ALPhA Awards Committee Submission Process

The AAPT-ALPhA award has been paused until Spring 2021. During this time, a taskforce will be reviewing the award and its goals and will make recommendations to improve it. Please come back to this page in Spring 2021 for an update.

AAPT-ALPhA Awards Committee Submission Process

All submissions will be electronic.  Each will be submitted to the award website by the student.

Optional Preliminary Prospectus Submission – by faculty/student team

The awards committee strongly recommends that the faculty/student “team” submit a one-page Preliminary Prospectus of the project.  Each Preliminary Prospectus will be quickly reviewed by the committee and its evaluation conveyed to the team. Since this is preliminary review of the proposed work, one the following ratings will be given:

  1. This is an appropriate project

  2. This is not an appropriate project because…

  3. The committee needs more information to decide on the projects appropriateness.  Please submit more information on….

The Preliminary Prospectus will be submitted using an online application process at http://www.aapt.org/Programs/awards/AAPT-ALPha-Award-Submission-Instructions.cfm.  Only information requested in the Preliminary Prospectus and submitted online will be reviewed.

A Preliminary Prospectus can be submitted to the committee for review at any time, up to July 1st in the year of the award.  We strongly recommend that the team submit this Preliminary Prospectus before starting on the work of the portfolio, to receive early feedback.

The Preliminary Prospectus submission is not required for the project to be considered for the award. However, the committee believes it is in the best interest of the team to submit this document.  For more information about the Preliminary Prospectus, please see www.aapt.somethingaboutperspectus.org.

Portfolio Submission – by faculty/student team

Required components

  1. Executive Summary

  2. Student Report – complete with student data, analysis, and conclusion

  3. Instructor manual, for future use by faculty

  4. Photographs of the equipment – some close ups

  5. Discussion of historical significance of experiment

  6. Explanation of transferable experimental skills student will acquire

  7. Published technical references

  8. Circuit diagram, mechanical drawing, and/or software created especially for this project, if appropriate

Optional components

  1. Optional Preliminary Prospectus (due by July 1st of the year of the award submission)

  2. Video of student operating the equipment in real time

  3. PowerPoint-like presentation of essential elements of this apparatus and experiment.

Review Process

  1. The award has been paused and we will not be accepting submissions for the September 30, 2020 deadline. Typically, the committee will read all of the Portfolios submitted by September 30th of the year of the award. This is a firm deadline. Portfolios submitted after September 30th will be considered with other submissions in the following year.

  2. The committee will select those projects it feels merit further examination by an oral interview of the student with the entire committee.  Oral interviews will be conducted via videoconferencing.

  3. Students who have been selected must make arrangements to conduct this oral interview with the committee in late fall of the year of the award. It could be helpful, but not necessary, to carry out this interview at the student’s home institution and in the advanced lab with the apparatus.

  4. The committee will announce the winner, and possibly honorable mentions, in late fall or early winter.

  5. The actual award and the invited talk by the awardee will be presented at a meeting of AAPT in the following year.

Contact Information

Jeremiah D. Williams, Chair, AAPT-ALPhA Award Committee

Phone: 937-327-7825

Email: jwilliams@wittenberg.edu


 

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