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Jon Anderson Appointed as New AAPT PhysicsBowl Academic Coordinator

Contact: David Wolfe
E-mail: dwolfe@aapt.org
Phone: (301) 209-3327

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

College Park, MD, August 25, 2017—Jon Anderson, physics teacher at Centennial High School, Circle Pine, MN has been appointed as the new AAPT PhysicsBowl Academic Coordinator effective immediately. Myra West, Emeritus Professor, Kent State University, is the Associate Coordinator.

Michael Faleski, Professor of Physics at Delta College, served as the PhysicsBowl Academic Coordinator from 2008 through 2017. He has successfully expanded the PhysicsBowl in a variety of ways. Since becoming the academic coordinator, he has worked with ASDAN China to permit several hundred Chinese schools to participate in the exam. He has also worked with WebAssign to have PhysicsBowl available online as well as on traditional paper. AAPT thanks Michael for his leadership in continuing to make the PhysicsBowl an internationally recognized contest.

Since he started teaching in 1986, Jon Anderson has taught different levels of physics, chemistry, meteorology, astronomy, and 9th grade physical science. Additionally, Jon has had many physics and teaching related opportunities throughout his career including university research experiences through both Research Explorations (REX) and Research Experiences for Teachers (RET).  

He was awarded the Fermilab Teacher Fellowship and spent the 1999 - 2000 academic year on sabbatical leave while working as a researcher at the DZero detector at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Jon was trained as a QuarkNet Lead Teacher in 2002 and spent part of that summer working at CERN in Switzerland. That training has allowed him to conduct annual multi-day workshops for science teachers at the University of Minnesota addressing the implementation of particle physics topics into high school science courses. He has also worked for over twenty years as part of an outreach team for the University of Minnesota physics department that is known as the "Physics Force".  

Jon was named Centennial Education Association's 1997-98 Teacher of the Year, a Minnesota Teacher of Excellence and an Honor Roll Teacher. He was one of nine finalists for Minnesota Teacher of the Year. Jon was the Teacher-in-Residence (TIR) for the PhysTEC site at the University of Minnesota from 2007 through 2009. He has served as the TIR Coordinator for the national PhysTEC program since 2010. Jon has also received training in Modeling Instruction and has been leading summer modeling workshops since 2011. Most recently, Jon joined the ranks of AAPT Fellows in 2017 and currently is a member of the AAPT Committee on Physics in High Schools.

Myra West, Professor Emerita, taught physics for 49 of her 50-year teaching career covering high school physics to an upper-division elective physics course. She taught on seven of the eight campuses of Kent State University between 1970 and 2013. Her classes included various conceptually-based physics courses, technical physics, and introductory physics for non-physics majors. She has been an active member of AAPT since 1972 and has served in many different positions for the Ohio Section of AAPT including president two different times, section representative and newsletter editor. She has also served on a number of AAPT committees including Membership and Benefits, Nominating Committee, Committee on the History &Philosophy, Committee on Physics in Two-Year Colleges, and the Committee on the Interests of Senior Physicists.

About AAPT
AAPT is an international organization for physics educators, physicists, and industrial scientists—with members worldwide. Dedicated to enhancing the understanding and appreciation of physics through teaching, AAPT provides awards, publications, and programs that encourage teaching practical application of physics principles, support continuing professional development, and reward excellence in physics education. Founded in 1930, the Association is headquartered in the American Center for Physics in College Park, Maryland.