"FRONTIERS OF PHYSICS" (F.O.P.)

- Founders & Directors: Dr. Charles W. Clark (Fellow of Bangladesh Physical Society) of NIST and Prof. Sultana N. Nahar (Fellow of Bangladesh Physical Society) of Astronomy of The Ohio State University.

- Founded: 2019

FOP is the first US-Bangladesh collaborative program for Physics, based in the USA but working with physicists in Bangladesh, for advancing science and education in Bangladesh through partnership with Department of Physics, University of Dhaka and Bangladesh Physical Society

BACKGROUND:

Bangladeshi American physicist at NIST Dr. Mohammad Arif (1954-2018): Muhammad Arif was born in Madaripur, Bangladesh. He received B.Sc. and M. Sc. degrees in physics from the University of Dhaka in 1976 and 1978. Arif then moved to the U.S.A. to pursue advanced studies and was awarded a Ph.D. in physics by the University of Missouri in 1986. He spent his entire postdoctoral career at the National Institute of Standards of Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland. A specialist in neutron interferometry, imaging and experimental quantum mechanics, Arif built major new facilities at NIST’s research reactor, became the forefront leader of the NIST Neutron Physics Group and was promoted to NIST Fellow, the highest scientific grade there: his contemporary NIST Fellows included four Nobel Laureates in Physics.

Arif's early death in late 2018, urged his close collaborator, Dr. Charles W. Clark, another NIST Fellow and the Chief of Electron and Optical Physics Division, to honor Dr. Arif's excellence and achievements through a conference at University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He formed the committee for it with Prof. Sultana N. Nahar, known for her work with Bangladesh universities and physicisits, and Prof. Golam Newaz of Mechanical Engierring at Wayne State University, a close friend of Dr. Arif and Dr. Clark, and contributed a fund to a Bangladeshi Charity organization, FCAB, through Prof. Newaz who is affiliated to FCAB. Clark and Newaz contacted Nobel Laureate Eric Corell and two other Bangladeshi American physicisits.

The plan was to hold an international conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh honoring Dr. Mohammad Arif during February 5-7, 2021. It would feature prominent international physicists who were his personal friends and eminent members of the Bangladeshi diaspora. It would serve to highlight modern physics and its historical roots in Dhaka, and prepare the ground for further international collaboration.

Formation of "Frontiers of Physics for advances in Science and Education in Bangladesh", 2020
Sultana involved University of Dhaka and a number of other universities for holding the conference in 2021 and suggested the conference to be held with annual BPS conference for the maximum participation. The work with Bangladesh Physical Society (BPS) and about dozon of univerties and institutions in Bangladesh led to formation of a collaborative partnership and needed a program to achieve the goals.
- To fulfill the required objecitves of the conference, including support for participating students, the fund needed exceeded to that was expected from Clark. She applied to Moore Foundation under American Physical Society for a grant that would cover the conference expenses and support students participation. However, the foundation found the breadth of the physics covered in the conference too wide for it to support. BPS came forward to support within its budget and Bangladesh Academy of Sciences also indicated some fund if needed.
- The collaborative work led by Sultana with BPS and universities in Bangladesh and support of Clark evolved into foundation of the first US+Bangladesh collaborative program "Frontiers of Physics" (name suggested by Dr. Clark) for advances in Science and Education in Bangladesh.