Sean P. Robinson2024 National Board of Directors Election Candidate for Four Year College Representative

Sean P. Robinson

Current Position
Lecturer, Associate Director of the Helena Foundation Physics Junior Laboratory, and Senior Manager of the Physics Education Group
Department of Physics , Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 4-362, Cambridge, MA 02139
spatrick@mit.edu

Education

  • Ph.D. Physics (Theoretical Particle Physics), MIT 2005
  • S.B. Physics, MIT 1999

Professional Experience

  • Lecturer, MIT Physics (2009-present)
    • Associate Director of the MIT Helena Foundation Physics Junior Laboratory (2014-present)  
    • Senior Manager of the MIT Physics Education Group (2022-present)
  • Academic Administrator, MIT Physics (2008-2009)
  • Technical Instructor, MIT Physics (2007-2008)

Honors and Recognitions

  • Jonathan F. Reichert and Barbara Wolff-Reichert Award for Excellence in Advanced Laboratory Instruction (2022, American Physical Society)
  • Member of AAPT Area Committee of the Year (2019 & 2021, Committee on Laboratories)
  • Buechner Faculty Teaching Prize (2012, MIT Dept of Physics)

Memberships

  • American Association of Physics Teachers
  • Advanced Laboratory Physics Association
  • American Physical Society
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science

AAPT Activities

  • Area Committee on Laboratories (2019-2022), including Task Force on Mission Statement and Task Force on Technical Competencies
  • Physics Teaching Standards Working Group (2021)
  • Assisted with off-site workshop venue coordination for Summer Meeting 2024

Other Professional Activities

  • As Treasurer of the Advanced Laboratory Physics Association (ALPhA) in 2018-2024, I led ALPhA through a major corporate restructuring of the society's non-profit legal status, financial practices, and a complete rewriting of the by-laws.
  • Worked with ALPhA to help lead two "equipment giveaway" events (2014 and 2017) of surplus lab equipment from Kimball Physics, Inc. to needy physics education programs across the US.
  • Member of the Reichert Award Selection Committee (2022) for the American Physical Society.
  • Co-Vice Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Physics Research and Education (2018)
  • External reviewer for numerous physics journals and programs, including the Cambridge A-Level and AS-Level Physics curricula and exams (2018)

Candidate Statement

The AAPT faces a number of near-term and long-term challenges: strained finances for both the organization as a whole and for its flagship annual conferences; a generationally shrinking membership as new professionals question the relevance of professional associations for their careers; demographics in our profession that diverge from that of the society it serves. These issues and more lead to difficult questions about both the survivability and the relevancy of our organization as it approaches the start of its second century. Nevertheless, AAPT's vision for "a future where the understanding of physics --- driven by a vibrant, diverse, and empowered community of educators, researchers, and learners --- increasingly benefits the world" remains a critical societal goal, and its mission "to advance physics teaching and learning ..." remains well worth pursuing despite the challenges. I am proud to be a member of an organization like AAPT that pursues these important goals without shying away from the challenging process of organizational change.

This is why I am excited to be a candidate for AAPT's Board of Directors in the role of At Large Four Year College Representative. While the challenges are great, I feel that my previous experiences in helping organizations transform to better meet their mission could be useful to the Board. Moreover, we already have what I believe to be the roadmap to AAPT's future: the 2022 Strategic Plan. Our profession's value of equitable inclusion which authentically reflects the diversity of our communities is brilliantly woven into the document, and I fully support the strategies listed there for developing a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion. I also strongly support those strategies that expand the reach of the AAPT community, especially among high school teachers. Even if AAPT membership among high school teachers were to remain low, establishing AAPT's high-quality resources as the go-to solution for this most critical demographic of physics teachers and students would go a long way towards realizing the future referenced in AAPT's vision statement.

As mentioned above, I have previous experience in helping organizations navigate difficult challenges. As an Officer in the Advanced Lab Physics Association (ALPhA) during a time period that bracketed the global pandemic, we managed to actually grow our membership and expand the footprint of our relevance in the physics education community despite the unprecedent challenges which sank many other small non-profit organizations. Moreover, during this same period, I also helped lead ALPhA's complete restructuring as a legally incorporated 501(c)(3) charity with all-new by-laws and financial procedures, all without compromising the educational mission. Closer to home, I have also led the effort over the past several years to organize our Physics Department's staff of more than a dozen non-tenure-track physics education professionals from a collection of ad-hoc hires into a formal Physics Education Group with a leadership structure recognized by our institutional bureaucracy for purposes of personnel, budget, and so on, with new procedures for long-term promotion and retention of staff. While this process of organizational change is ongoing, the amazing power of gathering a group skilled and caring physics education colleagues into a coordinated unit has already been transformational to our work. Harnessing that same power between members of AAPT will be the engine that drives our organization into its next century.

The keys to organizational change are listening, perseverance, and having a good plan. As a member of the Board, I would conduct myself with the first two elements, and the third has already been accomplished in the 2022 Strategic Plan. I'm optimistic that we have everything we need for an educationally vibrant and financially stable AAPT in the near future. I hope I can be a part of helping us get there!