Plenary Address 2012

Eric Mazur
Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics, Area Dean for Applied Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Eric Mazur is a prominent physicist and educator at Harvard University, known for his work in experimental ultrafast optics and condensed matter physics, and a national leader in science education. Born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, he received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Leiden University in the Netherlands.

In addition to his work in optical physics, Dr. Mazur is interested in education, science policy, outreach, and the public perception of science. He believes that better science education for all—not just science majors—is vital for continued scientific progress. To that end, he has devoted part of his research effort to finding verifiable ways to improve science education. In 1990 he began developing Peer Instruction, a method for teaching large lecture classes interactively.  Mazur's teaching method has developed a large following, both nationally and internationally, and has been adopted across many science disciplines.

Dr. Mazur has served on numerous national scientific committees and councils, is author or co-author of 250 scientific publications and 12 patents. He has also written on education, and is the author of Peer Instruction: A User's Manual (Prentice Hall, 1997), a book that explains how to teach large lecture classes interactively. In 2006, he helped produce the award-winning DVD Interactive Teaching.