Lowell Regional Physics Alliance

The Lowell Regional Physics Alliance (LRPA) is an academic alliance between the UMass Lowell Physics Department and high school science teachers throughout our region.

Established in 1991 to provide support for science teachers and to share common interests, the Alliance currently reaches out to more than 500 teachers in the area northwest of Boston and north to Manchester, N.H., and Kittery, Maine

A steering committee comprising nine physics teachers and three UMass Lowell physics faculty guides the program and activities of the Alliance. There are several primary goals for the LRPA:

  • Provide a forum in which science faculty from area high schools, colleges and the University can meet regularly to share ideas and discuss topics in physics and physics teaching. 
  • Provide workshops on special topics in physics and physics teaching. 
  • Establish a Resource Center from which area science teachers can borrow or share laboratory equipment, media materials, software, etc. 
  • Facilitate interaction between science teachers and local industry scientists to stay informed of current applications of physics in technology.

Separate committees on program, workshops and the resource center assist in these goals, and the LRPA activities are supported by the UMass Lowell College of Science.