Ph.D. - Physics / Univeristy of Pennsylvania

I received my B.A. in physics from Hunter College and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Pennsylvania.  My doctoral research centered on electron spin resonance studies of defects in polyactylene, a prototype conducting polymer. After graduate school I did a three–year post doc in the Department of Electrical Engineering at UC Santa Barbara. That work included photoluminescence studies of III-V compound quantum well structures and mercuric iodide crystals, including measurements on a crystal grown aboard the space shuttle Challenger. 

Following two years of teaching, one at Santa Barbara City College and another at California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo, I joined the Muhlenberg faculty in 1989.  Since coming to Muhlenberg, I have focused on adopting innovative pedagogy in physics classes. I was the principal investigator on two NSF grants, including one to adapt the physics education research based Workshop Physics curriculum to a traditional lecture/lab course structure.  Russel Kauffman and Robert Milligan were co-investigators on this project.  Diane Follet of the Music Department and I received an NSF grant to develop an interdisciplinary course, The Physics of Music.  The resulting course is organized around the fundamental principles of music theory, and links historical developments in physics to those in music.  I have also been active in the Central Pennsylvania Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers (CPS-AAPT) and the national AAPT since 1991.  My service includes the four-year officer sequence (secretary treasurer, VP, president and past president) and seven years as Section Representative for CPS-AAPT.  I currently serve at the national level on the steering committee of the Physics and Society Education group, and as member of the Committee on Science Education for the Public.

My outside interests include playing and listening to music, gardening, cooking and traveling with my family.