eNNOUNCER September 2016


AAPT News


2016 AAPT Board of Directors Election

The election of officers for the AAPT Board of Directors will begin in September. Watch for the exact dates in next month's eNNOUNCER. 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.

2017 AAPT Winter Meeting

The 2017 AAPT Winter Meeting will be held in Atlanta, Georgia from February 18-21 at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. Abstracts submission for the winter meeting will open on August 4. Please click here between August 4th and September 15 to submit your contributed talk or poster abstract. This is a great opportunity to present your research or share your ideas with your colleagues.

Abstract Submissions

AAPT is currently accepting abstracts for the 2017 AAPT Winter Meeting (WM17) in Atlanta, Georgia. Don’t miss this opportunity to submit an abstract to the largest meeting of physics educators in the United States. All abstracts submitted by the deadline date of September 15 will be entered into a drawing to win a $50 gift card.

• Click Here to View the WM17 Call for Papers
• Click Here to Submit an Abstract

Conference Hotel

The room block at the Marriott Marquis Atlanta is now open. Click here to secure your room at the conference hotel.

Room/Ride and Daycare Share List Form

If you are looking to share a room, a ride or childcare, sign-up on the Room/Ride/Childcare List.


2016 Summer Meeting Highlights

With more than 1200 attendees, the 2016 Summer Meeting can be viewed as a success. The 2016 Summer Meeting was held at the Sacramento Convention Center with workshops at California State University, Sacramento. Read more

eAlliances: Uniting Isolated Women Physicists and Astronomers - Registration site now LIVE!

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

2016 AAPT Fellows Awards Announced

The 2016 AAPT Fellows Awardees have been announced. The criterion for selection of Fellows is exceptional contribution to AAPT’s mission, to enhance the understanding and appreciation of physics through teaching. Fellowship is a distinct honor signifying recognition by one's professional peers. Any AAPT member who has maintained an active membership for at least 7 years is eligible for nomination for Fellowship. Nominations are evaluated by the AAPT Awards committee and approved by the AAPT Board of Directors. Read more

Webinar K-12 STEM

Webinar: Team America Rocketry Challenge - Bring Engineering to the Physics Classroom, with Miles Lifson, Program Manager

8 September 2016
8PM - 9PM ET
Register Here

The Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) is a national STEM competition for students in grades 7 to 12. K-12 classroom teachers, university faculty, industry experts, model rocket hobbyists, and community members are encouraged to consider serving as coaches. TARC is both an excellent extracurricular activity as well as an opportunity to enhance your students' engagement in physics courses. Join TARC Program Manager Miles Lifson for a session to learn about the competition and how you and your students can participate. Opportunities will be available to discuss and share resources for integrating rocketry into coursework.

PhysPort - Improve your Physics Instruction with Research-Based Resources, with Sam McKagan, Director

29 September 2016
8PM - 9PM ET
Register Here

The PhysPort.org is the go-to place for finding FREE resources based on physics education research (PER) relevant to teaching physics in K-12, higher education, pre-service teacher education, and for learning assistants. These resources include guides to 50+ research-based teaching methods, 50+ research-based assessments, video workshops, expert recommendations, and a data explorer for instant analysis and visualization of your students' results on research-based assessments. Join PhysPort director Sam McKagan to learn more about how you can use these resources to support your instruction and your students' learning.

AAPT Member Spotlight

Marilyn Gardner
AAPT, College Park, Maryland
Read more

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.

Texas Conference for the Advancement of Science

TS AAPT members have put together an impressive series of physics and physical science sessions for the upcoming State Teachers Association of Texas (STAT) conference for teachers K-12. These sessions are due to a collaboration between university, TYC, high school, and supporting vendors.  In addition to providing sessions for K-12 science teachers, members provide a booth for the 3 day conference that allows teachers to purchase materials, ask questions, sign up for workshops, or join TS AAPT (and AAPT national as well.)  Jess Dowdy, Bill Waggoner, Paul Williams, and Joe Musser typically head up the booth activities which include demos and distributing kits with easy activities for the teachers to take back to their classrooms.  The conference content sessions are typically presented by PTRAs.  Due to the reputation and high quality of the sessions, there is often standing room only. The 2016 CAST meeting registration is now open.  Kudos to TS AAPT for contributing to CAST and providing teachers this opportunity for professional development.

