Geraldine Cochran to Receive 2019 Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT

2019 Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT Awarded to Geraldine Cochran

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEGeraldine Cochran

College Park, MD, April 8, 2019—AAPT has announced that Geraldine Cochran, will receive the association's Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT during the 2019 Summer Meeting in Provo, Utah.

Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in the School of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Rutgers University, Cochran is a physics education researcher. She earned her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction with a cognate in physics and her Ed.S. in science education with a specialization in teacher preparation from Florida International University in Miami, FL and her M.A.T. with a specialization in secondary school physics, her B.S. degree in physics and her B.S. degree in mathematics from Chicago State University in Chicago, IL.

She has been a member of AAPT since 2003 and has been attending meetings since she was an undergraduate. Geraldine’s committee work with AAPT is extensive. She has served on the Committee on Diversity, the Committee on Women in Physics, and currently serves on the Committee on International Physics Education. She has served as Chair of the Committee on Diversity and the Committee on Women in Physics. She has also served on the Programs Committee and Nominating Committee and currently serves on the Bauder Fund Committee. She has organized sessions and workshops that have focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion and because of her expertise in this area the AAPT community looks to her as a leader. Cochran served as a guest editor of the 2017 special theme issue of The Physics Teacher on Race in Physics Teaching.

On her selection for the Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT, Cochran said, “I am grateful for the opportunity to be in service to the organization that I consider my professional home, AAPT. In AAPT, I have found a community interested in improving physics teaching and education by addressing issues of inequity and inequality, and promoting social justice in physics. I have learned a great deal from the mentors, colleagues, and friends that I have met through this organization. Attendance at the AAPT National meetings has been a major part of my professional development over the last 16 years. My membership in AAPT has served me well. I look forward to continuing to serve in this organization, alongside my colleagues and friends.”

About the Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT
Established in 1953 and renamed in recognition of AAPT founder Homer L. Dodge in 2012, the Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT is presented to members in recognition of their exceptional contributions to the association at the national, sectional, or local level.

About AAPT
AAPT is an international organization for physics educators, physicists, and industrial scientists—with members worldwide. Dedicated to enhancing the understanding and appreciation of physics through teaching, AAPT provides awards, publications, and programs that encourage teaching practical application of physics principles, support continuing professional development, and reward excellence in physics education. AAPT was founded in 1930 and is headquartered in the Ameriaan Center for Physics in College Park, Maryland.

For more information: Contact David Wolfe, Director of Communications, dwolfe@aapt.org, (301) 209-3322, (301) 209-0845 (Fax), www.aapt.org.