Bruce Mason 2012 Election Bio

Bruce Mason

Bruce Mason, 2012 candidate for AAPT Secretary.Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Oklahoma
Norman, OK  73019
bmason@ou.edu

Education
B.A. Oberlin College, 1980, Physics, with High Honors.
M.S., University of Maryland, Physics, 1984.
Ph.D. University of Maryland, 1985, Physics, Sankar Das Sarma, advisor.

Professional Experience
Post-Doctoral Research Associate, University of Illinois, 1985 – 1988
Visiting Research Assistant Professor, University of Illinois, 1988 – 1989
Assistant Professor, University of Oklahoma, 1989 – 1995
Associate Professor, University of Oklahoma, 1995 – Present
Director, ComPADRE, 2002 – Present
Regent’s Award for Superior Teaching, University of Oklahoma, 2001
General Education Teaching Award, University of Oklahoma, 2005
MERLOT Distinguished Service Award, 2007
Longmire Prize for Scholarship of Teaching, College of Arts & Sciences, Univ. of OK, 2008
Distinguished Service Citation, AAPT, 2009
American Physical Society Fellow, 2010

Memberships
American Association of Physics Teachers
American Physical Society
National Science Teachers Association
AAPT/APS Activities
AAPT Committee on Educational Technology, Member, 2006 – 2009
AAPT Online Publications Editor/Member Publications Committee, 2004 – Present
APS Forum on Education, Secretary/Treasurer, 2005 – 2010

Commentary
The AAPT is an organization that relies heavily on the engagement and activities of its members, usually as volunteers. To support its volunteers, the AAPT must be as open as possible, providing communication channels and access to news and information about association activities. The AAPT staff has been working diligently over the past few years leveraging web technologies to improve communication. This will be an ongoing effort as the social technologies available through the internet are ever-changing. Helping with this work is an important role for the AAPT Secretary as the recorder and disseminator of AAPT news. The impact of technology on the publications of the AAPT is another issue of importance for the Secretary as Chair of the Publications Committee. This is an exciting time for publishers because of the new types of content that can be delivered and the new platforms for publication consumers. This is also a disruptive time for exactly the same reasons and the resulting issues of delivery methods and formats, archiving, and open access. Engaging all parts of the AAPT to address these changes will be a task for the Secretary for the foreseeable future.