2024 Medal Winners | francais

PRESS RELEASE / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The 2024 CAP Medal for Excellence in Teaching Undergraduate Physics

is awarded to

Nikolas Provatas

"I am humbled to be awarded the 2024 CAP Medal for Excellence in Teaching Undergraduate Physics. I am gratified by the realization that my peers value my efforts to create new environments wherein students can take agency of their own learning to better understand physics concepts." winner citation

The Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) is pleased to announce that the 2024 CAP Medal for Excellence in Teaching Undergraduate Physics is awarded to Nikolas Provatas, McGill University, in recognition of his ongoing commitment to excellence in undergraduate course instruction, mentorship of undergraduate research, involvement in physics education research, and outreach activities. announcement

Professor Nikolas Provatas is a dedicated educator who has taught a wide variety of courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels at both McGill and McMaster Universities over the past 22 years. Most notably, for the last several years he has taught an introductory physics courses at the freshman level. His student evaluations highlight his tireless dedication to helping students learn, and his use of approaches such as just-in-time learning, peer-instruction and inquiry-based learning through small-group tutorials and projects. He has won teaching awards at the departmental and regional levels. He holds a Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Computational Materials Science. He is also the Scientific Director of the McGill High Performance Computing Centre. From 2001-2012, he was a professor of Materials Science and Engineering at McMaster University, and Chair of the department from 2009-2011.

His research uses high-performance computing, dynamic adaptive mesh refinement techniques, condensed matter physics and experimentation to understand the fundamental origins of nano-microstructure pattern formation in non-equilibrium phase transformations, and the role of microstructure in materials processes. He has made many scientific contributions to the understanding of length scale selection in dendritic solidification and meta-stable phase formation in solid-state transformations in metal alloys. nominator citation

ABOUT the Medal

The CAP Medal for Excellence in Teaching honours faculty members who have a comprehensive knowledge and deep understanding of their subject and who possess the ability to communicate their knowledge and understanding in such a way as to lead their students to high academic achievement in physics. This medal was introduced in 1996. 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

joint description

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For more information, please contact: Mrs. Francine Ford, Executive Director Canadian Association of Physicists Tel: 343-361-3326 E-mail: execdir@cap.ca www.cap.ca