2019 Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT to be Awarded to Laura E. McCullough
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Park, MD, April 15, 2019—AAPT has announced that Laura E. McCullough, University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, WI, will receive the association's Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT, during the 2019 Summer Meeting in Provo, Utah. McCullough earned her B.A. in Physics at Hamline University, her M.S. in Physics at the University of Minnesota and her Ph.D. in Science Education, University of Minnesota.
McCullough’s contributions to AAPT and to the physics community have been significant, especially in breaking down barriers for female students and women physicists around the world. She has served AAPT in a variety of leadership positions including as a member of several Area Committees and serving on other important committees. Area Committees play a major role in the governance of AAPT. A member since 1996, she has worked on the Committee on Research in Physics Education and the Committee on Professional Concerns, serving as Vice Chair and Chair. In addition, she served on the Nominating Committee, Physics Education Research Leadership Organizing Council as Treasurer, Meetings Committee, Programs Committee, and the Books Committee.
McCullough’s contributions to the physics community go beyond serving as a volunteer for AAPT. Blending her service and her scholarship, she has presented at conferences and published extensively on issues of gender in the classroom, particularly in physics. Women are underrepresented in physics from high school through senior faculty in physics departments in higher education. Physics educators need to understand how to attract and retain women students from high school through graduate education. Her work in physics education research (PER) sheds light on how the classroom can be more inclusive particularly to female students. It blends physics with the social sciences.
Another major project that McCullough has spearheaded is the development of a physics gender bias website (https://genderbias.compadre.org). This project originated during the development of a National Science Foundation (NSF) proposal to support the U.S. delegation to the 2017 IUPAP International Conference on Women in Physics with the hope of extending the project well past the delegation attending the conference in July 2017. The website includes a Physics Forum which is a space where women as well as gender and sexual minorities can share experiences of gender and sexuality bias in physics.
She was a member of the US delegation to the 2017 IUPAP International Conference on Women and Physics, and will be a team leader for the US delegation in 2020, she serves on the American Physical Society’s Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (2016-2019), and had her book Women and Physics (2016) published by Morgan & Claypool Publishers, IOP Concise Physics Series.
Regarding her selection to receive this award McCullough said, "I am very honored to receive this award. It has been a pleasure to help an organization that has been so valuable to my career, and to be recognized for work that I feel is important to physics overall."
About the Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT
Established in 1953 and renamed in recognition of AAPT founder Homer L. Dodge in 2012, the Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT is presented to members in recognition of their exceptional contributions to the association at the national, sectional, or local level.
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 David Wolfe, Director of Communications, dwolfe@aapt.org, (301) 209-3322, (301) 209-0845 (Fax), www.aapt.org.