Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Four Questions With Physics Instructor, Lab Manager Sam Sampere

Wednesday, November 30, 2016, By Keith Kobland
Share
College of Arts and Sciencesfacultyfaculty and staff
Sam Sampere is interviewed by CNY Central about the recent Supermoon.

Sam Sampere is interviewed by CNY Central about the recent supermoon.

Whether he’s teaching physics, managing the labs or providing insight for local media, Sam Sampere wears many hats around campus. He’s about to add another. Sampere has once again been appointed as a committee member for the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). AAPT is dedicated to enhancing the understanding and appreciation of physics through teaching. In hearing Sampere’s teaching philosophy, it’s easy to understand why AAPT wanted his participation. During a recent break from his work, Sampere answered four questions.

Q. From a personal and a professional standpoint, what are your thoughts on the AAPT appointment?

A. I have been assigned to work on the AAPT Committee on Apparatus (it’s the third time I’ve been appointed by AAPT). During my previous stint on this committee, I served as vice chair and then chair. The term is a three-year commitment. [I’d like to think that] placement on this committee means that I’m doing a good job and am recognized as an expert among my peers in terms of physics teaching apparatus.

Q. Physics involves rigorous course material not easily understood. How challenging do you find teaching potentially complex principals?

A. Students tend to stumble over their own feet with incoherent thoughts and processes. The challenge is learning where those stumbles happen, and then helping the students make those stumbles less severe to the point where they can walk smoothly through the physics landscape. Physics is all around us. Everywhere. Everyday. We have an intuitive understanding of how “nature” works. But sometimes we’re wrong. Confronting our own misconceptions and replacing them with new ones is difficult. That’s the challenge. And that’s where students tend to stumble. Students also stumble backing these ideas with math. Math is just another language, but many times, a barrier goes up. Practice can tear that down. They will hang on to their prior notions even if they “say” what we want them to say on the test. Physics builds on itself. Students hanging onto incorrect concepts will find it difficult to build new ones. The new ones rely on the old ones, if that makes sense.

Q. AAPT is dedicated to improving physics education. How can this be accomplished?

A. Each meeting that I attend, I return with new knowledge and ideas regarding teaching. The students benefit from this. I’ve been doing this for more than 20 years, and I am still learning, trying to make what we do here in the department better for our students.

Q. We hear a lot about the importance of STEM fields and STEM education. Syracuse University offers programs in which you and your colleagues bring high schoolers here for a taste of college coursework. Do you have any advice for college-bound juniors and seniors when it comes to furthering their education in the STEM fields?

A. Our world grows more technologically complex as we speak. And the problems we face as a society are technologically more complex as well. We need minds capable of understanding the issues, developing solutions and communicating both of these to the public and politicians. This involves physics, chemistry, biology, math, statistics, computer modeling …

Climate change is happening. Energy issues surround us. How to solve these? How do we communicate these? I think energy policy is the #1 most important issue this country faces, and is the root of numerous other problems. Solve this, and other problems are lessened, if not solved. Unfortunately, I do not hear much about this from our politicians. Pipelines are being planned, fracking seems to be running away from us, creating cheap energy now, but our politicians aren’t looking down the road to see what’s coming. This is important for high school students to understand.

Here’s an example of Sampere’s work with the media

  • Author

Keith Kobland

  • Recent
  • Arts and Sciences Hosts Inaugural Scholarship and Research Gala
    Friday, May 9, 2025, By Sean Grogan
  • Chancellor Kent Syverud Honored as Distinguished Citizen of the Year at 57th Annual ScoutPower Event
    Thursday, May 8, 2025, By News Staff
  • New Maymester Program Allows Student-Athletes to Develop ‘Democracy Playbook’
    Thursday, May 8, 2025, By Wendy S. Loughlin
  • From Policy to Practice: How AI is Shaping the Future of Education
    Thursday, May 8, 2025, By Christopher Munoz
  • Kohn, Wiklund, Wilmoth Named Distinguished Professors
    Thursday, May 8, 2025, By Wendy S. Loughlin

More In STEM

Chloe Britton Naime Committed to Advocating for Improved Outcomes for Neurodivergent Individuals

Chloe Britton Naime ’25 is about to complete a challenging and rare dual major program in both mechanical engineering from the College of Engineering and Computer Science and neuroscience from the College of Arts and Sciences. Even more impressive? Britton…

Graduating Research Quartet Synthesizes Long-Lasting Friendships Through Chemistry

When Jesse Buck ’25, Isabella Chavez Miranda ’25, Lucy Olcott ’25 and Morgan Opp ’25 started as student researchers in medicinal chemist Robert Doyle’s lab, they hoped to hone their research skills. It quickly became evident this would be unlike…

Biologist Reveals New Insights Into Fish’s Unique Attachment Mechanism

On a wave-battered rock in the Northern Pacific Ocean, a fish called the sculpin grips the surface firmly to maintain stability in its harsh environment. Unlike sea urchins, which use their glue-secreting tube feet to adhere to their surroundings, sculpins…

Distinguished ECS Professor Pramod K. Varshney Establishes Endowed Faculty Fellowship

Distinguished Professor Pramod K. Varshney has exemplified Orange excellence since joining the University as a 23-year-old faculty member. A world-renowned researcher and educator, he’s been recognized for his seminal contributions to information fusion and related fields, introducing new, innovative courses…

Earth Day Spotlight: The Science Behind Heat Pumps (Video)

Peter Wirth has a two-fold strategy when it comes to renovating his home. The Brooklyn, New York, native has called Central New York home for more than 40 years. Nestled on a quiet cul-de-sac in Fayetteville, New York, the 1960s-era…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.