My academic training is in physics (BS with Honors at the University of Southampton, UK) and meteorology (MS at the University of Reading, UK) and I have 20 years experience teaching physics and physical science, including 5 years with MCCD. I come to Glendale Community College for the 2005/2006 academic year after 15 years at Grand Canyon University (GCU) in Phoenix. At GCU I taught physics and physical science, advised pre-engineering students, held key leadership positions on campus, and contributed in numerous ways to the life of a Liberal Arts University.

My latest research has involved GCU students in two major studies: the Educational Testing Service study to determine the correlation between college student scores in General Physics and high school student scores on the SAT II Physics subject test; and the Harvard FICSS (Factors Influencing College Science Success) study to correlate college achievement in physics with years of high school physics. In both studies I was the lead person at GCU and for the latter study I will have access to preliminary results.

Six years ago I was the lead GCU investigator in PAFEX- I, a two-year NSF project (with ASU) to study pollutants and their diurnal variation in the Phoenix valley metro area.

Filling the balloon prior to a data run on the GCU field just north of campus.

Balloon with instrumentation.

Photos courtesy Dr. Neil Berman, Arizona State University

One of the most exciting and innovative projects I have participated in recently is the renewal of the general education curriculum at GCU. The freshman class in the new curriculum is a team-taught multidisciplinary course where faculty mentors lead discussions on the big three questions in life: Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I headed? I was the course developer and lead professor for the Why? component and I used the class as an opportunity to model holistic learning and reduce compartmentalized thinking. In Spring 2005 I led a panel discussion on my preliminary findings at the Pedagogies of Engagement: New Designs for Learning in and across the Disciplines conference in Chicago hosted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

During the 2004/2005 academic year I held three key leadership roles at GCU. I was the Faculty Chair, a position elected by the entire faculty body to lead the Faculty Council and I was the appointed sponsor for the Arizona Alpha chapter of Alpha Chi, a collegiate honors program for academically qualified students in all disciplines.

Most summers I lead a team of professors to teach English as a Second Language at the Vilnius Pedagogical University in Lithuania.

Singing in English helps learning!

In the past 10 years I have also served as the department chair of Physical Sciences at GCU, as the president of the Arizona section of the American Association of Physics Teachers and directed Careers in Science, Medicine and Nursing Day (2000 through 2003), the largest GCU annual recruiting event.

I began my career in the physical sciences working for the Meteorological Office in England. I was recruited from my graduate studies to pursue government research modeling thunderstorm dynamics, principally as they affect supersonic flights e.g. Concorde; analyzing correlation data for the Thames Barrier project in London, England; forecasting weather at the London Weather Centre for newspapers and TV; and directing an experiment to determine if incorporation of fake data in the10-level numerical forecast model could produce better 24 and 48 hour forecasts. (It does!) This practical research experience in a government laboratory introduced me to the value of collaborative decision-making on team projects, and has served as excellent preparation for all my teaching.