps.

Getting here

Penn State's University Park Campus is located in the geographic center of Pennsylvania, in the town of State College. The Campus is located within driving distance of many major cities including Harrisburg (1.5 hrs., 90 mi), Pittsburgh (3 hrs., 137 mi), Philadelphia (3.5 hrs., 194 mi), Baltimore (3.5 hrs., 155 mi), Washington D.C. (4 hrs., 190 mi), New York City (5 hrs., 250 mi) and Toronto (6.5 hrs., 304 mi). Twenty-five daily commercial flights to the University Park Airport are available through USAirways Express, Northwest Airlink and United Express. Ground transportation is available via taxi, bus, limousine and rental cars.

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Acccommodation

Inexpensive housing is available in non-air-conditioned university residence halls for approximately $30/night for double rooms - single rooms cost slightly more. This price includes breakfast and lunch on the following day. Lodging in residence halls is available from Saturday through Wednesday. To arrange for such housing, called 1-800-778-8006.

A limited number of rooms have been set aside at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel. The Penn Stater offers translation, fax, and word-processing services, plus a variety of recreational resources. Please call 1-800-983-4602 or 1-814-863-5000 or fax 1-804-863-5001 or email pshs@psu.edu to make your room reservation. Be sure to identify yourself as a Physical Electronics Conference participant to take advantage of the conference rate. Reservations should be made at least 30 days prior to the start of the conference. There may also be rooms available at the Nittany Lion Inn on campus. Contact info: Phone: 1-800-233-7505 or 1-814-865-8500 Fax: 1-814-865-8501 or email pshs@psu.edu.

Information on additional accommodation at off-campus hotels can be found at http://www.statecollege.com/tour_lodging.html.

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Abstract Submission

1. Abstracts must be received by 13 April 1998. FAXes may be sent to (814) 863-5190 so long as a hard copy arrives that same week at the address below.
2. Papers will be allotted fifteen minutes for presentation and five minutes for discussion.
3. Two hard copies of the abstract will be required.
4. The format for the abstracts is as follows: It may occupy no more that one full typewritten page (21.6 x 21.6cm or 8-1/2 x 11in) with, at a minimum, a 3-cm border at the left and top and a 2-cm border at the right and bottom. Authors are urged to fill the remainder of the page using single-spaced lines (12- pt type) to provide the maximum information for both the paper selection committee and the attendees. The heading should include title, author(s), affiliation, and postal and e-mail address. The name of the intended speaker should be underlined. The abstracts should be carefully prepared because they will be photocopied without editing. Please note that the PEC abstract does NOT conform to the standard format of the Bulletin of the American Physical Society.
5. Please note at the bottom of the abstract if you are requesting a poster presentation.

Send 2 copies of abstract to:

Paper Selection

The subject matter of an acceptable paper should lie within or be closely related to the areas delineated above. The results presented must be new; neither a paper nor an abstract of the work should have been published prior to the conference. Since the paper selection by the committee is based solely on the abstract, it is important that the abstract be as complete and informative as possible. It should state clearly what has been accomplished, the new results and conclusions, and the significance of the work in relation to previous studies and knowledge.

The committee will give preference to papers according to the following criteria:

1. Papers presenting results and conclusions in exciting new areas of theoretical or experimental investigation will receive preference over those which simply extend knowledge in well-established fields.
2. Papers describing comparisons of theory and experiment will receive preference over papers presenting theory or experiment alone.
3. Papers describing techniques and results obtained with them will be preferred over papers describing techniques alone.
4. Papers describing modifications and extensions of established techniques will be given lesser preference.

The committee will rank abstracts on the basis of these criteria. The total number of papers accepted is severely limited by the time available, given the three-day format of the conference. Members of a group are strongly encouraged to submit only a single comprehensive abstract rather than multiple abstracts on closely related subjects. Authors and co-authors whose names appear on more than one abstract should note that this will be considered in the abstract selection. The committee will consider only information received by the abstract deadline date.

Two new members are elected yearly to the conference committee, each for three-year terms. James Tobin of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Marcus Weldon of Lucent Technologies Bell Laboratories have been nominated. Additional nominations may be made in writing if they are seconded by at least twelve attendees of the 1996 or 1997 meetings, have the consent of the nominee, and are submitted to the general chair prior to the start of the 1998 business session.

Nottingham Prize

The Nottingham Prize was established from contributions given in memory of Professor Wayne B. Nottingham of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by his many friends and associates. The prize, consisting of a certificate and $500, will be awarded to the best student paper presented at the conference. A student paper is defined as a paper based on a Ph.D. thesis whose date of submission to the faculty is no earlier that one year before the meeting at which the prize is given. A student may compete for the prize only once. Anyone wishing to compete should prepare an abstract as instructed herein. However, the competitor's name should be marked with an asterisk (*), and the accompanying footnote should read "Competing for the Nottingham Prize." The committee requests that a paper submitted for competition have no more than two authors - the student and his/her professor. If the advisor is not a co-author, his/her name should be provided.

Travel assistance is available to cover part of a competitor's expenses. The competitor should submit the following items:

1. Two copies of the abstract as indicated.
2. A specially prepared manuscript of approximately 1500 words.
3. A letter that includes a brief vita, thesis submission date, expected graduation date, and a request for travel assistance, if needed.

These items will also be sent to the Conference Administrator at the address given under "Abstract Submission" to arrive by the same deadline. While the competition will be judged largely on the oral presentation, the 1500-word manuscript will be needed to provide additional information to the judges. Submission of a thesis or of a manuscript to be published is not acceptable. The committee will limit the number of competitors to those who can be accommodated in one session. Published material may be included in the paper provided the thesis submission date meets the specification given above. 

Social Program

The social program will include a welcoming reception, the traditional banquet at which the Nottingham Prize will be presented, and a barbeque at a nearby park. More on this later!

PEC Executive Committee:

Charles B. Duke, Xerox, General Chair
Janice Reutt-Robey, University of Maryland, Vice Chair
Richard Kurtz, Louisiana State University, Treasurer
Mei-Yin Chou, Georgia Tech
Richard Osgood, Columbia University
Jack Rowe, Army Research Office
Kevin Smith, Boston University
Paul Weiss, Penn State University, ex officio

PEC Local Organizing Committee for 1998:

Renee Diehl, Penn State University, Co-chair
Paul Weiss, Penn State University, Co-chair
David Allara, Penn State University
Milton Cole, Penn State University
Hai Lung Dai, University of Pennsylvania
Randy Feenstra, Carnegie-Mellon University
Kristen Fichthorn, Penn State University
Barbara Garrison, Penn State University
Norton Lang, IBM Yorktown Heights
Qi Li, Penn State University
Marie Messmer, Lehigh University
Michael Natan, Penn State University
Jay Patel, Penn State University
Nitin Samarth, Penn State University
Roy Willis, Penn State University
Nicholas Winograd, Penn State University
John Yates, Jr., University of Pittsburgh

Support

The 58th PEC is being supported in part by the Penn State Chemistry and Physics Departments as well as the Eberly College of Science.

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