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Falk to receive MRS Impact Award for STEM education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2018

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MRS Bulletin , Volume 43 , Issue 3: Materials for Energy Harvesting , March 2018 , pp. 231
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Copyright © Materials Research Society 2018 

Michael Falk, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University (JHU), will receive the Materials Research Society (MRS) Impact Award during the 2018 MRS Spring Meeting “for broadened participation in STEM education in Baltimore elementary schools; for bringing attention to professional and educational climate issues faced by LGBTQ students and researchers; and for pioneered research-based methodologies for integrating computation into the Materials Science and Engineering curriculum.” This award honors outstanding individuals who have displayed excellence in areas of science communication, education, advancing diversity, mentoring, or community engagement, which reflect the Society’s pursuit to advance materials science and technology to improve the quality of life.

Falk is working to develop techniques that aim to extend the time scales accessible with simulation. These methods will also be extended to inherently nonequilibrium simulations. He anticipates that the simulations will enable the analysis of transitions in frictional response with respect to sliding rate and temperature.

Falk is the head of STEM Achievement in Baltimore Elementary Schools, a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded outreach partnership between JHU and Baltimore City Schools. This $7.4 million outreach effort to students in the third through fifth grades has altered the course of STEM instruction in Baltimore schools by integrating an innovative curriculum, teaching professional development, conducting out-of-school-time investigations, and engaging the community.

Falk has served in many capacities on campus and nationally as a champion for LGBTQ equality in the materials science disciplines. He is an advisor to both the Diverse Sexuality and Gender Alliance (a JHU LGBTQ undergraduate organization) and the JHU chapter of Out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. For this service, he received a Diversity Recognition Award from the John Hopkins Institutions Diversity Leadership Council in 2011.

Falk received his BA degree in physics from Johns Hopkins University and his PhD degree in physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received the NOGLSTP Educator Award, the Jon R. and Beverly S. Holt Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the NSF Career Award. He has written several articles and presentations, and has received extensive funding for materials research and outreach and education efforts.

Falk will be recognized at the Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, April 4 at the PCC.