2024 National Board of Directors Election Candidate for AAPT Secretary

Bruce MasonBruce Mason

Current Position:
Retired

Education:
BA (Physics) Oberlin College, 1980;
MS (Physics) University of Maryland, 1984;
PhD (Physics) University of Maryland, 1985

Professional Experience:

  • Assoc. Professor, University of Oklahoma (1995 – 2024);
  • Asst. Professor, University of Oklahoma (1989 – 1995);
  • Visiting Research Assistant Professor, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois (1988 – 1989),
  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Illinois (1985 – 1988)

Honors and Recognition:

  • Fellow, AAPT (2014);
  • Fellow, APS (2010);
  • Distinguished Service Citation, AAPT (2009);
  • Longmire Prize for Scholarship of Teaching, OU College of Arts & Sciences (2008);
  • MERLOT Distinguished Service Award (2007);
  • General Education Teaching Award, OU (2005);
  • Regent’s Award for Superior Teaching, OU (2001)

Memberships

  • AAPT,
  • APS (Lifetime member),
  • NSTA

AAPT Activities:

  • Electronics Publications Editor (2005 – Present);
  • Chair/Vice Chair, Committee on Physics in Undergraduate Education (2022 – 2024);
  • Member: CPUE, CET, CPGE

Other Professional Activities:

  • Secretary/Treasurer, APS Forum on Education (2006 – 2011);
  • Editor, MERLOT Physics (1999 – 2010);
  • International Program Committee, Multimedia Physics for Teaching and Learning;
  • NSF Reviewer and Committee of Visitors.

Candidate Statement:
My engagement with the AAPT, and a career change, began when I was invited to be part of an NSF Digital Library proposal; a joint effort of the AAPT, APS, AAS, and AIP. In the more than twenty years since then, I have been continually impressed by the generosity and desire to help other teachers of the AAPT community. A central goal of the Association is to facilitate the sharing of resources, research results, and best practices for physics educators. As the chair of the AAPT Publications Committee, the AAPT Secretary plays a crucial role in continuing and expanding the ways in which the AAPT and its members can share expertise in physics education, and science education more broadly. I have many years of experience on the Pubs committee.

The decline in membership is one of the biggest challenges facing the Association. The AAPT Board’s recent updates to the organization’s Mission, Strategic Plan, and DEI Strategy are all important steps in addressing this challenge. These documents provide measurable steps for making all AAPT members, and our potential members, feel welcome, encouraged, and enabled to contribute. It will be important for the AAPT Board of Directors and all the rest of us to act on these stated goals, monitor our progress, and adapt and update as necessary to meet our challenges.

The AAPT has been a professional home for me for many years. With my recent retirement from teaching at the University of Oklahoma, I plan on using my time to help the AAPT succeed, perhaps as Secretary but certainly by engaging with the efforts of the Association.