Andrew P. Zwicker (born May 17, 1964) is an American physicist and politician who has served in the

New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232, ...

from the 16th Legislative District since 2022. He previously served in the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for ...

representing the 16th District from 2016 to 2022. Zwicker was a candidate for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

New Jersey's 12th congressional district New Jersey's 12th congressional district is represented by Democrat Bonnie Watson Coleman, who has served in Congress since 2015. The district is known for its research centers and educational institutions such as Princeton University, Rider ...

in 2014. He is a member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

as well as the head of the Science Education Department of the

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory for plasma physics and nuclear fusion science. Its primary mission is research into and development of fusion as an energy source. It is known ...

. He has been described as a

protégé Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...

of former Representative

Rush Holt Jr. Rush Dew Holt Jr. (born October 15, 1948) is an American scientist and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1999 to 2015. He is a member of the Democratic Party and son of former West Virginia U.S. Senator Rush D. Holt Sr. ...

Early life

Zwicker was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Raised in

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from por ...

, where he graduated from

Dwight Morrow High School Dwight Morrow High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Englewood, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Englewood Public School District. The school also serves students from Engle ...

in 1982, he went on to achieve his B.A. in

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

from

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic ...

in 1986, and his

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

and Ph.D., both also in physics, from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

in 1992. His dissertation was entitled "Soft X-Ray Spectroscopy of Magnetically Confined Fusion Plasmas Using Flat Multilayer Mirrors as Dispersive Elements". Zwicker's post-doctoral work focused on fusion energy research at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, at

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research and ...

, and internationally.

Personal life

Zwicker resides in the Kingston area of South Brunswick Township with his wife, Barbara Golden, a New Jersey public school educator, along with their family, and their rescue pitbull-boxer mix, Rocky. He is an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

Academic career

Academic achievements

He has been the head of the Science Education Department of the

since 2003, where his work is focused on creating innovative opportunities for students of all backgrounds to engage in scientific inquiry and his research is centered on plasmas as an educational tool and new methods of science communication. At Princeton University, Zwicker was previously a part-time lecturer in the Writing Program and a faculty advisor for freshmen and sophomores in

Rockefeller College John D. Rockefeller 3rd College, or "Rocky", is one of six residential colleges at Princeton University, United States. It was founded in 1982, making it the third residential college to be established at Princeton. It is named for John D. Roc ...

. Zwicker has served on several national committees on education, is a Fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

, and The

American Association of Physics Teachers The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) was founded in 1930 for the purpose of "dissemination of knowledge of physics, particularly by way of teaching." There are more than 10,000 members in over 30 countries. AAPT publications includ ...

has named him to its list of 75 leading contributors to physics education. He was the Editor of the APS Forum on Physics and Society's newsletter and a past chair of that Forum. Additionally, he is a past member of the APS Committee on Education. In 2006, Zwicker and a collaborator won the university's Art of Science competition for a photograph entitled “Plasma Table” and was for several years afterwards a co-organizer of the event.

Publications and appearances

Zwicker has published in both science and education journals, and has also appeared at numerous lectures and on television. His publications include: *Andrew P. Zwicker, Josh Bloom, Robert Albertson, and Sophia Gershman, Suitability of 3D Printed Plastic Parts for Laboratory Use, American Journal of Physics 83, 281 (2015) *S. Wissel, J. Ross, S. Gershman, and A. Zwicker, The Use of DC Glow Discharges as Undergraduate Educational Tools, American Journal of Physics, Vol.81, Issue 9 (2013) *Edward Thomas, George Morales. Michael Brown, Troy Carter, Donald Correll, Kenneth Gentle, Andrew Zwicker, Ken Schultz, Earl Scime, Don Steiner, Fusion in the Era of Burning Plasma Studies: Workforce Planning for 2004 to 2014, Journal of Fusion Energy, Vol. 22, No. 2, June 2004. *A.P. Zwicker, R.C. Isler, W. Tighe, S. Paul, M. Ono, B. LeBlanc, R. Bell, H. Kugel, Impurity Behavior During Ion Bernstein Wave Heating in the PBX-M Tokamak, Nuclear Fusion, 35(2), 215 (1995).

