Physics Education and Outreach

I have three main areas of interest:

Teaching Physics to Non-Majors. Students majoring in disciplines outside physics and engineering have traditionally been the most challenging to teach. They are much more diverse in terms of backgrounds and interests, and most take physics only because it is a requirement. But if physics is as useful and fascinating as we physicists would like to believe, then we should be able to convey this to all of our students, and not just to the few who are enraptured by, e.g., Maxwell's equations. We need to show our students what physics is about, why physics is useful, and how it connects to their everyday experience and to their planned careers. We also need to remember that, at the undergraduate level, physics presents very different challenges than most other subjects, and that mastering it is hard. We need to provide the emotional support and encouragement our students need to face those challenges. Since physics is a gatekeeper to so many well-rewarded careers, it is an important factor in upward economic mobility. It is thus especially important that we do a good job of teaching our most diverse clientele.

Building on efforts of several faculty including Raphael Littauer, Don Holcomb and Doug Fitchen, I have been developing approaches and curricular materials specifically targeted at our introductory sequence for non-physics and non-engineering majors. To learn more about these efforts, click here.

Physics Teacher Training. Only 1/3 of high school students nationwide take high school physics. Only 1/4 of those who teach high school physics have degrees in physics, and only 1/3 have full certification in physics. Since physics teaches skills for analyzing data and solving problems that are essential to an industrialized economy, this is a major issue for our country's future economic health. And since physics is a gatekeeper to so many well-paying and prestigious jobs, it is a tragedy for our youth, especially for those in districts that do not have the resources to attract and retain the few qualified physics teachers available. Nothing we can do in K-12 outreach can match the impact of placing a well-trained teacher in the classroom.

I am working with Deborah Trumbull in our Education Department and others across the university to recruit more students into high school science teaching and to improve the training we provide them. Many of the methods and materials we are developing for teaching non-majors can be adapted to improve recruitment and retention of high school students into physics. Deb and I lead Cornell's nascent effort within the Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PTEC).

International Outreach. In 2002, Cornell began a remarkable venture to bring world-class medical education to the country of Qatar. I have had the privilege to be involved in the premedical part of Weill-Cornell Medical Center in Qatar, and currently serve as physics course director.