Eric Mazur, the Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Harvard University, will present “Confessions of a Converted Lecturer” at 9 a.m., Friday, Feb. 15, in the College of Health and Human Services, Room 155.
Mazur’s talk is the keynote for a special event being sponsored by the Center for Teaching and Learning. Interested attendees should register online for the session, which includes lunch. A separate workshop/small group activity on active learning will be at 12:30 p.m.; registration is limited to 30 participants.
After obtaining a doctoral degree in experimental physics at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands in 1981, Mazur joined Harvard University in 1982. As a researcher, he has made a number of important contributions to spectroscopy, light scattering, the interaction of ultra-short laser pulses with materials and nanophotonics.
In addition to his work in optical physics, Mazur is interested in education, science policy, outreach and the public perception of science, according to his website. He devotes part of his research group's effort to education research and finding verifiable ways to improve science education. In 1990 he began developing “Peer Instruction,” a method for teaching large lecture classes interactively. In 2006, he helped produce the award-winning DVD “Interactive Teaching.”