Campaign for United States House of Representatives

Zwicker ran for the Democratic nomination for the

in the 12th Congressional District. He was seeking election to the seat then held by Rush D. Holt Jr., who announced on February 18 that he would not seek re-election in the 2014 cycle. He finished fourth of the four candidates in the Democratic

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

held on June 3 (Assemblywoman

Bonnie Watson Coleman Bonnie M. Watson Coleman (born February 6, 1945) is an American politician. She has served as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 12th congressional district since 2015. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Watson Coleman served in th ...

won the primary and general elections), but impressed and gained support from party leaders to lead Zwicker to run for Assembly.

New Jersey Assembly

He and his running mate Maureen Vella ran as Democrats in the historically-

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

dominated 16th Legislative District. Three days after the election, the race for the second seat elected between Zwicker and incumbent Republican Assemblywoman

Donna Simon Donna M. Simon (born March 25, 1960) is an American Republican Party (United States), Republican Party politician who served in the New Jersey New Jersey General Assembly, General Assembly, representing the New Jersey's 16th legislative distric ...

was considered "too close to call." The other incumbent Republican Assemblyman,

Jack Ciattarelli Jack M. Ciattarelli ( ; born December 12, 1961) is an American politician and businessman. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2011 to 2018, representing the 16th legislative district. He was also t ...

, had finished far enough ahead in first place to be ensured a victory. Zwicker had a 29-vote lead over Simon with some provisional ballots remaining to be counted. On November 9, 2015, the final provisional ballots were counted, with Zwicker finishing with a 78-vote lead over Simon. On November 16, Simon conceded the race to Zwicker and Republican officials stated that no recount will be requested. He became the first Democrat ever elected to the district in its 42-year history, albeit in a more Democratic form than it had prior to redistricting thanks to the addition of the liberal university town of Princeton. In the November 2017 general election, with Republican incumbent Jack Ciattarelli leaving the Assembly in his unsuccessful run for the republican gubernatorial nomination, Zwicker (with 34,233 votes; 27.2% of all ballots cast) and his running mate, newcomer

Roy Freiman Roy Freiman (born April 30, 1959) is an American Democratic Party politician who has represented the 16th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly since 2018, replacing Jack Ciattarelli, who did not seek re-election to his seat ...

(32,714; 26.0%), defeated Republican challengers Mark Caliguire (29,041; 23.1%) and

(29,674; 23.6%) to win both Assembly seats from the district for the Democrats for the first time in district history.

Committees

Committee assignments for the current session are:Senator Andrew Zwicker

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...

. Accessed January 28, 2022. *Budget and Appropriations *Higher Education *Labor *Military and Veterans' Affairs

District 16

Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the

and two members in the

. The representatives from the 16th District for the 2022—23 Legislative Session are:Legislative Roster for District 16

. Accessed January 11, 2022. * Senator Andrew Zwicker (D) * Assemblyman

(D) * Assemblywoman

Sadaf Jaffer Sadaf F. Jaffer (born February 19, 1983) is an American scholar and elected official who has represented the 16th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly since taking office on January 11, 2022. She is a postdoctoral research as ...

(D)

Electoral history

United States House of Representatives

Senate

Assembly

References

External links

Senator Andrew Zwicker (D) legislative webpageOfficial Campaign WebsiteAndrew Zwicker's CVRead Andrew's Blog
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Zwicker, Andrew 1964 births Living people American atheists Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory people Dwight Morrow High School alumni Politicians from New York City People from Englewood, New Jersey People from South Brunswick, New Jersey Democratic Party New Jersey state senators Democratic Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly 21st-century American politicians Fellows of the American Physical Society