eNNOUNCER September 2017

AAPT takes this opportunity to extend our collective thoughts and best wishes to those members and individuals in the physics community  whose lives have been impacted by Harvey.   During the recovery period, the Association will offer any support possible.  Please do not hesitate to contact us in the days and weeks ahead if we can be of assistance.

AAPT News

2017 AAPT Board of Directors Election

The election of officers for the AAPT Board of Directors will begin in September. Members will receive instructions through email or, if no email is on file, through the mail to help you vote electronically. Be sure your email address and membership are current so you can participate. Learn more about the candidates. Read more.

AAPT's new e-Commerce and Membership Portal

AAPT has launched a new e-Commerce/Membership portal. We would like to use this opportunity to remind everyone that usernames have been switched to primary email addresses and passwords are now case-sensitive. We also encourage users to visit their "MY Account" page to change their password after the initial logon. Read more.

2018 Winter Meeting Abstracts

AAPT will be accepting abstracts for the 2018 Winter Meeting in San Diego from August 2 to September 13, 2017. Please click here for more information and to submit your abstract.

AAPT Names New PhysicsBowl Academic Coordinator and Associate Coordinator

Jon Anderson, physics teacher at Centennial High School, Circle Pine, MN has been appointed as the new AAPT PhysicsBowl Coordinator effective immediately. Myra West, Emeritus Professor, Kent State University, is the Associate Coordinator. Click here for more information

eAlliances: Uniting Isolated Women Physicists and Astronomers

Everyone needs mentors, but how do you find other women physicists who understand your experience-- as the only Hispanic in the department, the only PER researcher, the only full-time physicist at your TYC, the only one who brings a newborn in a sling to department meetings? Join eAlliances, an NSF-sponsored faculty development project for women physics faculty, and become part of a peer-mentoring alliance with other women who share many of your same experiences.

Why me?

• Connect with other women physicists and astronomers
• Get and give advice and affirmation
• Gather a variety of insights to help you address professional issues
• Address work-life balance issues
• Receive encouragement and support in achieving your goals

This is professional development for your career stage: whether you are teaching your first or hundredth section of intro physics; mentoring your first or hundredth research associate, or leading your first or hundredth committee meeting. Someone else has a similar experience and can share insights, frustrations, and successes.

To join: Register at eAlliances.aapt.org

Race and Physics Teaching

AAPT has published a themed collection of papers submitted to The Physics Teacher in response to an editorial call for papers on Race and Physics Teaching.

In their editorial, Unique voices in harmony: Call-and-response to address race and physics teaching, Geraldine L. Cochran and Gary D. White observe:

We all have privilege. Some of the privilege we have is by choice and we put forth effort to attain, such as the privilege that comes with our level of education. Other privileges we have may be the result of no effort on our part;we may have privileges based on the country where we were born, the racewith which we identify or are identified by others, or the language we first learned to speak, among other things. For many, we have a sense of pride in the privileges that come with the things we worked to attain such as our level of education. It can be a little harder to grapple with the privileges that were handed to us, so to speak. It is even harder to come to terms with the reality that the privileges that were handed to us influenced our ability to gain things for which we may have worked hard to obtain. Read more.

2017 Summer Meeting Highlights

With more than 1100 attendees, the 2017 Summer Meeting can be viewed as a success. The 2017 Summer Meeting was held at the Cincinnati Marriott RiverCenter and Northern Kentucky Convention Center with workshops at University of Cincinnati. Read more.

AAPT Seeks Volunteer to Direct AAPT High School Contest

AAPT seeks a volunteer to apply for director of AAPT's high school US Physics Team. The U.S. Physics Team Academic Director position provides general oversight of the U.S. competition including recruiting and training team coaches, preparing and grading exams, training of the U.S. Physics Team during training camp, and traveling with the Team to the International Physics Olympiad. We anticipate that the individual selected will serve as co-director during the 2017-18 year and transition to director in Fall 2018. Click here for more information.

Flipping the Classroom - A Special AAPT Symposium at the GIREP/ICPE/EPEC Conference

A special AAPT symposium was held at the GIREP/ICPE/EPEC conference on July 4, 2017, at Dublin City University, Dubin, Ireland. Participants included Eric Mazur, Harvard University, mazur@physics.harvard.edu, "Flipping the Classroom and Never Looking Back",
Andrew Gavrin, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, agavrin@iupui.edu, "The Half-Flipped Classroom—Just-in-Time Teaching",
Mats Selen, University of Illinois, mats@illinois.edu, "Flipping Very Large Classes",
Ralf Widenhorn, Portland State University, ralfw@pdx.edu, "Engaging Pre-health Students in a Flipped Course by Using Authentic Medical Applications and Expert Pre-lectures".