Computational Physics at AAPT Section Meetings

The Partnership for the Integration of Computation into Undergraduate Physics (PICUP) has a project for fostering faculty communities to develop computational integration at a local level. We invite any AAPT section with faculty interested in exploring computational integration into their courses to express its interest (if it has not already done so) in developing such a community. Any section member who feels that local faculty might have an interest in including computation in their courses may convey this interest. The venue for doing so is the following survey. This process begins by hosting an introductory workshop (e.g. at a regular section meeting) whose objectives are:

  • to describe a strategy for introducing computation in courses and illustrative materials suggesting how to do so;
  • to help participants envision their own computational educational materials;
  • to formulate individual plans for each to implement these designs as materials in at least one of their upcoming courses; and
  • to introduce them to a local support network to use for mutual collaboration in and support for their implementation efforts after the workshop.
We look forward to hearing from you via the following survey.

AAPT Programs


2016 U.S. Physics Team Scores 2 Gold and 3 Silver Medals at 47th International Physics Olympiad

The United States Physics Team ranked fifth place in the point count and seventh place in the medal count at the 47th International Physics Olympiad that was held in Zürich, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, 10-18, 2016. Read more

2016 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.

Apparatus Competition

The Apparatus Competition was established to recognize, reward, and publicize worthwhile contributions to physics teaching through demonstration and experiment. With huge advances in technology, many physics apparatus are now commercially available. But even with these advances,physics research still requires the inventive spirit of designing and building experimental apparatus one's self. All of this year's winners were low cost and innovative. Download the Apparatus Competition Booklet and see the winning entries. Read more

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.

Physics and Astronomy Department Chairs - New Faculty Workshop Nominations

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 17-20 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 before 5 pm EDT on Friday, September 23. 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.

Getting the most from your Membership

Journals on AAPT.org American Journal of Physics and The Physics Teacher now have a home on the aapt.org website. When you click on the "Publications" tab and select one of our journal you will go to the new journal home page. This page will include links to the full Table of Contents for each issue as well as the cover image and description. Additional links related to the journal will be available from this home page. Past issue pages are archived here as well.

K-12 Lesson Plans based on TPT Articles. A developing library of K-12 lessons plans based on articles previously published in The Physics Teacher is now available to AAPT members at the K-12 Portal on aapt.org. Click Lessons and Resources to find interdisciplinary Lessons from The Physics Teacher.

K-12 Webinars. While you are on the K-12 Lessons and Resources page check out the growing body of content available as Webinars and Associated Resources. New webinars are being held each month so check this page often.


In the News


6th International Conference on Women in Physics

Application will open soon for the U.S. Delegation team of the 6th International Conference on Women in Physics. The 6th IUPAP Conference on Women in Physics will be held July 16th through 20th in Birmingham, U.K.  The US will be sending a small delegation to the conference. Applications are due by October 15, 2016. To apply to be part of the US delegation, go to the U.S. Delegation website.

Sigma Pi Sigma's 2016 Quadrennial Physics Conference

Sigma Pi Sigma’s 2016 Quadrennial Physics Congress (PhysCon) will be coming to Silicon Valley this November. Approximately 1200 attendees, primarily made up of undergraduate physics majors from around the country, will come to the Hyatt Regency Hotel near the San Francisco Airport for PhysCon. Over the years, this event has grown into the premier undergraduate physics conference in the world. Attendees will hear from a world-class roster of plenary speakers including Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Eric Cornell, Jim Gates, and Persis Drell. Students will be able to participate in career-enhancing workshops, disseminate their research through poster sessions, and interact with students from around the country and globe. The specific reason that I’m writing to you today is to invite you to participate in our Breakfast with a Scientist session. The breakfast will start at 7:45 am on Friday November 4th and we ask that you arrive no later than 7:30 to check in and be seated.

If you would like more information, please feel free to contact me with your questions. If you’d like to sign up to be a mentor, please submit your information at the following URL: www.sigmapisigma.org/congress/2016. Slots are filled on a first sign up, first serve basis so sign up early!

Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching include AAPT Members

Seven AAPT members will be honored later this summer as recipients of the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST). Winners of this Presidential honor receive a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation to be used at their discretion, and are invited to Washington, DC, for an awards ceremony, as well educational and celebratory events, and visits with members of the Administration. Read more

APS Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics

Student applications are now open for APS CUWiP 2017! The three-day conferences provide women undergrads with access to peers and mentors from academia and industry. Students will present their research, participate in panel discussions, tour working labs, and network with other women physicists. Travel and housing assistance is available. The deadline to apply is October 14. For more information, visit the APS CUWiP website.

FHSU Professor, Paul Adams, Speaks to Convention of Physics Teachers

Dr. Paul Adams, AAPT member and dean of the College of Education at Fort Hays State University, was recognized for his presentation to the American Association of Physics Teachers in Sacramento, Calif., this summer. “Twenty Plus Years of Physics Teacher Professional Development in Rural Kansas” focused on the efforts FHSU has made in developing physics teachers in high-needs schools. Read more

Rocketeers Wanted!

Registration is now open for the world’s largest student rocket contest, the 2017 Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC). Through TARC, teams of middle and high school students design, build and fly model rockets in a process modeled on the aerospace industry’s engineering design cycle. The top 100 teams in the country will compete outside of Washington, D.C. in May for more than $100,000 in cash and scholarships. For more information or to register, visit rocketcontest.org. TARC is organized by the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry.

Peer Review Week

September 19-26

Thank you to all the reviewers of the American Journal of Physics and The Physics Teacher for their commitment to peer review and the invaluable role they play in maintaining quality journals. Find out more and how you can get involved: peerreviewweek.wordpress.com.

Teaching Computation in the Sciences Using MATLAB

Apply today for the Teaching Computation in the Sciences Using MATLAB workshop focused on building students' ability to solve problems with computation using MATLAB in their STEM courses. Participants will share their successes developing computational skills using MATLAB in the undergraduate classroom and discuss best practices for the community. By attending the workshop, you will be part of a community effort to bring together best practices and teaching materials that will be made freely available through the Science Education Resource Center website MathWorks (maker of MATLAB) is sponsoring the workshop.

Application deadline is next Friday, September 2, 2016.
To apply click here.
Location: Carleton College, Northfield, MN
Date: October 23-25, 2016 (5 PM Sunday to 2P M Tuesday)

APS National Mentoring Community: Call for Mentors

The American Physical Society (APS) established the National Mentoring Community to provide mentoring for underrepresented minority (URM) physics undergraduates in the US. Current physics faculty are invited to sign up for free as an APS NMC mentor and nominate a URM physics student to participate as your mentee. This is a great way to support our students and connect to a larger group of faculty concerned with these issues. For more information, please visit the APS website.

APS National Mentoring Community Conference

Registration is now open for the 2016 APS National Mentoring Community Conference. Conference attendees can look forward to plenary talks from prominent scientists, a tour of NASA’s Houston Space Center, career workshops and panels, and a lot more. Learn more and register on the APS website.

PhysPort.org: Supporting Physics Teaching with Research-based Resources

PhysPort is the go-to place for finding resources based on physics education research (PER) to use in your classroom. Free resources on PhysPort include:

• Guides to 50+ research-based teaching methods
• Guides and downloads (for verified educators) of 50+ research-based assessments
• Video workshops for TA/LA training and faculty professional development
• Expert Recommendations by PhysPort staff and experts in PER
• The Data Explorer for instant analysis and visualization of your students results on research-based assessments

Analyze your Concept Inventory Data with the PhysPort Data Explorer

Do you have piles of data from research-based assessments lying around waiting to be analyzed? Try out a new tool that will help you quickly:

• Analyze results for the FCI, FMCE, BEMA, CSEM, CLASS, or MPEX
• Match and score your raw data
• Chart and analyze: histograms for your class, your course over time, breakdown by topic, or compare multiple courses
• Split and group by grade, major, and other student information

The PhysPort Data Explorer is now available in open beta to U.S. college physics faculty. You can sign up to be beta tester today through our easy verification process.

Questions? editor@physport.org

Help Today's Children Deliver Tomorrow's Solutions

Northrop Grumman Foundation is on a mission to get students excited about science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM),apply today for one of five grants of up to $100,000 each available to public middle schools for their very own fabulous school lab makeover. Read more

NSF STEM Video Showcase

AAPT members may be interested in participating in the NSF STEM Video Showcase that is now live at http://stemforall2016.videohall.com/

The virtual event features more than 150 short videos highlighting innovative programs and advances in STEM teaching and learning, including 62 initiatives that are specifically focused on science education. Read more

The showcase is free and open to the public.

