The William F. and Edith R. Meggers Project Award of the American Institute of Physics is a biennial award designed to fund projects for the improvement of high school physics teaching in the United States. The Award was made possible by an endowment created by the gift of a stamp and coin collection from William F. and Edith R. Meggers to the American Institute of Physics.
The application period is closed and will reopen April 1, 2025.
Nature of the award
The Award consists in monetary support. A limited number of amounts up to $25,000 are available to be awarded biennially for one or more outstanding projects in the competition.
Objective
The objective is to support projects at the high school level designed to raise the level of interest in physics and boost the quality of physics education.
Guidelines
- Preference will be given to the proposals that directly involve pre-college teachers and/or students.
- Proposed projects must be clearly directed toward accomplishing the above-specified objective.
- Proposals are invited from individuals as well as groups.
- Projects that can serve as models for others are encouraged.
- Proposals that include undergraduate student support are encouraged.
- Proposals that include collaboration with student and/or high school groups are encouraged.
- Projects that propose the use of the entire budget for the purchase or rental of equipment will be disallowed. Currently, indirect costs are not considered.
- A completed proposal will consist of: Coversheet (download pdf template), Title, Abstract, List of Personnel, Vitae, Objectives, Description of Activities, Dissemination Plan (6 or fewer pages), and Budget.
- Awarded projects deliver mandatory reports on the projects' activities.
Proposal Information
- Proposals are accepted through email.
- Proposals must consist of a single PDF document including: The provided Meggers proposal template, a cover letter (1 page max), and a proposal consisting of: Abstract (100 words or less), List of Personnel, Collaborators, Project Objectives, Description of Activities, Dissemination Plan, Related collaborations (if any), Background information (Maximum of 1 page), Detailed Budget, Up to three letters of support, and NSF style CVs for Principle Investigators (5 pages max, each).
Contact Information
Send proposals to:
Alejandro de la Puente
One Physics Ellipse
College Park, MD 20740-3843
[email protected]
Status of the award process
Submissions are accepted April 1- June 15, in alternate years.
Past Honorees
| Year | Winner | Final Project |
| 2019 | University of the Sciences in Philadelphia | Promoting Physics Research in High School Classrooms |
| 2019 | University of Central Arkansas | Conducting Physics Experiments with Smartphones |
| 2019 | Randolph College | Creating a Community of Physics Scholars |
| 2017 | Ohio State University and University of Mount Union | Bringing the Hour of Code to the High School Physics Classroom |
| 2017 | Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) | Physics Festival for Student and Teacher Teams |
| 2017 | University of the Sciences, Philadelphia, PA | Promoting research experiences in High Schools through the participation to the International Young Physicists Tournament (IYPT) |
| 2015 | Fulton Montgomery Community College | Physics of Rockets Summer Institute for High School Physics Teachers and Students |
| 2015 | Hartnell College | Salinas Airshower Learning And Discovery (SALAD) |
| 2015 | University of Texas Arlington, Lee College | Solving Mysteries of Physics Technology |
| 2013 | Avon Advanced Learning Center, Danville, IN | Taking the Power of Physics to the Next Level |
| 2013 | Carleton College, Mendota Heights, MN | Science Education Resource Center to support the Direct Measurement Video Collection |
| 2013 | SUNY-Plattsburgh University, Plattsburgh, NY | Nanotechnology Summer High School Research |
| 2013 | Tarbut V’ Torah High School, Irvine, CA | Video Professional Development for High School Physics Teachers |
| 2009 | Hope College, Holland, MI | Hope College Nuclear Forensics Workshops for High School Teachers |
| 2009 | Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA | Suitcase Lab Library |
| 2005 | The School of Galactic Radio Astronomy – Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute, Furman University, Rosman, NC | High School Physics through Radio Astronomy |
| 2005 | High School Physics through Radio Astronomy | Using Robots to Teach Beginning Physics |
| 2005 | AIMS Community College and Estes Park High School, Greeley, CO | Technical Activity Module (TAM) Documentation & Dissemination |
| 2003 | Manhattan High School, Manhattan, KS | The Thrill of Physics |
| 2003 | Colo-NESCO School District, Colo IA | Physics and Math: Modeling the Ties that Bind |
| 2002 | Virginia Tech - Blacksburg, VA | Meggers Website/SPS SOCK Internship |
| 2000 | Box Elder High School - Brigham City, UT | ADDventures in Physics |
| 2000 | New Trier High School - Winnetka, IL | The New Trier Connections Project |
| 1998 | SUNY - Buffalo, NY | Inner City High School Physics Education |
| 1998 | Murray High School - Murray, UT | Physics Camp for Young Women |
| 1998 | Muleshoe High School - Muleshoe, TX | Triboluminescent Spectroscopy |
| 1996 | University City High School | Project Pipeline |
| 1996 | Park Center High School - Brooklyn Park, MN | Expanding Physics into the Hallway |
| 1996 | Berkeley National Laboratory - Berkeley, CA | Developing a Cosmic Ray Detector |
| 1994 | Pittsburgh Area High Schools - Pittsburgh, PA | MBL Interfacing is for Everybody |
| 1994 | Clark University - Worcester, MA | Physics at Play in the Park |
| 1994 | Berkeley National Laboratory - Berkeley, CA | The ABC's of Radioactivity |
