Robert A. Morse.  Photo credit Breton Littlehales2015 Millikan Medal Awarded to Robert Morse

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

College Park, MD, February 27, 2015—AAPT has announced that Robert A. Morse will receive the Robert A. Millikan Medal during the 2015 Summer Meeting in College Park, MD. This award recognizes educators who have made notable and creative contributions to the teaching of physics.

Morse is Co-Chair of the AP Physics 1 Development Committee and Assistant Editor of the Davidson AP Physics EdX project. He got his B.A. in physics at Cornell University, his M.Ed in Science Education at Boston University, and his Ph.D. in Science Education at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. He started his career as a physics educator in 1967 as a Physics Teaching Assistant at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He started teaching high school physics at Masconomet Regional High School in Topsfield, MA where he taught physics, honors physics, AP Physics, Applied Physics, Electronics, Physical Science, and Stagecraft and Lighting.

In 1982 he joined the staff of St. Albans School in Washington, DC, teaching Physics and AP Physics C. He also served as Science Department Chair and Technology Committee Chair. He was trained as an AAPT Physics Teaching Resource Agent in 1985 and has presented or hosted workshops locally and nationally.

A Life Member of AAPT, Morse has served on the Committees on Physics in High Schools, Laboratories, and History and Philosophy of Physics. He is a current member of the AAPT PTRA Oversight Committee and served on the Next Generation Science Standards Review Panel.

He has made many creative contributions to physics education: technology-infused curricula in his own high school classes, curricular modules on electrostatics and Newton's laws distributed by AAPT/PTRA for a broader audience of students and teachers, serving as "master teacher for master teachers" in the early PTRA program, offering innovative workshops for instructors at AAPT meetings, and working over the past 14 years on multiple committees to play a lead role in revising the Advanced Placement (AP) Physics B curriculum and exams. To all these endeavors, he brings passion, inquisitiveness, creativity, and deep understanding of how students learn.

About the Award
The Robert A Millikan Medal recognizes those who have made notable and intellectually creative contributions to the teaching of physics. The recipient delivers an address at an AAPT Summer Meeting and receives a monetary award, the Millikan Medal, an Award Certificate, and travel expenses to the meeting.

Previous Awardees

2014, Eugenia Etkina, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

2013, Harvey Gould, Clark University, Worcester, MA

2012, Philip Sadler, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA

2011, Brian Jones, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO

2010, Patricia M. Heller, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

2009, Arthur Eisenkraft, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA

2008, Eric Mazur, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

2007, David R. Sokoloff, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

Additional winners

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. AAPT was founded in 1930 and is headquartered in the American Center for Physics in College Park, Maryland. 

For more information: Contact Marilyn Gardner, Director of Communications, mgardner@aapt.org, (301)209-3306, (301)209-0845 (Fax)