18th APS-SCCM and 24th AIRAPT

Abstract

The 18th Biennial International Conference of the APS Topical Group on Shock Compression of Condensed Matter in conjunction with the 24th Biennial International Conference of the International Association for the Advancement of High Pressure Science & Technology (AIRAPT) was held at the Westin Hotel in Seattle, Washington from 7–12 July, 2013. This is only the second time that these two organizations have held a Joint Conference — the first was 20 years previous (1993) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Seattle was chosen for this joint conference because of its central location for the world-wide attendees as well as its metropolitan vibrancy. The scientific program consisted of 858 scheduled presentations organized into 23 topical areas and included contributed (537), invited (95), and plenary (6) lectures, as well as two poster sessions with 110 posters each. The scientific focus of the Joint Conference was on fundamental and applied research topics related to the static or dynamic compression of condensed matter. This multidisciplinary field of research encompasses areas of physics, chemistry, materials science, mechanics, geophysics and planetary physics, and applied mathematics. Experimental, computational and theoretical studies all play important roles. The organizers endeavored to intertwine static and dynamic experimental alongside computational and theoretical studies of similar materials in the organization of the sessions. This goal was aided by the addition of three special focus sessions on deep carbon budget, high energy density materials, and dynamic response of materials.722 scientists and engineers from 25 countries registered at the conference, including 132 students from 12 countries. The attendee countries represented included: Argentina (2), Australia (2), Brazil (3), Canada (25), China (22), Czech Republic (2), France (35), Germany (19), India (6), Israel (21), Italy (10), Japan (49), Netherlands (1), Poland (1), Portugal (2), Russia (26), Singapore (1), Slovakia (1), South Korea (5), Spain (7), Sweden (4), Switzerland (1), United Kingdom (69), United States of America (402). 79 of the students were supported by travel awards, funded in part by the APS Topical Group, the AIRAPT, and other sources. New for this conference was an expanded Student Program, including an all-day Student, Post-Doc, and Early Career Symposium held on Sunday 7 July . During the Conference, Gennady Kanel of the Institute for High Temperatures, Russian Academy of Sciences, was presented the 2013 George E Duval Shock Compression Science Award, and gave a plenary lecture ‘‘Unusual behavior of usual materials in shock waves.’’Similarly, Karl Syassen of the Max Planck Institute Stuttgart received the 2013 Percy Bridgman Award at the conference, and presented a plenary lecture ‘‘Stressed solids probed by diffraction and spectroscopy.’’In addition, there were two young investigator awards presented. First was the AIRAPT Jamieson Award, presented to Duck Young Kim of the Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC. The other was a new APS SCCM Topical Group Student Award, presented to Rick Kraus of Harvard University. The two awardees shared a plenary talk slot on 8 July, with Duck Young Kim presenting ‘‘Novel materials prediction and experimental synthesis under pressure’’ and Rick Kraus ‘‘Thermodynamic paths in planetary collisions: Shock vaporization of SiO2, MgO, and Fe.’’ Details of the committees are available in the PDF