Session Chair, David Sokoloff, University of Oregon, sokoloff@uoregon.edu
Abstract: There is ample research evidence to conclude that the lecture model of physics education is flawed. Education is a two-step process: (1) information transfer, and (2) making sense of and assimilating that information. Flipping the classroom transforms the process so that (1) largely takes place outside, before class, and classroom activities are designed for (2) to take place in class. New strategies have been developed for students’ at-home preparation, while various active learning and assessment strategies have dramatically changed the classroom environment. This symposium will explore the rationales for flipping the classroom, strategies for both at-home and in-class student work in a flipped classroom, and research on the effectiveness of flipped classroom environments.

To view this symposium use this link to YouTube.

AAPT Career Center Offers FREE Postings

The AAPT Career Center offers FREE postings to employers recruiting seasonal interns. Locate the best fit for your organization by reaching the future of the science community - the AAPT membership, as well as the members and student members of the American Physical Society (APS Physics), AVS Science and Technology, and the Society of Physics Students and Sigma Pi Sigma.

Get the word out! Your posting will also appear on the Physics Today Jobs site, which when combined with the job sites of the organizations mentioned above forms the ultimate online science, engineering, and computing career network, ensuring maximum relevant visibility for your internship.

Visit jobs.aapt.org to get started.

AAPT-PTRA September Report

The summer of 2017 was an exciting time for the current Physics Teacher Resource Agents at the Covington, KY – Cincinnati, OH meeting. The three-day gathering began with an opening session on Quantum Computing presented by an extraordinary speaker, Martin LaForest, from IQC, Waterloo, Canada. The final day was completed with an informative presentation by Damian Pope from Perimeter Institute, Waterloo, Canada. Click here to read more

AAPT Programs

2017 High School Physics Photo Contest

One of the fun opportunities during the AAPT Summer Meeting is reviewing and voting on the top 100 photos as selected by the Committee on Physics in High Schools under the direction of Tommi Holsenbeck. The votes have been tallied and the winning entries are posted. View here. Congratulations to the winning students and their teachers.

2017 Contest Winners
Natural
1st Place – The Balance of Nature, Kyle Douglas Willette
2nd Place - The Moving Rocks of Death Valley, Richard Zhou
3rd Place - Physics is Cool, Aerianna Beth Porter
Hon Mention - Antelope Canyon, Mark Daniel Gonzalez
Hon Mention - Cold Lakeside Morning, Daniel Yuezhou Li

Contrived
1st Place - Smile for the Camera!, Ryan Michael Brohm
2nd Place - Two Candles Spinning on a Lazy Susan, Alexander Kai-Feng Chan
3rd Place - Oobleck on a Speaker, Darren Seaney
Hon Mention - Spoons Reflecting a School Bus, Isabel Marie Lavrov
Hon Mention - A Shocking Faraday Cage, Steven Edward Angtuaco
2017 Top 100

The Frederick and Florence Bauder Endowment

The Frederick and Florence Bauder Endowment provides grants to support special activities in the area of physics teaching. The deadline for applications to request funds is December 1.

New Faculty Workshop

Physics and Astronomy department chairs are invited to nominate faculty members in their first few years of their tenure-track appointments for the Physics and Astronomy New Faculty Workshop to be held November 2-5 in College Park, MD. The workshop introduces the faculty members to effective and easy-to-implement interactive engagement teaching methods as well as other to grant-writing best practices and plans for preparing for tenure and promotion decisions. Nominations should be completed online at www.aapt.org/Conferences/newfaculty before 5 pm EDT on Friday, September 15. Chairs may also nominate faculty in full-time lecturer (or equivalent) positions. Some financial support is available for faculty members at minority-serving institutions and at small departments with severe financial constraints.

AAPT Membership

AAPT Member Spotlight

Aaron Titus
High Point University
High Point, North Carolina
Read more

AAPT Members Now Get 30% Discount on MIT Press Books!

