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January 4–7, 2014
Homer L. Dodge Citations for Distinguished Service to AAPT
Jan Mader
Jan Mader
Jan Mader
has been a physics instructor in the Great Falls Public Schools, where she has also taught physical
science, chemistry, and mathematics, for more than 30 years. She has been one of the catalysts for increasing
high school enrollment in physics in the United States for the past 15 years. It is no understatement to say that
due to her work with the PTRA program, Prisms, and other physics education initiatives, Jan is probably the
best known and most widely respected high school physics teacher in the Northwest United States. Her will-
ingness to share her expertise has helped develop a cadre of new teachers that will continue to improve physics
education in the United States. Her service to AAPT has included service as President of the Montana Section,
as a Physics Teaching Resource Agent (PTRA) since 2002, membership on the Committee on Physics in Pre-
High School Education, Committee on Science Education for the Public, the AAPT Nominating Committee,
and the Committee on Physics in High Schools, which she has chaired twice. She was the first female recipient
of the AAPT Excellence in Pre College Physics Teaching Award and co-recipient of American Physical Society
(APS) 2011 Excellence in Physics Education Award given to PTRA “for providing peer-led professional devel-
opment for 25 years to more than 5000 physics and physical science teachers nationwide through a network of
more than 500 master teachers.”
Taha Mzoughi
Gabriel C. Spalding
Tuesday, January 7 • 11–11:30 a.m. • Grand Ballroom B
The Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT was established in 1953, was renamed in 2012 to recognize
the foundational service and contributions of Homer Levi Dodge, AAPT’s first president. The Homer L. Dodge Citation for
Distinguished Service to AAPT recognizes AAPT members for their exceptional contributions to the association at the national,
section, or local level.
Taha Mzoughi
Taha Mzoughi
is Professor of Physics at Kennesaw State University. He earned his PhD in Physics from the
University of South Carolina, Columbia in 1990. He is devoted to the cause of physics literacy and has been
energetically working in physics education for the last two decades. His experience covers both high school
physics teaching and university teaching. Before moving to the Atlanta area as a faculty member at Kennesaw
State, he was the co-PI of the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded “WebTOP” project which involved
3D interactive simulations of optical phenomena at the Mississippi State University. Taha has been a long-time
member of AAPT and served as a member of the Committee on Educational Technologies, which he chaired
in 2010-2011 and the Committee on Research in Physics Education. He worked with ComPADRE for which
he helped start The PhysicsSource, the collection for undergraduate physics teaching. He also served in the
Mississippi Association of Physicists, the Mississippi section of AAPT. Upon moving to Atlanta, he became
an integral part of the Southern Atlantic Coast Section-AAPT serving as the webmaster and, most recently as
president of this section. He is also very involved with the Metropolitan Atlanta Physics Teacher Group. He has
been the most involved with both pre-service and in-service physics high school teachers and this is, perhaps,
the greatest need to promote sustainable physics literacy in our society.
Gabriel C. Spalding
Gabriel C. Spalding
is Professor of Physics at Illinois Wesleyan University, where his recent work has utilized
holographically textured fields to trap and manipulate matter. Besides being a past member and Chair of the
AAPT Committee on Laboratories, he has been active on multiple AAPT committees as either a commit-
tee member or friend of the committee. He has been an organizer or contributor to a session at nearly every
AAPT semi-annual national meeting for years. He has also been active behind the scenes and on task forces
and subcommittees, and served on the AAPT Nominating Committee during 2012-13. His time and energy
support advances in physics education and lab education in particular. In July 2012, he chaired the conference
on laboratory instruction Beyond the First Year (thereby introducing the “BFY” acronym) at the University of
Pennsylvania and Drexel University. This was an extremely unusual opportunity for hands-on exposure to a
broad assortment of contemporary instructional labs appropriate to Modern Physics Labs, Electronics, Optics,
Advanced Labs, as well as key instructional labs in Statistical Physics, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics,
Quantum Mechanics, etc.
Homer L. Dodge
Lee Trampleasure
Lee Trampleasure
Lee Trampleasure
teaches physics and physical science at Carondelet High School in Concord, CA. A practi-
tioner of the Modeling Method of Instruction and an experienced Modeling Workshop leader, he uses model
construction, testing, and application in his classroom to frame student thinking and learning. He identifies his
major classroom accomplishments as integration of computers and technology in teaching, development of labs
and field trips, and integration of music and theater into course curricula. He serves as Section Representative
for the Northern California/Nevada Section. In this role he not only represents the members of his section at
AAPT National Meetings, he also serves as a valued and contributing member of the Section Representatives
group. This group is part of the AAPT Council, part of the association’s governance. He has volunteered to
assist other sections in setting up section websites. Lee has attended several National AAPT meetings and has
presented sessions and led workshops at both the local and national level. He is not only committed to teaching
physics well, he is committed to supporting his fellow physics teachers through his leadership in NCNAAPT
and mentoring new teachers.
