Lars Bildsten.
Photo by Carter Hiyama.
Now one year past the onset of the pandemic, KITP is set to re-open, hopefully by Fall 2021. As the banner image above shows, we have completed our rebuild from the March 2020 Kohn Hall flood and taken advantage of the empty building to replace carpets, upgrade lighting and touch-up the paint. For a 27-year-old building, Kohn Hall really sparkles! The talented staff at the Munger Physics Residence have kept that facility “ship-shape” while also performing important preventative maintenance tasks that are difficult to complete during our normal fast paced full-house setting. Bottom line, our infrastructure is renewed and ready to roll!
KITP's yearlong pivot to Zoom has been a remarkable story of innovation and experimentation as we continued to serve our international community of physicists under new circumstances. Our talented staff have made all of this possible and have continued to enthusiastically engage in achieving our important mission. Pages 2 and 3 describe the first program we ran on Zoom and the lessons learned there that positively impacted all of our subsequent efforts. Don't miss the great quote in that article from David Kaczorowski, KITP's Program Manager! In the year 2020, we engaged over 2,000 unique scientists in our online activities, with the overwhelming majority saying that they would eagerly participate in a future KITP program. We have seen the benefits of broadening the access to KITP's activities and are in the midst of infrastructure enhancements in Kohn Hall to make remote participation seamless even when we return to in-person activities. Demand for in-person visits remains very high and we are actively inviting participants for Fall 2021 visits.
Our April 2021 Virtual Site Visit by the National Science Foundation was very positive, and ensures the continuation of our current grant. The ''all hands on deck" work of preparing for this Site Visit provided another example of the dedication of KITP's staff. It's an honor and privilege to work with such a talented, excited and thoughtful group of professionals. You can read about one of them, Deputy Director Mark Bowick, starting on page 6.
The Site Visit also gave us a chance to self-assess how well we are doing to achieve our stated mission. One element of our mission is: "KITP responds to new scientific opportunities, encourages transformational research, and promotes diversity by ensuring broad opportunities and representation." We survey KITP's participants to learn answers to some of these questions. For example, over 75% of participants agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: "The atmosphere was inclusive and supportive for all participants". This is a key element of KITP's success, the ability for all to fully participate and shine. Another element of our mission states: "The primary goal is to promote scientific progress by bringing together accomplished researchers for sufficient time to form new collaborations and to carry out substantive research that will lead in new directions." This was a tough one in the age of Zoom, but even then some collaborations were forged. However, we now know from our surveys that the rate of collaboration-forming is very much reduced in the world of Zoom compared to in-person. Not really a surprise, but we now have the data!
A wonderful feature of KITP is our flexibility to do truly unusual activities of lasting impact that are hard to achieve elsewhere. Pages 4 and 5 tell the story of Bill Paxton and his recent recognition by the American Astronomical Society with the Tinsley Prize. I first met Bill when he appeared in one of my classes many years ago. Already “retired”, Bill was eager to learn graduate physics and eventually completed that curriculum and was eager to do science. Those early interactions turned into a remarkable collaboration with many in the astrophysical community that created the computational instrument called "Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics" (MESA), now used by over 1,000 astronomers worldwide.
In closing, I note with deep regret the passing of Jean-Pierre Hébert, our long-standing Artist-in-Residence at KITP. Jean-Pierre's contributions to the institute are many, including stunning art throughout both Kohn Hall and the Munger Physics Residence, as well as his yearly creativity and production for our KITP Holiday cards. We miss him greatly, and I urge you to read the back page article that highlights some of his impact here at KITP, as well as the more in-depth article in our Fall 2020 Newsletter.
Stay safe, and hopefully, see you, in-person, soon!
~ Lars Bildsten, KITP Director