Have you been meaning to check out Richard Feynman’s The Character of Physical Law or Noson Yanofsky’s The Outer Limits of Reason? Now you can do so at 70% of the cost that the general public pays! As an AAPT member, you are now entitled to a 30% discount on all Physics and Math titles at MIT Press.

To take advantage of this offer, contact us at membership@aapt.org to retrieve your discount code and start shopping at mitpress.mit.edu/physics. We hope this new feature of membership will benefit your brain and your wallet.

Call for Award Nominations

The AAPT Awards Committee invites nominations for all of AAPT awards, citations, and medals. We are particularly interested in nominations for AAPT Fellows and for the Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT.

Recruit STEM interns from the best job sites for FREE!

The AAPT Career Center offers no-cost postings to employers recruiting seasonal interns. Locate the best fit for your organization by reaching the future of the science community - the AAPT membership, as well as the members and student members of the American Physical Society (APS Physics), AVS Science and Technology, and the Society of Physics Students and Sigma Pi Sigma. Get the word out! Your posting will also appear on the Physics Today Jobs site, which when combined with the job sites of the organizations mentioned above forms the ultimate online science, engineering, and computing career network, ensuring maximum relevant visibility for your internship. Visit jobs.aapt.org to get posting!

Concerned about the Future of Science?

Stay informed with FYI: Science Policy News from AIP. Your membership with AAPT makes it possible for AIP to provide accurate, objective, and comprehensive updates on science policy and funding.

FYI has been a trusted source of science policy news for more than two decades. Readers learn about legislative and executive branch policy developments, agency appointments, and funding important to the physical sciences community. By staying informed about policy developments, we can better shape the future of science. Sign up for free at: aip.org/fyi

Webinar - Perusall: Engagement in Physics through Text

Wednesday, 13 September
8 PM Eastern Time

Perusall is a new tool that encourages students to read assignments and interact with the material in a thoughtful way. They can highlight text and figures and leave comments and questions for other students in their cohort. It is like a social media textbook. Perusall was developed by a group that includes Harvard physicist and pioneering PER researcher, Eric Mazur. It can be used free of charge with public domain pdf documents. In this webinar, Dan Burns of Los Gatos High School, CA, will share his experience using Perusall with his physics students over the last two years and explain some of the essential features for teachers wanting to use it.

Register for this webinar here

In the News

Save the Date: PET Workshop

February 8, 2018 - Join this full day Physics of Everyday Thinking (PET) workshop designed for prospective or practicing elementary teachers. Application and travel grant information will be posted on the PhysTEC website in the coming months. Learn more

Save the Date: PhysTEC 2018 Conference

February 9 - 10, 2018 - The Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) Conference is the nation's largest meeting dedicated to the education of future physics teachers. It features workshops on best practices, panel discussions by national leaders, and excellent networking opportunities for physics teacher educators. Registration will open in November. Learn more

Save the Date: Building a Thriving Undergraduate Physics Program

February 10 - 11, 2018 - Learn how to develop strategies for increasing enrollment of physics majors in your department. Institutions are invited to send teams of 2-4 faculty members to analyze their current departmental situation and decide how to take actions that will help them sustainably achieve their goals. Learn more

APS National Mentoring Community BEAM Fund

The APS National Mentoring Community (NMC) now offers small grants to NMC Mentees who are facing financial emergencies. The NMC Bringing Emergency Aid to Mentees (BEAM) fund will provide up to $1,500 to NMC Mentees who are paired with an NMC Mentor and who find themselves facing an economic hardship. Learn more

NITARP Gets Teachers Involved in Research

NITARP, the NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program, gets teachers involved in authentic astronomical research. We partner small groups of educators with a mentor professional astronomer for an original research project. The educators incorporate the experience into their classrooms and share their experience with other teachers. The program runs January through January. Applications for the 2018 class of educators are available now and due on Tuesday September 19, 2017. Click here for further information

Arizona State University Master of Natural Science Degree for High School Teachers

Arizona State University has an interdisciplinary Master of Natural Science (MNS) degree in physics for high school teachers. Courses are in summer, and the degree is founded on Modeling instruction. Teachers in 15 western states can apply for IN-STATE tuition; the deadline is APRIL 1.
Click here for details
Click here for more information

Undergraduate Computational Physics Workshop

October 7, 2017
John Carroll University, Cleveland, OH

This NSF-funded workshop is part of a project exploring novel, effective, and scalable ways to help faculty integrate computational physics into their undergraduate physics curricula. The workshop is a keystone of each yearlong local process we offer to support faculty to do this. Both novices and experts in using computation in physics courses are welcome. Click here for further information

APS NMC Bringing Emergency Aid to Mentees

The APS National Mentoring Community (NMC) will now offer funds to NMC Mentees who are facing financial emergencies. The NMC Bringing Emergency Aid to Mentees (BEAM) fund will provide up to $1,500 to NMC Mentees who find themselves facing an economic hardship that could prevent them from continuing their physics studies and earning their degree. For more information about fund eligibility and details, visit the NMC BEAM website.

Help students find the right grad program. Tell them about GradSchoolShopper.com

Advise your students to check out GradSchoolShopper.com, the most complete directory of graduate programs in the physical sciences. Students headed for graduate school can use this free service to search by degree programs, admission deadlines, research specialties, faculty profiles, GRE requirements, and more! If your program isn’t listed, contact us to find out how to have it included.

Highly Trained STEM Teachers Needed to Boost America's Global Competitiveness, According to New Study

The United States' global competitiveness is at risk as the nation confronts persistent shortages of STEM teachers. More than half of all high school physics teachers lacked certification in the discipline in 2012, for example. As a result, students who are interested in STEM careers find themselves ill prepared to compete in an increasingly highly technical workforce.

A new study by the American Physical Society, in collaboration with the American Chemical Society, Computing Research Association, and Mathematics Teacher Education Partnership, addresses the reasons why STEM students shy away from teaching as a career and offers ways to counter the trend. Download the full report at www.aps.org/policy/reports.

Workshop on Women and Minorities in the History of Physics, Role Models for Today

Dr. Greg Good, Director of the Center for the History of Physics, is eager to provide workshops at AAPT Section Meetings and elsewhere on Women and Minorities in the History of Physics. Teachers will be introduced to the teaching materials on the AIP website related to the history of women and minorities in the physical sciences. The purpose of these materials is to help students appreciate that not only white males have contributed to the development of physics, astronomy, and other physical sciences. On the flip side, there have been many more women than Marie Curie and many more African Americans than Benjamin Banneker and Jim Gates who have had successful careers in the physical sciences. We will explore several of the lesson plans in each group and explore games and other activities to bring these lessons to life. For more information, please contact Dr. Greg Good.

American Modeling Teachers Association

Modeling Instruction was developed for high school physics teachers and has since expanded to physical science, chemistry, biology, and middle school. Each year, Modeling workshops are held at universities and high schools across the United States. Last year, more than 70 Modeling workshops were offered to high school and middle school teachers in more than 20 states.

For information on 2017 Modeling Workshops, please visit the American Modeling Teachers Association (AMTA) website: modelinginstruction.org For questions: wendy@modelinginstruction.org or gheheman@asu.edu

Promoting National Academy of Sciences Resources during Bullying Prevention Month

To observe Bullying Prevention Month, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has several free resources that we’d like to share with as many people as possible.

Our publication, Preventing Bullying Through Science, Policy, and Practice, is free to read or download for personal use. Recognizing that bullying behavior is a major public health problem that demands the concerted and coordinated time and attention of parents, educators and school administrators, health care providers, policy makers, families, and others concerned with the care of children, this report evaluates the state of the science on biological and psychosocial consequences of peer victimization and the risk and protective factors that either increase or decrease peer victimization behavior and consequences.

Physics Careers

Jobs Announcements from the Career Center

WATER-RELATED MOLECULAR ENGINEERING (ASSISTANT PROFESSOR / ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR / PROFESSOR)
University of Chicago, Institute for Molecular Engineering
Click here for job description

High School Physics Teacher
Archdiocese of Philadelphia
Click here for job description

More Physics Resources

Social Media @ AAPT

AAPT wants to connect with you on social media! Stay abreast of the latest AAPT and physics-related news. We invite you to like us, follow us, connect with us, and pin us. You can find us here:

Section News

Please submit your Section Report for the AAPT Section News. To list your section meeting in the AAPT Calendar of Events, e-mail the information to mhall@aapt.org. See the December 2016 Section News.

Section Meetings

NY-NE-NJ Sections
Sep 29, 2017 - Sep 30, 2017
Joint Regional Meeting of the NY-NY-NJ Sections
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY
Email: Sam Sampere

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