Awards And Certifications From April 18

Kettering University Wins Physics Awards: Kettering University's Department of Physics was one of four universities nationwide to receive this year's prestigious Award for Improving Undergraduate Physics from the American Physical Society. The award was presented to Bahram Roughani, department head and professor of physics at Kettering University, at the award ceremony during the APS April National Meeting in Denver, Colo., on April 13. Also receiving the award this year were Physics programs at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse and Colorado School of Mines. Only four other colleges have received the award in its history – University of California at Berkeley, University of Illinois, Utah State University and Mount Holyoke College. Kettering University's physics program was launched in 1995. Roughani credits several factors to the program's strength and immense popularity – Kettering has tripled its number of physics majors since 2002. Kettering's physics program was developed, it was done so with industry in mind. Roughani noted that the curriculum was developed based on feedback from 450 of the leading companies in the country and tailored to their responses that acoustics, optics and materials or 'industrial physics' were the biggest keys to professional success. The curriculum continues to evolve and meet those industry needs because the assessment process in Physics includes feedback from students on both their co-op and thesis experiences and from corporate partners who work with Kettering University students. Data driven changes in Kettering University's Physics courses, curriculum and program are based on a robust continuous improvement plan that is led by faculty based on feedback from Physics alumni, students and co-op partners. This has led to the Kettering University Applied Physics degree to being the first such program in the nation to be reviewed for ABET accreditation under the Applied Science Accreditation Commission while Kettering University's Engineering Physics has been among only selected programs in the nation reviewed under the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET.