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eNNOUNCER September 2018


AAPT News

2018 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

2018 Summer Meeting Highlights

With almost 1400 attendees, the 2018 Summer Meeting can be viewed as a huge success. The 2018 Summer Meeting was held at the Renaissance Washington D.C. Hotel and Washington Marriott Marquis with workshops at The George Washington University (GWU) in Science and Engineering Hall and Corcoran Hall. Read more

See photos from the 2018 Summer Meeting. Click here

2018 Apparatus Competition Winners

The winners of the 2018 Apparatus Competition were announced at the 2018 Summer Meeting in Washington, DC. Read more

2019 AAPT Winter Meeting

The 2019 AAPT Winter Meeting will be held in Houston, Texas January 12-15.

Abstract Submission
AAPT will be accepting abstracts from August 7 to September 18. This is a great opportunity to present your innovative research and share creative teaching methods with your peers. Please click here to submit your abstract.

Sessions/Workshops
Click here to view a list session topics and workshops.

Registration
Registration is open! Please click here for more information.

Hotel
The 2019 AAPT Winter Meeting will take place at the Westin Galleria and the Westin Oaks Houston at the Galleria in Houston's Uptown district. Both hotels are connected by the Galleria Shopping Center. Please click here for more information.

AAPT Privacy Statement Update

Privacy laws in the European Union changed on May 25, 2018. In an effort to strengthen your privacy rights, AAPT has updated its Privacy Statement. The update is part of AAPT’s ongoing commitment to provide transparency and safeguard your privacy. Changes include new information about how we process personal data. We encourage you to review the new privacy statement to familiarize yourself with the changes that have been made. These updates went into effect for all existing AAPT members and users of AAPT websites on May 25, 2018. Your continued use of AAPT’s Membership Services from that day on are subject to the updated privacy statement. Please review your member account preferences.

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

AAPT-ALPhA Award is Now Open for Nominations

AAPT and ALPhA (Advanced Laboratory Physics Association) have announced the AAPT/ALPhA Award for undergraduate physics students who have built (and possibly designed), and left as a legacy for future students an advanced laboratory experiment. Do you have a student (or team of students) who might be interested in taking up the challenge to build an experiment new to their own department and possibly receive national recognition, attend a national AAPT meeting, present an invited talk, and receive a check for $4,000? The nomination process is now open. Applications need to be completed by September 30th.  Read more or Apply. Funding for this award, for the first five years, is provided by TeachSpin, Inc.

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 https://jobs.aapt.org/employers/ to get posting!


AAPT Programs

Support the U.S. Physics Team - Donate Now

Each year AAPT sponsors a competition for high school students to represent the United States at the International Physics Olympiad Competition. The mission of the U.S. Physics Team Program is to promote and demonstrate academic excellence through preparation for and participation in the International Physics Olympiad. AAPT is responsible for recruiting, selecting and training teams each year to compete in the International Physics Olympiad Competition. Your contribution is needed to support these high school students as they prepare to represent the U.S. internationally. Donate now!

2018 U.S. Physics Team Wins Three Gold and Two Silver Medals

The United States Physics Team ranked seventh place out of 88 countries in the overall medal count and sixth in the aggregate point count at the 48th International Physics Olympiad that was held July 21–29, 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal. Read more

2018 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.

2018 Contest Winners
Natural
1st Place – Magic Light, Yining Lu
2nd Place – Ring around the Rainbow, Aurelia Eden Balkanski
3rd Place – Message to the Stars, Ari Kutzer
Hon. Mention – Jump, Nathaniel Ray Wilson
Hon. Mention – The Dancing Wavelengths Eupholus Bennetti, Weston James Bell-Geddes

Contrived
1st Place – Finger Pickin’ Good, Nicolas Gonzalez
2nd Place – Red Heart, Kendelle Noel Fagan
3rd Place – Splashed Water Turned into Ice, Luanyin Huang
Hon. Mention – Converging Paradise, Eric Kraybill
Hon. Mention – Layers of Reflection, Emily Noelle Fears
2018 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.

Physics and Astronomy New Faculty Workshop

The next Physics and Astronomy New Faculty Workshop will be held October 25-28, 2018 in College Park, MD. This NSF-funded project now reaches about 50% of the new tenure-track hires in physics and astronomy in the U.S. Department chairs are invited to nominate their new tenure-track (or equivalent) faculty members and lecturers at www.aapt.org/Conferences/newfaculty Workshop space is limited. Preference will be given to nominations received before September 15. More information about the workshops is available at https://aapt.org/Conferences/newfaculty/nfw.cfm

Experienced Faculty Workshop

The next Physics and Astronomy Experienced Faculty Workshop will be held December 7-9, 2018 in Arlington, VA. The workshop is intended for tenured and other long-term college and university physics and astronomy faculty members who are now or who may soon be in leadership positions involving education matters in their departments. Registration will open in early September. The workshops are sponsored by AAPT, APS, and AAS, with funding from the National Science Foundation.