Facebook
NOW LIVE! Be part of conversation at the NSF 2016 STEM for ALL Video Showcase - Over 150 3-min videos on innovative work in STEM Education. View, Discuss, and Vote for your favorite! #stemvideohall

Twitter
NOW LIVE! Be part of conversation at the NSF 2016 #STEMforALL Video Showcase View, Discuss, and Vote! #stemvideohall

ALPhA Announcements

1. Barbara Wolff-Reichert Grants will provide up to $7,500, with a 50% departmental match, toward the purchase of a TeachSpin instrument successfully mastered by a participant in an ALPhA Immersion. Read more.

2. ALPhA Mining Actualization Grants were created by the Jonathan Reichert Foundation to underwrite the construction, testing and dissemination of advanced lab experiments that are closely related to current research in physics. These are first come, first serve equipment grants with a maximum of $2,000 per school. Apply now!

3. The Jonathan Reichert Foundation announced the recipients of its inaugural grant program, supporting the advanced laboratory physics association (ALPhA) immersions. This year, the Foundation funded twelve out of sixteen applications, with a total funding of about $38,000. Congratulations to the individuals and institutions who received grants for advanced labs! Read more.

American Modeling Teachers Association

The American Modeling Teachers Association has already more than 60 workshops planned for the summer. In the workshops, science teachers learn how to use the Modeling pedagogy in their content area. Workshops are offered in physics, 1st and 2nd semester, chemistry, biology, physical science for high school teachers (and others) and a separate workshop for middle school teachers, see attachment.
Please go to:modelinginstruction.org/ or www.phystec.org for the complete list.

Inclusive Excellence: 2017 Undergraduate Science Education Grants

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute recently announced a new competition for science education grants to colleges and universities called "Inclusive Excellence: Engaging all students in science."

Scholarship Opportunity

Do you know any high school seniors looking to major in physics? Simpson College recently received a NSF grant that will provide 15 financially needy incoming students with financial assistance ($33,600 over four years), mentorship, and research opportunities as they pursue a degree in a mathematical STEM field. For this reason, we are recruiting talented high school seniors to come to Simpson as undergraduates.

For information on the Carver Bridge to STEM Success Scholarship Program visit the following website: http://simpson.edu/carver-bridge-scholars/

If you know any students who might be interested in this opportunity, we are more than happy to discuss more over email or phone. Contact Professor Aaron Santos at aaron.santos@simpson.edu or call at 515-961-1826.


Physics Careers


Jobs Announcements from the Career Center

Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Program
Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship
http://jobs.aapt.org/jobs/8350046

Project Manager, Cal-Bridge and CAMPARE Diversity Programs
Cal Poly Pomona
http://jobs.aapt.org/jobs/8338349


More Physics Resources


What Does ORCID Have to do With Publishing Articles?

ORCID is an acronym which stands for “Open Researcher and Contributor ID,” designed to uniquely identify people involved in research activities. The term is used to refer to both the identifier standard (a 16-character string) as well as the organization which creates these IDs and maintains their registry.

ORCID provides a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes you from every other researcher and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between you and your professional activities ensuring that your work is recognized.

Register for your ORCID identifier at orcid.org

Learn more about how  ORCID works.

Periscope: Looking into Learning in Best-practices Physics Classrooms

Periscope is a set of lessons centered on video episodes from best-practices physics classrooms. By watching and discussing authentic teaching events, instructors enrich their experience with noticing and interpreting student behavior and practice applying lessons learned about teaching to actual teaching situations.
Periscope is free to qualified educators at physport.org/periscope.

CERN Beamline for Schools Competition

CERN is famous for the Large Hadron Collider, but there’s much more to the laboratory than that. A large part of CERN’s research and development is carried out using fixed-target beamlines, which are used for a variety of experiments that range from investigating the inner workings of protons to probing the mysteries of antimatter. As part of the beam line for schools competition, CERN is making a fully equipped beamline available for a team of school students to run an experiment. Read more


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:
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Section News

To list your section meeting in the AAPT Calendar of Events, e-mail the information to dwolfe@aapt.org. See the December 2015 Section News.


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© 2016, American Association of Physics Teachers

In this issue

AAPT News

AAPT Programs

In the News

Physics Careers

More Physics Resources

 

Featured Journal Articles

The Physics Teacher

Balloon and Button Spectroscopy: A Hands-On Approach to Light and Matter

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American Journal of Physics

Predicting the influence of plate geometry on the eddy-current pendulum

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