AAPT
2012 Annual Report
15
of Pennsylvania Houston Hall. This was a great opportunity
to learn about new products and opportunities from the
leading publishers and providers of physics eduction tools.
Houston Hall was also the host to AAPT’s favorite summer
contests, the High School Physics Photo Contest and the
Apparatus Competition.
We recognized significant contributions to our field,
to the classroom, and to AAPT through the Association’s
thriving awards program. The Robert A. Millikan Medal was
presented to Philip M. Sadler for his notable and creative
contributions to the teaching of physics. He directs one
of the largest research groups in science education in the
United States, based at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center
for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA. Sadler’s invention, the
Starlab Portable Planetarium, has enabled many schools to
provide active learning experiences for thousands of students
The Paul W. Zitzewitz Excellence in Pre-College Teaching
Award was presented to Mark D. Greenman in recognition
of his career-long concern for and attention to quality
education at the pre-college level. During his 30-year career
at Marblehead High School he served as a physics teacher,
teacher mentor, computer director, mathematics director,
and science director.
Kevin M. Lee was recognized with the 2012 David
Halliday and Robert Resnick Award for Excellence in
Undergraduate Physics Teaching. Lee has dedicated his
career to elevating the teaching and learning of astronomy
and physics at the college, state, national, and international
level. His remarkable and innovative work includes the
development of numerous simulations and peer instruction
questions, resulting in numerous workshops.
AAPT Distinguished Service Citations were presented to
Eugenia Etkina, Jose D. Garcia, and Chandralekha Singh.
Etkina, professor at the Rutgers University Graduate
School of Learning and Teaching, runs one of the largest
programs in physics teacher preparation in the United
States. An AAPT member since 1997, she has served on the
Focus Group on the Draft Framework, as a member of the
National Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics, and is
currently chair of the Physics Education Research Ledership
organizing Council (PERLOC).
JD (Jose) Garcia is Professor of Physics Emeritus at the
University of Arizona Tucson has served on the National
Task Force on Undergraduate Physics (SPIN-UP), the Joint
AAPT-APS Task Force on Graduate Education and on the
Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics (TTEP).
Chandralekha Singh, a Life Member of AAPT, has served
as a member of the committee on International Physics
Education, Committee on Graduate Education in Physics,
and the Programs committee. Her pioneering research in
the teaching and learning of quantum mechanics has played
a significant role in advancing physics education research
in advanced courses. She has conducted workshops
on teaching quantum mechanics during New Faculty
Workshops and is the co-organizer of the first conference
on Graduate Education in Physics.
The APS Division of Biological Physics held a plenary
ses
sion, Birds, Brains, and Physics – The Fascinating
Field of Biological Physics, with speakers William Bialek
from Princeton and Dezhe A. Jin from Pennsylvania State
University.
Nima Arkani-Hamed delivered a plenary talk, Nima
Arkani-Hamed, Professor, School of Natural Sciences,
Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton, NJ, was already
scheduled to talk on “Space-Time, Quantum Mechanics,
and the Large Hadron Collider” when he received word
that he was one of 9 recipients to share the $27 million
Fundamental Physics Prize, established by Yuri Milner.
Attendees at the AAPT Summer Meeting were spreading
the news as they gathered to meet the $3,000,000 prize
winner. They were rewarded with a very informative and
entertaining explanation of the physics behind the Higgs
boson, just 28 days after its existence was experimentally
determined.
“Sizing Up the Universe” was the title of J. Richard
Gott’s plenary talk. A professor of astrophysical sciences
at Princeton University, Gott caught the imaginations of
the audience with his perspectives of the universe from the
smallest to the largest sizes and distances.
Preceding the 2012 Summer Meeting, July 25-27,
ALPhA hosted the 2012 Topical Conference, “Laboratory
Instruction Beyond the First Year of College.” The New
Faculty Commencement Conference, part of AAPT’s New
Faculty Experience for Two-Year College Faculty took place
July 27-30. The Physics Education Research Conference
(PERC), Cultural Perspectives on Learners’ Performance
and Identity in Physics, was held August 1-2, 2012.
