JD Garcia, PhD Position: President (2009 – 2010)                Past-president (2011)                Past-elect (2008) Current Term: 2008 – 2011

Committee Chair: Awards Committee (co-chair), Executive Committee, National Communications Program Committee, National Conference Program Committee
Committee Member: Bylaws Committee, Finance & Budget Committee, Leadership Institute Committee, Public Policy Working Group

Institution: University of Arizona
Department: Physics
Position: Professor Emeritus of Physics
Field: Physics
Specialization: Theoretical Physics

A theoretical physicist specializing in the quantum description of events which involve short-time, intense interactions, as in collisions of atoms with atoms, or with surfaces, J.D. Garcia, PhD, has worked on a variety of different kinds of approaches to problems: time-dependent Hartree-Fock theory, quasi-molecular approaches, binary encounter approximations and the classical limits of quantum theory, and quantum electrodynamics effects in atoms, among others. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and was awarded the Bouchet Award by the American Physical Society for his research. His resume includes over 100 refereed and contributed papers.

Dr. Garcia was the Charter President of the National Society of Hispanic Physicists, and has been a long-time member of SACNAS. He is familiar with SACNAS’ workings, having served earlier on the SACNAS Board, and now as the President, 2009-2011.

His teaching over the forty years he has been at the University of Arizona has included almost every course the Department of Physics offers. In recent semesters, he has taught upper division quantum mechanics, modern physics, a calculus-based introductory course, and a course for non-scientists. Assessment of his teaching has led to several awards: the Physics Department’s Excellence in Undergraduate Physics Education award, the College of Science’s Distinguished Achievement in Science Education Award, and the University’s Outstanding Faculty Award. Dr. Garcia has been a coordinator of the local physics teachers’ alliance, the Tucson Area Physics Teachers, bringing together high school and college physics teachers, for about 20 years. He is a life member of the Arizona Chapter of the American Association of Physics teachers, and the co-host for the Spring 2001 meeting; e recently received a recognition award from AzAAPT.

Dr. Garcia was a program director for the National Science Foundation’s Division of Undergraduate Education. In that capacity, he helped initiate discussion of a publication route for physics education research articles, which eventually led to the current PER supplement to the American Journal of Physics.

He served on the National Task Force on Undergraduate Physics, a joint effort by the American Association of Physics Teachers, the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics, intended to promote improvement in the delivery of undergraduate physics education and the enhancement of physics majors nationally. More recently, he served on the Joint APS-AAPT Task Force on Graduate Education in Physics, and currently serves on the Joint APS-AAPT Task Force on Physics Teacher Preparation.

Dr. Garcia has additional experience at the national level on science education issues. He was the Charter President of the National Physical Sciences Consortium, providing graduate fellowships for women and minorities in science. He chaired the Graduate Record Exam Committee for Physics for four years. He has also been active in the affairs of the American Physical Society (APS) in many different capacities. He was elected to the Executive Committees of the Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics, the Topical Group on Few-Body Physics, and the Forum on Physics and Society. He has also served on and chaired the APS Committee on International Scientific Affairs, served on the Panel on Public Affairs, and was Chair of the APS’ Four Corners Section in 1999.

At the University level, Dr. J.D. Garcia has been elected to many faculty representative posts: among other positions, he has served on the Faculty Senate numerous times, served two terms as the university-wide Chair of the Faculty, and has chaired the university-wide Committee of Eleven, a faculty body that promotes the well being of the faculty and the institution. He chaired the committee that established the Mexican American Studies Program at the University of Arizona.

His publications include a translation of Quantum Mechanics I by A. Galindo and P. Pasqual from Spanish to English (Springer Verlag, 1990).

To contact the SACNAS Board of Directors email: info@sacnas.org (please include “Board of Directors” in the subject line). For information regarding participation in the leadership of the organization, future SACNAS elections, and nominations procedures, see the elections page.