AAPT Honors Four at New York Meeting

The American Association of Physics Teachers bestowed honors on four individuals at its 123rd meeting, held in Rochester in July.

The 2001 Robert A. Millikan Award was given to Sallie A. Watkins, a professor emeritus of physics and the former dean of the college of science and mathematics at the University of Southern Colorado in Pueblo. She received the award in recognition of her “ability to identify and solve major problems in physics education and her track record in supporting those of us also working on these very difficult problems.”

Virginia Trimble, a professor of physics at the University of Maryland, College Park, and the University of California, Irvine, received the 2001 Klopsteg Memorial Lecture Award. Trimble, who was cited for her leadership, her contributions to the literature, and her dedication as a teacher, gave a talk entitled “Cosmology: Man’s Place in the Universe.”

Robert Erlich, a professor of physics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, received the Excellence in Undergraduate Physics Teaching Award for his contributions in “teaching undergraduate physics, in the use of technology, in making physics accessible to the public, and in analyzing the issues facing undergraduate physics.”

The 2001 Excellence in Pre-College Physics Teaching Award went to Clarence Bakken, a teacher at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California. Bakken was recognized for his achievements over 30 years of teaching physics and working with physics teachers and his leadership in the physics teaching community, including his activities as an apparatus developer, writer, and presenter of workshops.