Greater Chicagoland PICUP Computational Physics Workshop

Saturday September 29, 2018

The Partnership for Integration of Computation into Undergraduate Physics (PICUP), an informal group of physics faculty from around the country, is committed to building a community of STEM educators dedicated to integrating computation into the physics curriculum. Towards this end, PICUP invites high school and college physics faculty to attend the Greater Chicagoland PICUP Workshop to be held on the campus of Lewis University in Romeoville, IL, on Saturday, September 29, 2018. The purpose of this one day workshop is to introduce participants to PICUP's resources and to guide participants in formulating a plan for integrating computational educational materials into their courses or curricula. The workshop agenda includes guided computational activities, plenary talks, small group discussions/activities, and a working lunch, all for a registration fee of $12).

Go to https://www.compadre.org/PICUP/events/ for more details on this workshop and other PICUP events.


AAPT Membership

AAPT Member Spotlight

Michelle Kuchera
Davidson College
Davidson, NC
Read More.

Membership Renewal

We appreciate our community of members, and we are here to serve you. If you have any difficulties renewing your membership or have any membership-related questions, please do not hesitate to contact us in the Membership Department at 301.209.3333 or membership@aapt.org.

AAPT Members and the Global Survey of Scientists

Please help us better understand the status of scientists around the world. In September a representative sample of AAPT members will be invited via email to complete the Global Survey of Scientists. The goal of this global, multicultural, and multidisciplinary survey is to study social dynamics in astronomy, biology, chemistry, computing, mathematics, physics, and the history and philosophy of science and technology. The analysis will compare scientists’ and practitioners’ experiences, challenges, and interests across regions, countries, disciplines, sector of employment, and career stage. The insights gained will help the International Science Council and its member unions recommend interventions to increase participation of all people in STEM fields. Once the survey results are analyzed, the responses from AAPT members will be shared with AAPT leadership and membership. You will receive a message from me asking you to complete the survey. Please take a moment to do so.

Applications Now Being Accepted for Jossem Fund Grants

Applications are currently being accepted for the E. Leonard Jossem Fund. The E. Leonard (Len) Jossem International Education Fund provides grants to individuals in support of international programs dealing with teaching and learning of physics. The fund will be available for two different categories:

• Collaborations between U.S. and developing countries. Funding should facilitate interactions and exchanges of ideas between U.S. physics educators and/or students and those in developing countries.
• International meetings and conferences focused on physics education. Meetings and conferences should involve direct contact between physics educators and furnish the interactions that stimulate new ideas and lasting collaborations. Students and faculty with limited resources can apply for funding to attend international meetings and conferences.

The Jossem Fund invites applications from physics educators who are AAPT members at any academic stage or rank. Only AAPT members may apply. Awards will range from $200 to $2,000. Applications must be received by late spring or early summer (deadline is the same as the Special Projects Fund) for consideration during the 2018 fiscal year. Applications will be reviewed by the Special Projects and Philanthropy Committee. Click here for more information.

STEM Inclusion Study and AAPT Climate Report

AAPT recently participated in the STEM Inclusion Study, the first large-scale, national study to investigate the experiences of professionals from across STEM disciplines and industries to identify challenges that underrepresented individuals face in the profession. More information about the study and its goals is available on the study’s website https://www.steminclusion.com For a summary of the AAPT Climate Report, click here.

Teachers and Faculty Who Have Tutored Physics?

The AAPT Committee on the Interests of Senior Physicists (CISP) is considering organizing sessions or workshops on tutoring in physics and astronomy. We think that such sessions would be of particular interest to physics teachers looking for post-retirement occupations.

Do you know teacher or faculty member who has tutored physics at any level? If so, please send their names and email addresses to Charlie Holbrow, Chair of CISP (chholbrow@gmail.com). CISP would like to get in contact with them and learn about their experiences and explore how we might share these with interested colleagues.

The possibilities for tutoring online either on your own or through some online agency are of particular interest, but there are useful things to say about any sort of tutoring. CISP wants to gather information about all modes of tutoring physics and make the information widely available.

Support New Teachers This Fall!

Are you interested in the ways you can 'pay it forward'? Have thought about how you can truly impact the future? Consider supporting the next generation of physics teachers with your tax deductible donation to the AAPT New Teacher Fund. Your generosity helps to provide professional development opportunities to new, and early career educators, with a membership in AAPT. Proceeds from this fund underwrite much of the cost of membership dues and, enables us to expand our outreach efforts.

Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) Conference

Save the date for the Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) Conference! PhysTEC 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 opens in November. Learn more

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.

Free Individual Membership in the Council on Undergraduate Research for Faculty in Institutions with Enhanced Membership

We wanted to bring to your attention that one of AAPT’s frequent collaborative organizations, the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) has an enhanced institutional member category. For a list of CUR’s enhanced members, please see this webpage. If you, and other faculty, administrators, and students are at a CUR enhanced member institution, your individual membership is FREE. All you need to do is to sign-up, remembering to choose the division of physics and astronomy as your “home” in CUR. CUR’s physics and astronomy division is very active, and more members would be welcome!

Please refer to the Membership Tab of the CUR website (https://www.cur.org)) hover over “Become a Member”, select the Individual Membership Online Application, and select your institution’s name from the dropdown list. A “pop up” message will announce that you have added onto the Enhanced Membership, click OK and complete the application form. Thanks for sharing this great opportunity to connect with CUR with your colleagues in physics and/or astronomy departments.


In the News

Melba Phillips Papers Now Online

The Niels Bohr Library & Archives (NBLA) at the American Institute of Physics has digitized the papers of physicist and physics educator Melba Phillips. The whole collection is now accessible to the public in NBLA’s online repository here. Click here to read a brief biography of Phillips and to learn about some of the interesting items in the collection.

Longtime Professor Publishes Helpful Intro to Physics Tool

AAPT member, Jerome Licini has taught introductory physics at Lehigh for 31 years, perfecting his craft and continually finding ways to help his students in any way he can.

Now Licini is expanding his reach beyond the Lehigh campus by developing a full-fledged program in physics education research. Licini intends to publish teaching techniques he has developed throughout his career in hopes of making physics easier to understand for students everywhere.

The first–a tilted-axes tool–will be published in a fall issue of The Physics Teacher, a peer-reviewed academic journal that is geared toward teachers of introductory physics at the high school or first-year college level.

Go to Read more.

Career Toolbox for Undergraduates

The Careers Toolbox for Undergraduate Physics Students is a set of tools and exercises designed to help undergraduate physics students prepare to enter the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics workforce. Tools range from exploring the common job titles of physics bachelor's to preparing for interviews, and are all geared specifically for physics students. This resource is brought to you by the American Institute of Physics and the Society of Physics Students. The 4th Edition is now ready for use.

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

Advise your students in the new year 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.

The International Conference on Physics Education (ICPE)

Johannesburg, South Africa. October 1-5, 2018

The International Conference on Physics Education (ICPE) will be held October 1-5, 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The theme of the conference is: “Physics Education for Development: a focus on context”. The main objective is to create a platform to facilitate the interaction of various stakeholders that includes physics educators, postgraduate students, teachers, researchers and policy makers working in physics education research and in physics education, from schools, colleges, universities and governments from all parts of the world.

The program will include a wide spectrum of presentations including keynote speakers, single and symposium oral presentations, posters and workshops. The conference will be held at the Misty Hills Hotel and Conference Centre, close to the Cradle of Humankind, a World Heritage Site and the famous Pilanesberg National Park. Click here for more information.

American Modeling Teachers Association

While several of the Modeling Workshops™ have already started last week, we have many more Modeling Workshops™ scheduled for the upcoming weeks and selected workshops still have openings. Please share the information in your community:

• Alabama: Mechanics; July 9-20
• Arizona: Thermodynamics; July 9-20
• California: Mechanics and Chemistry ; July 9-20
• Indiana: Chemistry I and II (pre-conference workshops) ; July 18-29
• Massachusetts: Chemistry I and II, biology: July 9-20
• Massachusetts: Mechanical Waves; July 16-26 – Mechanics; July 30-Aug 9
• Maine: Mechanics, Chemistry, E&M; July 23-Aug 3 (0ne week options available)
• Michigan: Middle school at CMU; July 16-Aug 3
• Michigan: Middle school (2), Physical Science (2),Biology (2), Chemistry I and II, June till August
• Minnesota: Mechanics and Chemistry: July 9-20
• North Carolina; Biology, Chemistry (June 18-29), E&M and Middle School; July 9-29
• New York City: Biology (2), Computational Modeling, Intro to Modeling; July and August
• New York: Siena College: Intro to Mechanics (July 9-12),
• New York: Buffalo: Mechanics; July 9-29


For details please click here.

Arizona State University Master of Natural Science Degree in Physics for Teachers

Arizona State University has an interdisciplinary Master of Natural Science (MNS) degree in physics for high school and two-year college 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.

For more details click here
Ask for information click here


Physics Careers

Jobs Announcements from the Career Center

Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Program
Click here for job description.

TENURE TRACK FACULTY POSITION IN PHYSICS EDUCATION RESEARCH
California Polytechnic State University
Click here for job description.


More Physics Resources


Social Media @ AAPT

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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 2017 Section News.


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© 2018, American Association of Physics Teachers

In this issue

 

Featured Journal Articles

The Physics Teacher

 

The Two-Bullet Problem with Constant Magnitude Drag Force

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American Journal of Physics

 

Teaching of the harmonic oscillator damped by a constant force: The use of analogy and experiments

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