Karl C. Mamola—The Oersted Medal
Established in 1936, the Oersted Medal recognizes those who have had an outstanding, widespread, and lasting impact on the teaching of physics.
Karl C. Mamola has been named as the 2015 recipient of the prestigious Oersted Medal, in recognition of his significant contributions to physics education through his roles as editor of The Physics Teacher and as mentor for students, prospective authors, column editors, reviewers, and others.
Mamola earned his BS in physics in 1963 at the Stony Brook University, his MS in physics in 1965 at Florida State University and his PhD in physics in 1973 at Dartmouth College.
In 1963 Mamola began his career as Instructor of Physics at Appalachian State University. His responsibilities grew as he was promoted, first to Assistant Professor, then to Associate Professor, Chair of the Department of Physics & Astronomy (1977), and Professor (1978). He served as Department Chair for 21 years and was the recipient of a number of teaching and service awards.
Throughout his career, Mamola has touched a multitude of lives, as a physics teacher, a prolific author, a presenter at national and local meetings, as editor of the “Apparatus for Teaching Physics” column in The Physics Teacher, and as editor of The Physics Teacher, AAPT's signature publication. He consistently produced an extraordinary publication with content accessible to and usable by physics teachers at all levels.
He has always served AAPT well at the section and national levels. As an active member of the Executive Board, he was also supportive of the national officers and took an active role in working on new Association initiatives. He gave freely of his time, using his leadership and writing skills in service to the physics teaching community. Mamola's involvement in AAPT in a wide range of capacities has made it a better organization and its members more effective educators. His contributions to physics and physics teaching continue to have an outstanding and widespread impact on the teaching of physics.
Remarking on his selection for the Oersted Medal, Mamola said, “For nearly 50 years AAPT has played a critical role in my professional life. I am grateful to everyone in the physics teaching community who has supported, inspired, and befriended me throughout the years. I'm delighted and honored to have been selected as the recipient of the 2015 Oersted medal.”
Thomas L. O'Kuma—Melba Newell Phillips Medal
The Melba Newell Phillips Medal is presented to AAPT leaders who, like Melba Newell Phillips after whom the medal is named, have provided creative leadership and dedicated service that resulted in exceptional contributions to AAPT.
The Melba Newell Phillips Medal has been awarded to Thomas L. O'Kuma, Physics Faculty, Lee College, Baytown, TX, in recognition of his creative leadership and dedicated service that have resulted in exceptional contributions within AAPT.
O'Kuma received both his BS degree in physics and mathematics from Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA, as well as his MS in physics (research field, statistical mechanics). He did additional graduate work in physics and mathematics at the University of Florida and the University of Houston Clear Lake.
A Life Member of AAPT, O'Kuma has served in numerous roles for AAPT, including the role of AAPT President. He has served on 13 AAPT committees, including the Two Year College Committee, Nominating Committee (chair in 2007), the Executive Officer Search Committee, the TPT Editor Search Committee (chair in 2000), AAPT Council (chair in 1999), and numerous review committees and area committees. Most recently, he completed a term as the chair of the Meetings Committee when the parameters for the committee were being refined and its future was not clear. Tom led AAPT through the transition from meetings for a smaller organization to the recognition that the current size requires considerable coordination to manage the logistics of a campus meeting. The success of the recent summer meetings in Philadelphia and Minneapolis and the success of the new format for the winter meeting has its origin in the work O'Kuma did with the Meetings Committee.
The Texas Section has benefited from his leadership as well. O'Kuma has provided professional development workshops at essentially every one of the twice-yearly meetings. He has served in all of the Section officer roles, including Section Representative to AAPT, and is currently organizing the Texas Section spring meeting, highlighting the contributions of under-represented members of the community.
He has been a driving force for enhancing the educational opportunities for students in K-12 and the two-year colleges, presenting at the New Faculty Experience for Two Year College Faculty and serving on the steering committee for the TYC21 Project, as Principal Investigator of the SPIN-UP/TYC Project. As a PI of multiple grants, his focus has always been on the teaching aspect of physics and the research behind effective teaching strategies. He has co-authored several books based on PER. O'Kuma served as a rural PTRA site coordinator for nearly 10 years and worked side by side with the PTRAs leading the sessions. He has influenced and mentored thousands of teachers in Texas and across the United States.
Homer L. Dodge Citations for Distinguished Service to AAPT
The Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT members recognized AAPT members for their exceptional contributions to the association at the national, section, or local levels.
David Cook
David Cook, retired Professor of Physics and Philetus E. Sawyer Professor of Science, Lawrence University, served as AAPT Vice President (2008), President-Elect (2009), President (2010), and Past President (2011). Currently, he chairs the AAPT Meetings Committee. Cook earned his BS in physics at Rensselaer. Both his AM and PhD in physics were earned at Harvard. While serving on the Physics faculty at Lawrence University, Appleton, WI, he taught nearly every undergraduate physics course. His focus, however, was on computation in the upper-level curriculum. He served several terms as Physics Department Chair. His AAPT service includes more than four decades of meeting attendance, leadership on at least eight committees, and representing AAPT on the AIP Governing Board. While serving on the AAPT Executive Board, he generated detailed manuals for members of the presidential chain, and he took on the task of formatting and indexing the 250-page Executive Board Handbook compiled over several years by the Governance Review Committee. Another enduring legacy of his service is PAC Tools. Cook was the impetus and leader of the advisory group that worked with staff to develop AAPT's online program for planning meetings from abstract submission through the paper sort, to export into the final meeting program.
Andrew Gavrin
Andrew Gavrin, Associate Professor and Chair of the Physics Department at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), is currently serving as AAPT Chair of the Committee on Physics in Undergraduate Education, as a member of the Undergraduate Curriculum Task Force, and as a member of the Programs Committee. He earned his BS in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Both his MA and PhD in physics were earned at Johns Hopkins University. His research interests are in Physics Education and Magnetic Materials. His AAPT service includes roles on the Committee on Educational Technologies (2005–2006), the Nominating Committee (2008), the Advisory Committee for Photo Contest (2009–present) and Video Contest (2009–2010), the Special Projects and Philanthropy Committee (2012–2014), and the Committee on Instructional Media (2000–2002). An AAPT member since 1997, Gavrin has been a fixture at AAPT meetings for almost 20 years. During that time, he has given numerous presentations. His committee service has given him the opportunity to organize numerous sessions contributing to the overall quality of the meetings.
Elizabeth C. (Tommi) Holsenbeck
Tommi Holsenbeck, Physics Specialist for Alabama Science In Motion, Alabama State University Region, 2006–2014, is recognized for her work with PTRA and the AAPT High School Physics Photo Contest. Holsenbeck earned her BS at Auburn University and her Certification in Comprehensive Science from the University of Alabama. She began working as a high school physics teacher in 1997 at Jefferson Davis High School in Montgomery, AL. Joining AAPT during her first year teaching, she was mentored by members in the Alabama Section. Additionally, she accepted opportunities to develop as a teacher through PTRA, PTRA for Rural Workshop at Auburn University 2005–2007, PRISMS (Physics Resources and Instructional Strategies to Motivate Students)–Trainer 1988–1993, C3P (Comprehensive Conceptual Curriculum in Physics)– Trainer 1996–1999, Labnet (TERC)–Mentor 1990–1994, ASPIRE (Alabama Supercomputer Program to Inspire Computational Research in Education) where she was Regional Coordinator 1995–2002, and PS4ET (Physical Science for Elementary Teachers) Trainer, funded by Alabama Commission on Higher Education Eisenhower Grant, 1992–1995. Her service to AAPT includes Secretary/Treasurer of the Alabama Section 2007–2015, Coordinator of the High School Physics Photo Contest 2011–2015, Chair of the Committee on Physics in High Schools 2013–2015, Friend of the Committee on Educational Technologies, and Friend of the Pre-High School Committee.
Elisha Huggins
Elisha Huggins was an early pioneer in the use of computers as physics instructional tools. He has authored a number of introductory physics textbooks including Physics 2000, which promotes the teaching of special relativity in the first week of an introductory physics course. Professor Huggins is also the developer of the award-winning software program MacScope, which allows a computer to be used as a powerful storage oscilloscope. He has demonstrated the features of MacScope, as well as Physics 2000, in commercial workshops at numerous national AAPT meetings helping physics teachers make modern physics a part of introductory physics courses. Huggins has taught Physics at Dartmouth College since 1961. He was an undergraduate at MIT and got his PhD at Caltech. His PhD thesis was supervised by Richard Feynman, and in it he found a number of terms representing the lack of uniqueness of energy-momentum tensors. The scalar field term, which now plays a major role in conformally invariant field theories, was named the “Huggins term” by Murray Gell-Mann. His AAPT service includes contributions to American Journal of Physics and The Physics Teacher, commercial workshops at Summer and Winter meetings where he presented his innovative teaching ideas, and Sustaining Membership in the Association since 2000. He currently serves as a member of the editorial board of The Physics Teacher.