2021 Medal Winners | francais

PRESS RELEASE / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The 2021 Allan Carswell Physics Educator Scholarship

is awarded to

Michelle Sullivan

"I am honored to be selected to receive the Allan Carswell Physics Educator Scholarship and to have the support of the Canadian Association of Physicists as I pursue my bachelor of education degree. I would also like to thank the Carswell Family Foundation for their generous endowment. I look forward to working in a classroom and inspiring the next generation of physicists." winner quote

The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) is pleased to announce that the 2021 Allan Carswell Physics Educator Scholarship is awarded to Michelle Sullivan, University of Alberta, in recognition of to recognize her strong academic record and passion for teaching physics as demonstrated by her outstanding work as a teaching assistant and outreach activities. Ms. Sullivan takes "great personal satisfaction from sharing physics..." and is keen to point out that "physics is at play in [our] everyday activities". announcement

Michelle completed a BSc honours and a MSc in physics at University of Alberta. Her favourite part of her graduate degree was working as a teaching assistant in first and second year labs. She has TAed an introductory lab for physical science majors in a calculus based physics course as well as a second year experimental physics lab for engineering students. In 2019 she won a graduate student teaching award for demonstrating excellence in teaching. She participated in the graduate teaching and learning program to learn about pedagogy and looks forward to learning more about teaching while completing the BEd after degree at the University of Alberta.

In addition to her work as a TA, she has participated in outreach efforts. This includes presenting experiments to grade twelve classes visiting the university and working with USchool, a program that brings students indigenous, rural, and inner city classes to the university for a full week. Designing presentations and hands on activities was fun and challenging, but seeing the student's reactions and watching them develop an interest in science was rewarding. Michelle enjoys sharing physics with others, and looks forward to continuing to do this as a physics teacher.

She also has experience working with children of all ages, having coached gymnastics for eight years. Michelle is excited to work in an environment where she can interact with youth everyday and be a role model for them. She wants to show her students that physics isn't as scary as it sounds, and that it can even be fun! She also looks forward to being a role model for young girls interested in STEM. nominator citation

ABOUT the Scholarship

The Allan Carswell Physics Educator Scholarships, valued at up to $5000 each, are awarded annually to one or two physics students with a strong academic record and a demonstrated passion for physics and physics pedagogy. With the help of the Allan Carswell Physics Educator Scholarship, the winners will pursue a career in physics education at the secondary school level.

The Allan Carswell Physics Educator Scholarships were set up by the CAP and the CAP Foundation with a generous endowment from the Carswell Family Foundation to raise awareness at all levels of society that physics education is a vital, highly valued and rewarding career path while reinforcing the fact that a major in physics is valuable for many careers, not just research. Educators at all levels are crucial in that they must provide students of all genders and backgrounds with the passion, confidence and science literacy that will inspire them to seek out and succeed in gaining a physics education at the university level. These scholarships were first awarded in 2020. medal description

ABOUT the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP)

The Canadian Association of Physicists, founded in 1945, is a professional association representing over 1600 individual physicists and physics students in Canada, the U.S. and overseas, as well as a number of Corporate, Institutional, and Departmental Members. In addition to its learned activities, the CAP, through its charitable arm - the CAP Foundation, also undertakes a number of activities intended to encourage students to pursue a career in physics. cap description

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For more information, please contact:

Mrs. Francine Ford, Executive Director
Canadian Association of Physicists
Tel: 613-562-5614
E-mail: execdir@cap.ca
www.cap.cacap contact and joint contact