I’m in Washington DC for a very short time. 16 hours or so. I’d have come for longer, but I’ve got some parenting to get back to. It feels a bit rude to come to the American Association of Physics Teachers annual meeting for such a short time, especially because the whole mission of teaching physics in all the myriad ways is very dear to my heart, and here is a massive group of people devoted to gathering about it.
It also feels a bit rude because I’m here to pick up an award. (Here’s the announcement that I forgot to post some months back.)
I meant what I said in the press release: It certainly is an honour to be recognised with the Klopsteg Memorial Lecture Award (for my work in science outreach/engagemnet), and it’ll be a delight to speak to the assembled audience tomorrow and accept the award.
Speaking in an unvarnished way for a moment, I and many others who do a lot of work to engage the public with science have, over the years, had to deal with not being taken seriously by many of our colleagues. Indeed, suffering being dismissed as not being “serious enough” about our other areas of work. This is because there’s a long tradition of “serious” scientists looking down their noses at the mission. Attitudes have got better in recent years, but the lasting damage was done some time back. So it is nice to know that there are some organisations who recognise this kind of work, and indeed that someone (or more than one) called attention to my particular bit of effort in this area. So, thanks, my peers in the teaching of physics.
As I’ve said, attitudes have changed a lot and now there’s a whole new generation of people who do engagement right alongside their other scholarship without fear of being considered misguided in their efforts. So if you’re a younger person in the field doing this sort of work, please don’t be put off by the previous paragraph! Keep doing what you’re doing, and connecting to others who care about the mission. It is going to make the world a better place. I’m sure of that.
-cvj
P.S. “DC Moments…” It was plural. More about the other another time…
Thank you for this post! I’m a young scientist very interested in outreach, and I feel even more inspired to pursue that alongside my research — we will slowly turn the tide. Congratulations on your award!