Southeastern Professor receives national award

Southeastern Louisiana University Physics Professor Rhett Allain has been recognized by the American Association of Physics Teachers with the 2026 Richtmyer Memorial Lecture Award. AAPT is the premier international organization for physics educators, physicists, and industrial scientists—with members worldwide.

Allain was recognized, “For his exceptional ability to communicate physics to broad and diverse audiences, his innovative use of books, digital media, and public platforms to inspire curiosity about how the world works, and his sustained commitment to mentoring teachers and students while advancing excellence in teaching and scholarship.”

A member of AAPT since 1997, Allain has served locally in the Louisiana section and nationally as a section representative, membership and benefits committee member, and on the annual meetings planning subcommittee.

Allain has a popular blog at WIRED.com that focuses on explaining physics concepts to the general public. For more complicated topics with more detail, he also posts regularly on Medium.com. Supplementing his blogs, he creates short form science videos on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

The author of four books, Allain communicates physics ideas to the public and to physics students and teachers. He continues to emphasize the idea of model building in science and uses python and video analysis to visualize and model the physical world.