WHAT'S NEW                                                                                     

THE NEWLY REESTABLISHED IUPAP ENERGY WORKING GROUP
The mission of the Working Group on Energy shall be to foster international scientific dialogue and cooperation in the physics of energy research and its applications, to explore interest in energy research and development beyond the physics discipline, to assess potential strategic paths forward with an objective of promoting awareness of the contrasting technological and socio-economic contexts of energy in each region, and to consider drafting a resolution on creating a new IUPAP Commission on global energy perspectives or otherwise related to energy research and development with a clearly defined mission statement and support from member-country delegates.

THE 2015 INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF LIGHT
The International Year of Light is a global initiative which will highlight to the citizens of the world the importance of light and optical technologies in their lives, for their futures, and for the development of society. The International Year of Light will consist of coordinated activities in science, education and development. These will ensure that people of all ages and all backgrounds from all countries appreciate the central role of light as the key cross-cutting scientific discipline of the 21st century.

SESAME TRAVEL GRANTS
One of the challenges for the success of SESAME is building a "user community" by enabling Middle Eastern scientists to avail themselves of training opportunities. In 2008, the European Physical Society (EPS) and the American Physical Society (APS) agreed to establish a joint APS/EPS SESAME Travel Award Program.  Later, the U.K. Institute of Physics (IoP), the German Physical Society (DPG), and the American Chemical Society also agreed to support this program.  These "travel awards" enable Middle East scientists to attend SESAME "Users Meetings" or, other training opportunities.  In 2012, the U.S. Liaison Committee to IUPAP agreed to contribute with 16.7% of the 2012 total contributions. The following brochure provides more information about SESAME. http://mag.digitalpc.co.uk/fvx/iop/esrf/sesamebrochure/.  

2012 AFRICAN SCHOOL ON ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE METHODS AND APPLICATIONS
The USLC/IUPAP supported the 2012 African School on Electronic Structure Methods and Applications (ASESMA 2012). This will be the second school in an IUPAP endorsed series that is planned biennially from 2010 to 2020. This series of schools was initiated by the IUPAP Commissions on Physics for Development and on Computational Physics (C-13 and C-20), with the objective of helping to build a critical mass of computational materials science expertise and capabilities in Africa. ASESMA 2012 was held at Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya.