Raymond Smola, a 2008 graduate of our Master of Arts in Physics Education
program, recently was one of the winners for the 2010 Presidential Award for
Excellence in Teaching Mathematics and Science. This is the highest award that
a K-12 teacher can receive. The awards are announced by the White House, and
the winners visit the White House to receive their awards. Please see the UVa
announcement at http://uvatoday.org/blog/?p=1831

Smola teaches at Heidelberg High School in Heidelberg, Germany for the DOD
school. He is a typical MAPE teacher. He has a BS in chemistry, but wanted to
teach physics as well, so he spent two summers with us in 2006 and 2007 in the
MAPE program.

For more information about the MAPE program at UVa, see:

http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/outreach/ProfessionalDevelopment/mape/home.html