Faculty Directory

Biography

I love teaching physics. I had my first formal teaching experience as a senior in high school and my first exposure to physics as a sophomore in college; ever since, I have been seeking out ways to combine these two passions. Whether as a lead instructor, teaching assistant, individual tutor, or outreach volunteer, I thoroughly enjoy facilitating the discovery and understanding of interesting physical phenomena. As a teaching faculty member at Mines, I strive to provide a high-quality and welcoming educational experience for all of our physics students.

While my previous research has focused mainly on small networks of nonlinear dynamical systems, I now enjoy reading about physics education research (PER) and striving to put these results into practice. In particular, I am interested in learning how to make physics classrooms and departments more equitable spaces.

My academic background is also a bit nonlinear (pun intended). After earning my bachelor’s degree in Physics and Mathematics at Pacific University, I enrolled as a PhD student at Duke University. I decided to leave after finishing my MS degree, and then moved to the Winsor School in Boston, Massachusetts, where I taught both algebra- and calculus-based introductory physics for two years before returning to Duke to complete my PhD.

Education

• PhD, Physics, Duke University, 2013
• MS, Physics, Duke University, 2008
• BS, Physics & Mathematics, Pacific University, 2005

Publications

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=kUoZNSAAAAAJ

Awards & Honors

• University Distinguished Teaching Professor, 2023
• Outstanding Faculty Award – Physics, 2022, 2021, 2020
• DI&A President’s Choice: Academic Program Award, 2021
• Mines W.M. Keck Mentorship Award, 2019
• Mines Martin Luther King Jr. Recognition Award, 2018
• Mines Teaching Faculty Teaching Award, 2017