Research & Scholarship

II seek to blend teaching and research to investigate better ways to teach the physical sciences, bring students into research projects from an early stage, and empower community scientists. I am also engaged in efforts to recruit and retain new STEM teachers, particularly in physics, an area which has a critical nationwide shortage. Other interests include radio astronomy instrumentation, active galactic nuclei, and astronomy and physics education research.

Education Research

I am open to working on a variety of science education research projects. Previous work includes a study of motivations of citizen scientists and development of a program to attract STEM-interested students to secondary education.

Radio JOVE

Student working in a grassy field, tying down the support ropes for a radio antenna mounted on steel poles

We maintain a low frequency radio telescope on campus to monitor activity from the Sun and Jupiter. Students can get involved in instrumentation and data analysis.

We began our project in 2019 when a group of undergraduates at led a group of high school students from the Manchester School District in the construction and use of a Radio JOVE system. Review the outline of lesson plans, build groups and tasks, and introduction to the subject.

We achieved first light for Radio JOVE 2.0 in November 2023! Follow our progress on the SAC Physics Department Instagram.

Double Star Astrometry

Students at any level can get an introduction to astronomy and to the scientific research process in my lab in collaboration with InStAR.

Presentations

iPoster on “Evolving Radio Astronomy Instrumentation through Radio JOVE at a Small Liberal Arts College” from AAS 243 in January 2024

Poster (pdf) on “Radio JOVE 2.0: Radio Astronomy at a Small College” and folder of supplementary materials from AAPT 2024 Winter Meeting

Links