David Terry Kagan
David T. Kagan - July 2024
Kagan first became a member of AAPT in 1981. Although he was best known for doing physics of baseball workshops at AAPT and CSTA conferences, he also served as a Reviewer American Journal of Physics and The Physics Teacher He also was a member of the Editorial Board of The Physics Teacher and authored several rticles regarding the physics of baseball in The Physics Teacher. Kagan also served on the committee on Graduate Education in Physics and in the Northern California/Nevada Section.
He graduated from CSU Hayward (now East Bay) with a BS in Physics in 1977. He earned a Ph.D. in Atomic Physics at UC Berkeley in 1981. He started as physics faculty at California State University (CSU) Chico in the same year.
Kagan served as CSU's Chair of the Department of Physics from 1998-2003, the founding Chair of the Department of Science Education from 2009-2012, and the Assistant Dean of the College of Natural Sciences from 2011-2012. As the Faculty Advisor of the Society of Physics Students for over twenty-five years, his students earned national recognition twenty times as an Outstanding Chapter. His service with the Society of Physics Students (SPS) was also honored on campus with the Myles Tracy Outstanding Student Organization Advisor Award twice, as well as the SPS National Outstanding Chapter Advisor Award. He also played the key role in establishing a degree program specifically designed to train high school physics teachers. It was one of the first in the country.
Kagan officially retired 2014 but remained active as a physics educator.
Contact
David Wolfe
Director of Communications
- dwolfe@aapt.org
- (301) 209-3322
- (301) 209-0845 (Fax)
- https://www.aapt.org
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- July 3, 2024 - 2024 PA/Sea Change Award
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