Matthew Blackman of Ridge High School in Basking Ridge, New Jersey was named the 2019 PhysTEC National Teacher of the Year.

The selection committee noted his efforts to dramatically increase AP Physics enrollment and scores over his 10 years of teaching the subject. Specifically, he worked to improve the percentage of female students taking AP Physics, increasing it from under 20% to over 50%.

Outside of Ridge High School, Blackman teaches graduate courses in the Physics Education master’s program at Rutgers University (of which he is an alumnus). He also launched a successful professional development summer workshop for physics teachers, which has grown from eight participants to over 20 per year.

In his spare time, Blackman is a self-taught coder and designer of video games; he has built five educational physics games to help students explore the concepts of kinematics, circuits, waves, and electrostatics. His 501c3 nonprofit, Universe and More, develops and distributes the games, which are free-of-charge to play (and always will be). The games have received millions of plays, and are used by teachers in all 50 states and over 60 countries.

Recently, Blackman was recognized by the New Jersey Senate with a Congressional Resolution honoring his achievements in the classroom, including the creation of educational games and coaching FIRST robotics.