Meet Alan Hurd

1. What has been your career emphasis in the field of physics? (e.g. employer, physics focus area, etc.)
My research interests have been in soft matter physics for most of my career, from colloidal and liquid crystals to sol-gel and granular materials. However, as my day job in national security evolved at Sandia and Los Alamos National Labs, I worked in many subfields including international relations at the Department of State, econophysics at the Santa Fe Institute, and science diplomacy at the International Atomic Energy Agency. Perhaps the highlight of my career was serving as Director of the Lujan Neutron Scattering Center at LANSCE (Los Alamos) which challenged me to expand my physics portfolio to many areas of nuclear and materials research. My APS activities were complemented by working with the Materials Research Society, for which I was President in 2007, the Board on Physics and Astronomy for the National Academy of Sciences (2016-2022), and the Intelligence S&T Experts Group for NAS.

2. How did you get involved with APS and how are you still involved with APS?
APS has been my mainstay scientific society ever since I chose physics as an undergrad at Colorado School of Mines (1972-1976) and developing deeply through March Meeting presentations as a graduate student and NSF Fellow at the University of Colorado (CU, 1976-1981). As a postdoc and adjunct faculty member at Brandeis (1981-1984), I came to appreciate the important place APS holds in the international physics community. This perspective encouraged my involvement in APS programs, which accelerated in recent years through participation in committees, studies, and task forces. By 2011, I deepened my involvement in international programs through the Committee on International Scientific Affairs (CISA) and the Forum on International Physics (FIP) by volunteering and running for office. I also joined the founding of APS spin-off ScienceCounts in 2014.

3. Thinking over your involvement with APS, was there one specific person or moment that impacted your life?
Perhaps the experience that had the most substantial career-turning impact on me was serving on the study panel, convened by APS Government Affairs, which wrote the influential report “Energy Critical Elements” in 2011. This report led directly to helium sustainability legislation signed by President Obama.

4. Why is the physics community important to you?
The physics community is particularly important to society and me due to its impact on technology, security, and the economy. I find physicists share the clearest thinking in all aspects of policy and challenges facing society. Also, the internationality of physics is a paradigm for collaboration that is needed now and forever to lower global tension.

5. Who/what from APS inspired/impacted your life/career?
There have been many colleagues who enhanced my appreciation for APS, including my  graduate advisors Noel Clark and Bill O’Sullivan at CU, advocate Dale Schaefer at Sandia, and mentor Louie Rosen at Los Alamos. Several APS staff and volunteers have inspired me in increasing my involvement in APS programs including Amy Flatten, Kate Kirby, Francis Slakey, Mark Elsesser, Michael Turner, and Frances Hellman.

6. What inspired you to add APS to your will?
“Paying it forward” has been the key idea to me for strengthening APS programs. As a recipient of such philanthropy during my education and throughout my career, I am pulled toward helping others to pursue physics careers across the world.

7. What do you hope your legacy gift will accomplish?
I hope that my support to APS will, in some small way, enhance its brave and daunting work to promote physics collaboration across international boundaries. This goal includes encouraging women to pursue physics. The spectrum of APS programs addressing this goal is so broad that I must trust the expert staff at APS to know how best to invest my gift.

8. How is planned giving relevant to young adults?
The development of collaboration and participation in physics must be catalyzed by early career people to build sustainable efforts. Since career decisions are necessarily made by young adults, I hope to see APS efforts enhanced to influence those decisions toward physics.

9. Why is it important to start planning for retirement at a young age?
Having just retired myself, I appreciate the value of having financial resources set up to ground my expectations in lifestyle. To me, the most important factor in this planning is to ensure I will not be a burden to my loved ones at any time.

10. Please add any additional comments that you think will help inspire others to make the same commitment you have made.
The feeling one gets when helping others is both heartwarming and satisfying. I could give in ways other than my legacy to APS, and I do so, but APS provides a channel for directing my contributions toward large, effective programs that I value. Having served in several APS award programs—Fellow, Beller, Marshak, IRTAP, and Distinguished Student Awards—it is gratifying to see and hear firsthand awardees’ appreciation when they receive recognition and help.

To learn more about how you can join likeminded peers such as Alan in creating your own legacy gift to APS, please contact Kevin Kase at 301-209-3224 or development@aps.org. Thank you.