WASHINGTON, Oct. 30, 2025 — AIP has awarded $25,000 to the PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder for the team’s proposed project, “Electricity and Magnetism with PhET Interactive Simulations: A Professional Learning Course and Community for Teachers.”
AIP’s William F. and Edith R. Meggers Project Award is a biennial recognition of projects with the goal of improving high school physics teaching in the United States. The objective of the award is to fund projects that raise the level of interest in physics and boost the quality of physics education.
“Now more than ever, impactful physics programs are crucial to keeping the physical sciences thriving,” said Michael Moloney, CEO of AIP. “The year’s winning proposal is innovative, sustainable, and replicable and directly addresses a critical need among high school teachers, providing pedagogical support and strengthening teacher confidence.”
PhET Interactive Simulations is an open educational resource that allows students to simulate science experiments online. Founded in 2002, PhET hosts more than 170 free interactive simulations in physics, chemistry, biology, earth science, and math. The simulations have also been translated into over 130 different languages.
As the Director of Global Initiatives at PhET, Rebecca Vieyra spends a lot of time building relationships with teachers. In addition to overseeing the programs, Vieyra helps secure funding. The Meggers Project Award will allow her team to expand programming and train more teachers to use PhET simulations, something they’re already doing on the ground in over 35 countries.
“I mean, it’s just a beautiful, wonderful experience: seeing the love of science and mathematics transcend borders,” she said.
The programs that Vieyra oversees are personal to her, in a way, since mentorship has had a large role in her life and career. From her physics teachers, Tom Holbrook and Carl Wenning, to Robert Hilborn, the prior Associate Executive Officer at the American Association of Physics Teachers (an AIP Member Society), to the current director of PhET, Kathy Perkins, Vieyra emphasized that her success has been directly impacted by mentors and colleagues.
“I don’t see [the grant] as just an award,” Vieyra said. “For me personally, this is a reflection of the hard work of my team.”
Vieyra is excited to use the money from the Meggers Project Award to continue to build communities of teachers who can use PhET to spread the love of the physical sciences across the world.
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ABOUT AIP
As a 501(c)(3) non-profit, AIP is a federation that advances the success of our Member Societies and an institute that engages in research and analysis to empower positive change in the physical sciences. The mission of AIP ( American Institute of Physics ) is to advance, promote, and serve the physical sciences for the benefit of humanity.
ABOUT THE AWARD
The objective of the William F. and Edith R. Meggers Project Award 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. The award is presented every two years by AIP and provides monetary support to the recipients.