Kater Murch, assistant professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been named a 2018 Cottrell Scholar by the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. The $100,000 award is for teacher-scholars early in their careers in chemistry, physics or astronomy, and recognizes innovation in both research and teaching.
In his teaching, Murch has utilized “flipped classrooms,” an approach that uses video to supplement lectures. He plans to work with other physics faculty to help them incorporate this approach. He also is broadening his use of flipped classrooms to include it in advanced-level classes and in the lab.
In his research, Murch is working to expand on and formalize findings that show entropy increases over time in the quantum world similarly to the way it does in the macro world, essentially defining thermodynamics for the quantum realm.