2027 Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT to be awarded to Daniel Borrero Echeverry

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

College Park, MD, September 28, 2026—AAPT has announced that Daniel Borrero Echeverry will receive the association's Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT during their 2027 Winter Meeting. Borrero Echeverry is recognized with the Homer L. Dodge citation for his long history of bringing others along with him in his participation in and service to AAPT communities, facilitating strong professional networks. He has played key roles in the AAPT communities dedicated to the improvement of the undergraduate physics curriculum, especially with regards to computation, advanced laboratories, and retention of underrepresented groups. He is an example of exceptional service, leadership, and mentorship within AAPT.

Regarding his selection to receive this citation, Borrero Echeverry said, “It’s a huge honor to receive the Homer L. Dodge Citation. AAPT has been incredibly important to my development as an educator, and has given me a community of colleagues, mentors, and collaborators who have challenged and inspired me to become a better teacher. It’s also given me opportunities to contribute to the larger effort to improve physics education nationally and, ultimately, to help inspire students to see themselves as part of the future of physics. I’m proud to be part of a community that cares so deeply about making physics education better and helping move our field forward. I also want to thank my students, who remind me every day why I love teaching and who make it so much fun.”

Borrero Echeverry is Associate Professor of Physics and Department Chair at Willamette University in Salem Oregon. He earned his BS (2005) from the University of Texas at Austin and his MS (2006) and PhD in Physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

A member of AAPT since 2020, he is dedicated to the improvement of the undergraduate physics curriculum, especially with regards to computation, advanced laboratories, and retention of underrepresented groups; his knowledge and leadership have been a boon to the Willamette Physics Department, allowing them to better meet the needs of students using research-based teaching strategies.

His service, however, extends well beyond his institution. He has presented numerous talks and posters at the AAPT summer meetings, the Conference on Lab Instruction Beyond the First Year of College, and meetings of the Oregon Chapter of AAPT, and has attended many AAPT workshops. He consistently mentors faculty and students into AAPT activities, ensuring new members feel welcomed and supported, and helping them find a sense of belonging in the physics education community.

His involvement has also included significant leadership roles in AAPT’s affiliate organizations, particularly ALPhA and PICUP. Through these organizations, he has advanced AAPT’s mission by building faculty capacity, fostering collaboration, and strengthening the integration of computational and experimental approaches to physics education nationwide.

ALPhA was formed to create a community of faculty and staff committed to advancing laboratory physics instruction at colleges and universities. Borrero Echeverry has been deeply involved in this effort. In 2018, Willamette hosted a series of workshops through ALPhA’s Laboratory Immersions Program, and he has since taken on leadership roles within the organization, serving as Treasurer and as Co-Director of the Organizing Committee for ALPhA’s Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College.

His work with the Partnership for Integration of Computation into Undergraduate Physics (PICUP) has similarly focused on helping faculty incorporate computation into their undergraduate physics courses. He developed an extended version of the Taylor-Couette laboratory that was part of the Willamette ALPhA immersion and subsequently led a joint PICUP-ALPhA immersion in which faculty learned both computational modeling and experimental measurement techniques through the Taylor-Couette experiment. He continues to lead PICUP workshops, most recently on programming with Arduino, and served as Chair of the Organizing Committee for PICUP’s Pacific Northwest Distributed Institute for Computational Education in Physics, hosted at Willamette this summer.

About the Award

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.