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Kirby Kemper named ‘Outstanding Referee’

By Courtney Griffin • Senior Staff Writer for fsunews.com • January 18, 2010

The American Physical Society recently recognized Florida State University’s Vice President for Research Kirby Kemper as an “Outstanding Referee” for 2009.

Kemper was one of only 130 members chosen to receive the honor out of the society’s 44,000 article reviewers worldwide.

“The designee of ‘Outstanding Referee’ means that the editors and associate editors of the Physical Review, the major journal published by the APS and now probably recognized as the premiere physics research journal in the world, feel that my contributions to the quality of the published research have been valuable to them as they consider whether to publish papers or not,” Kemper said. “I got an e-mail toward the end of December telling me I had been selected for this designation and was truly surprised.”

Kemper has been a member of the APS since he was a graduate student in 1962. Kemper said that one of the primary things the APS does is produce scientific journals that allow cutting edge research to be disseminated to the physics community at large.

“Articles submitted to the journals are sent out to other physicists for review,” Kemper said. “The reviewers volunteer their time to work through the papers and provide an assessment of their results, which gets communicated to the editor of the journal, who then decides whether to publish the article or not based on the referees’ comments.”

Kemper said that in addition to publishing journals, the APS organizes annual meetings of physicists and works to produce policy papers that help national and state leaders develop plans for the needs of the country.

In addition to his APS work, Kemper teaches introductory physics courses at FSU and has been since he first became a faculty member in 1971.

Kemper said he enjoys working with the beginning undergraduate students because he gets to help them figure out what type of science they like best.

“When I first came to FSU, Kirby and I taught introductory physics classes together for five years or so,” said Mark Riley, FSU professor of physics. “The students called us ‘The Dynamic Duo’ — he was Batman and I was Robin.”

Riley said that he has known Kemper for almost 20 years since he arrived at FSU from the UK in 1991. Riley said that Kemper is an incredible fellow and an inspiration to all.

“This is a magnificent and well-deserved acknowledgment of his contributions to scientific publishing,” Riley said. “It is only because of the untiring efforts and expert knowledge of dedicated scholars like Dr. Kemper that the APS journals are considered the best physics publications in the world.”

Riley said that it is amazing how Kemper continues to be so involved in the physics research world given the enormous demands on his time as Vice President for Research.

“Back in my second year as a physics major, I was spending a great deal of time not being serious,” said Becky DiBari, a former student of Kemper’s. “Kirby sat me down for a honest talk, and it turned my path around.”

DiBari said she owes all of her success to Kemper and that his award is very well deserved.

“I don’t keep track of how many papers I referee and feel that refereeing papers is just part of my job as a practicing physicist and regard it as service to the profession,” Kemper said. “I will continue to be a member of the APS as long as I live because of its importance to furthering our understanding of the world around us, as well as its work in furthering our understanding of things of great importance to society as a whole.”

Outstanding Referees Program

The Outstanding Referee program was instituted in 2008 to recognize scientists who have been exceptionally helpful in assessing manuscripts for publication in the APS journals. By means of the program, APS expresses its appreciation to all referees, whose efforts in peer review not only keep the standards of the journals at a high level, but in many cases also help authors to improve the quality and readability of their articles – even those that are not published by APS.

The highly selective Outstanding Referee program annually recognizes about 150 of the roughly 45,000 currently active referees. At the start of the program, in 2008 and 2009, larger groups were selected by our Editors for the Outstanding Referee designation, in order to "catch up" and recognize referees who had already served for many years. Like Fellowship in the APS, this is a lifetime award.

Our Editors select the honorees based on the quality, number, and timeliness of their reports, without regard for membership in the APS, country of origin, or field of research. Referees are rewarded for their work carried out since 1978, the earliest year for which we have accurate data on referee reports returned. Individuals with current or very recent direct connections to the journals, such as editors and editorial board members, are excluded. The decisions are difficult and there are many excellent referees who are still to be recognized.

The honorees come from over 30 different countries, with large contingents from the US, Germany, Canada, Spain, UK, and France. By the end of each calendar year, the names of the newest honorees are added to the sortable table below. All listed in the table have been notified, offered the option of anonymity, and will receive a lapel pin and a certificate. Simple recognition ceremonies are held at some APS meetings.

The Outstanding Referees are to be congratulated and thanked for their outstanding service to the physics community.