TEACHING

TEACHING EXPERIENCE AND RECOGNITION

I enjoy teaching very much and have taught courses at Indiana University at all levels in the physics department, from freshman physics to advanced graduate courses. My teaching has been highly regarded, at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, and over the years, I have received a number of awards from the physics graduate students, from the department, and from the university. In 1993, my contributions to teaching, innovation and outreach were recognized by one of Indiana University's highest awards for Excellence in Teaching, the President's Award.

RECENT COURSES

Courses I taught in the recent past (before retiring Dec. 31, 2001) were

 Physics Odyssey (for non-science students)
 Physics in the Modern World (for non-science students)
 General Physics I (for life-sciences and pre-med students)
 Physics I, II, III (for physics/science majors, with calculus)
 Classical Mechanics (graduate level)

OTHER COURSES

Other courses I taught during my career include Honors Introductory Physics for Pre-Meds, Excursions into Physics, Electromagnetism, Analytical Mechanics, The Physics of Continuous Media, (that included such topics as shock waves, tides and aerodynamics), and High Energy Particle Physics.  As a member of the university Honors Faculty, I designed and taught two new courses Einstein's Universe and Beyond and Breaking the Cosmic Code, aided in part by an IU Instructional Development Grant.  In addition, I have supervised several senior undergraduates in special reading courses, guided one student through a 'famous physicists' course for her MAT degree, and written or re-written the descriptions for innumerable lab experiments.  A number of years ago, I submitted a detailed proposal for an introductory course on General Relativity and Cosmology for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students. 

Where appropriate, especially in classes at the lower levels, I made use numerous demonstrations and video segments.  (I was the first to introduce into the Department what have become some of our standard demos, such as the tablecloth pull, 'freezing' the fan, atomic spectral line displays with free diffraction gratings for the students, and the bed of nails.)

For each class, I designed class- specific websites. Easy access to information was provided on the class homepage through direct links such as:

• Announcements
• Personnel
• General information
• Course schedule
• Laboratory schedule
• Homework assignments
• Homework solutions
• Practice exams
• Practice exams solutions
• Exam solutions
• Homework, exams, laboratory scores

When appropriate, additional links were provided to suitable websites on topics related to the course.

DISTANCE/DISTRIBUTED EDUCATION

I am generally supportive of distance/distributed learning -- an educational tool with great potential, but one fraught with many problems. (Having mentored a distant high school student via the Internet a few years ago on a 'Black Holes' honors project, I am well aware of how much time is involved!)

PHYSICS ODYSSEY

During the past few years, I spent a considerable amount of time developing a special course Physics Odyssey for non-science students...a four-part journey of exploration through the major discoveries of physics, astrophysics and cosmology.

The first part of the journey takes a look at Nature around us -- the phenomena we are already familiar with: thunder and lightning, rainbows, the freezing of water, the blue of the sky.  The explanation for these natural phenomena leads directly to the second part which deals with atoms and their properties (you can't really explain natural phenomena properly without them!).  The third part goes one step further into the subatomic world of nuclei and quarks.  Finally, stars are examined in a new light -- the battleground of crushing gravity and the outburst of nuclear fusion.  Galaxies likewise come under our scrutiny, captured as they are in the web of expanding spacetime.

The voyage is not an easy one.  But students who embarked on it, I'm glad to say, found it to be an enriching and rewarding experience!