This is the message sent to the DPF membership on September 5, 2013.
The event was postponed and now scheduled for November 20, 2013.



Message to members of the American Physical Society's
DPF,Authorized by Howard Haber,Secretary/Treasurer
=====================================================
A Community Event in Washington D.C. in Celebration of the Discovery 
of the Higgs Boson 

Particle physics has made remarkable advances recently in understanding 
the fundamental nature of matter, energy, space and time. On July 4, 2012, 
the world celebrated the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large 
Hadron Collider. The discovery, which represents a breakthrough in our 
understanding of the fabric of our universe, was made possible in part 
by more than 1500 U.S. scientists providing key ideas, talent, technology 
and leadership. A critical milestone was also reached by the discovery 
of the large value of the neutrino mixing angle theta_13, and in 2011 
the Nobel Prize was awarded for the discovery of dark energy. These and 
other discoveries, while answering key questions, also point the way to 
the next round of exploration and discovery. 

Most members of Congress and the general public are more aware of particle 
physics today than prior to July 4, 2012. The worldwide appreciation of 
the discovery represents a great opportunity for our field. However, 
Congress and the public are mostly unaware of the significant role played 
by the U.S. particle physics community in the Higgs discovery, of the 
exciting opportunities that lie ahead in all areas of our field, and of 
the societal benefits of pursuing them. Enlightening our lawmakers and 
governmental leaders of the U.S. role is important for the future of 
particle physics both nationally and globally; it is an essential step 
in maintaining and strengthening our future ability to build leading 
facilities for particle physics in the U.S., and participate as partners 
in leading facilities abroad. 

Our community is now concluding the nine month long Snowmass process, a 
comprehensive study of future opportunities throughout our field by more 
than 1000 physicists. We have identified many of the tough questions 
facing each area of our field and programs that would help answer those 
questions. In so doing we have developed a resource book, soon to be 
released, that outlines the next steps in the quest to understand the 
nature of matter, energy, space and time during the next two decades, 
and summarizes the opportunities that lie ahead at the energy, intensity, 
and cosmic frontiers, enabled by accelerator physics, non-accelerator 
facilities, instrumentation, computing and outreach. The book will 
provide critical input to the P5 process that will determine the priorities 
of the field. 

It is very important that Congress hears of these great opportunities 
that would sustain U.S. leadership both at home and abroad. It is 
important that they appreciate why a vibrant U.S. program of fundamental 
research, of which particle physics is a part, is essential to the future 
health and progress of our nation. While we cannot, at this stage, tell 
Congress what P5 will conclude, we can communicate the renewed energy 
and unity in our field that the recent discoveries in our field and the 
Snowmass process have created, and our eager anticipation of enacting the 
P5 plan in the near future.

At this critical juncture for particle physics, we are arranging a 
celebratory event and a community visit to Washington D.C., sponsored 
by the DPF, on October 23, 2013. The House Science & National Labs 
caucus is also sponsoring the event. Rep. Randy Hultgren's office has 
booked a room in the Rayburn building. Since this event is scheduled 
for shortly after the physics Nobel Prize announcement expected on 
October 8, should the Prize involve the Higgs boson we will be in the 
midst of a very big news story, and communicating the role the U.S. 
particle physics community played in this discovery will be even more 
critical. In any event, the Higgs is a big deal, and we want to 
ensure that Congress is very aware of our contributions to its discovery, 
and more broadly, each of the recent prominent developments in particle 
physics. Our visit will be immensely valuable, in general, to our field. 

The event will consist of a 90 minute wine and cheese reception from 5:30 
to 7:00 p.m. It will include a 10 minute outreach-style talk on the 
Higgs given by CMS spokesperson Joe Incandela. During the day, 
congressional visits are encouraged by particle physics faculty, post 
docs and students from as many as possible of the approximately 120 U.S. 
universities that conduct particle physics research, and by scientists 
from national labs with particle physics program. The message conveyed 
in each visit will start with the remarkable story of the discovery of 
the Higgs boson and the U.S. role followed by a narrative of each 
respective university's program in particle physics and the benefits it 
brings to that region. Each visit can be coordinated with the respective 
University's Government Relations Office and focused on the relevant 
district. Universities from the same district will coordinate their 
visits. Each university delegation is also strongly encouraged to invite 
and, if possible, "deliver" congressional members and/or staffers from 
their district, and senators from their state, to the evening reception.

The organizing committee for the event includes Marina Artuso, Pushpa 
Bhat (co-Chair), Jim Brau, Chip Brock, Sally Dawson, Jonathan Feng, 
Bonnie Fleming, Joe Lykken, Harvey Newman, Ian Shipsey (co-Chair), 
Nikos Varelas, Harry Weerts, and Herman White. We are in the process 
of expanding the committee. 

The organizing committee will be contacting university groups involved 
in sponsored particle physics research in the near future to provide 
further information that will facilitate their participation in this 
event.



Sincerely, 

The Organizing Committee