College of Natural Sciences

Faculty Research Interests by Department

BIOLOGY

Tilahun Abebe focuses on understanding how crops respond to water stress and disease. He is especially interested in the response of the floral parts of cereals to drought and disease. Functional genomics is used to identify and analyze the function of genes expressed in the linflorescence under stress. Genetic engineering is used to introduce genes that help improve yield under unfavorable conditions. (tilahun.abebe@uni.edu)

Peter Berendzen studies the evolutionary relationships, speciation, and biogeography of fishes using molecular markers; emphasis is on phylogeography of widespread species of North American freshwater fishes, systematics and taxomomy of East African small barbs and evolution of genome size in North American suckers. (peter.berendzen@uni.edu)

Virginia Berg studies the physiology of light-avoiding leaf movements in legumes in response to drought conditions and the movement of acidity through leaf surfaces. (virginia.berg@uni.edu)

Barton Bergquist examines cell-level effects of hazardous chemicals and chemotherapeutic compounds and the role of calcium and calmodulin in cellular water regulation. (bergquist@uni.edu)

Ed Brown studies microbial ecology and biogeochemistry of processes that naturally occur in aquatic and terrestrial environments followed by application of these processes to solve or prevent environmental problems, including bioremediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated soils and sediments and hydrocarbon metabolism in general. (ed.brown@uni.edu)

Maureen Clayton focuses on sublethal effects of organic, organometallic and heavy metal contaminants on aquatic organisms, as well as the use of heat shock proteins as biomarkers. (maureen.clayton@uni.edu)

James Demastes explores the coevolution of mammals and their parasites, zoogeography of terrestrial vertebrates and the conservation genetics of Iowa reptiles and amphibians. (jim.demastes@uni.edu)

Kavita Dhanwada examines how pesticide exposure to human cells alters and affects growth and gene expression in these cells. Understanding how pesticide exposure may lead to endocrine disruption and oncogenesis is also an area of study in the lab. (kavita.dhanwada@uni.edu)

Jean Gerrath studies comparison of spatial patterns and timing of flower and shoot development in the grape family, the evolution of this unique shoot system, tendril development and anatomy in vine crops to characterize the anatomical and functional features common to tendrils of different evolutionary origins, and observations on living material combined with those using light and electron microscopes. (jean.gerrath@uni.edu)

Laura Jackson focuses on the ecology of agricultural landscapes, ecosystem restoration, effects of land use change on ecosystem processes, crop plant evolution, and the life history evolution of perennial grasses. (laura.l.jackson@uni.edu)

James Jurgenson studies three separate but complementary areas: the genetics of the plant pathogenic fungus Fusarium graminearum (Gibberella zeae), the causative agent of scab (head blight) of wheat in the U.S. and other countries; the population genetics of more than 20 species of native plants of the tallgrass prairie to assess their genetic diversity; and the ability of plants to resist infection by microorganisms. (james.jurgenson@uni.edu)

Cherin Lee focuses on the teaching of postsecondary biology, including pedagogy and curriculum, with emphasis on laboratory courses, teacher preparation emphasizing methodologies appropriate for constructivist-oriented teaching K-12. (cherin.lee@uni.edu)

Steve O'Kane, Jr., studies phylogenetic systematics, character and species evolution, taxonomy of vascular plants, evolutionary reconstructions using molecular markers such as DNA sequences of ribosomal DNA, restriction site mutations of chloroplast DNA, and random amplified polymorphic DNA, and floristics of western North America. (steve.okane@uni.edu)

Wendy Olson studies the evolution and development of vertebrates, with particular interest in patterns and processes of morphological diversification within and among groups. (wendy.olson@uni.edu)

John Ophus studies issues dealing with content and pedagogy in constructivist-oriented teaching in the K-16 environment. He also studies community building within distance education courses. (john.ophus@uni.edu)

Kurt Pontasch's interests include the fate and effects of contaminants in aquatic ecosystems, including stream microcosm toxicity tests using naturally occurring macroinvertebrate and periphyton communities, instream bioassessments of benthic community integrity, and the use of aquatic insect cholinesterase activities as potential biomarkers of organophosphorus pesticide contamination in streams. (kurt.pontasch@uni.edu)

Orlando Schwartz studies structures of mammalian populations as related to habitat, behavior, genetics and evolution with special emphasis on experimental design, statistical analysis and computer applications in biology. (orlando.schwartz@uni.edu)

Axel Schwekendiek is interested in the biotechnological improvement of plants for pharmaceutical purposes. His current research focuses on enhancing the production of phytoestrogens and anti-cancer compounds in the glandular trichomes of the hop plant. Schwekendiek is also interested is the production of "edible vaccines" in plant seeds for animal or human use. He actively collaborates with researchers in Costa Rica for the biotechnological improvement of tropical fruit species. In his laboratory he uses plant tissue culture, transgenics, and RNAi to understand the physiological function of newly discovered genes identified from EST projects. (axel.schwekendiek@uni.edu)

Robert Seager and his students are studying the relationships between science and religion. (seager@uni.edu)

Daryl Smith focuses on tallgrass prairie community analysis; natural areas inventory and monitoring; prairie reconstruction, restoration and management; roadside vegetation management; and pre-settlement vegetation analysis. (daryl.smith@uni.edu)

Theresa Spradling examines the effect of population structure on the evolution of small mammals (e.g., shrews and rodents). (Theresa.Spradling@uni.edu; www.biology.uni.edu/department/faculty/spradling.html)

Jeff Tamplin's research is focused on microhabitat selection, movement and activity patterns, and population structure and genetics of the wood turtle (Glyptemys insculpta), an endangered species in Iowa. He is also interested in temperature preferences and thermoregulation in aquatic turtles, particularly hatchlings and juveniles. In the past, he has studied Triassic and Jurassic reptile fossils from Antarctica, and the effect of acclimation temperature on growth, metamorphosis and temperature selection in tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum). (jeff.tamplin@uni.edu)

Carl Thurman is interested in cellular mechanisms of electrolyte and fluid transport in epithelial tissues; biophysical regulation of ion channel kinetics in plasma and artificial membranes; physio-chemical control of membrane conductance by hormone and neurotransmitters, molecular biology, and genetic regulation of transport. (carl.thurman@uni.edu)

Michael Walter focuses on bacterial viruses (phage) of bacterial bio-warfare agents and of plant pathogenic bacteria. His approach involves selection and identification of phages that are potentially useful for the control of bacterial disease. He also has an interest in estimations of species richness of various microflora and phages of soil communities. (michael.walter@uni.edu)

Jeffrey Weld's research includes conceptual development in science-evolution, ecology, genetics; effective science teaching practices; expectancy theory applied to science teacher preparation and retention; policy and practice toward scientific literacy; quantitative and qualitative science education research methodology and program evaluation. (jeff.weld@uni.edu)

Darrell Wiens focuses on cell differentiation, morphogenesis, influence of extracellular macromolecules on development, cytoskeleton changes, gravitational biology, cardiac myogenesis. (wiens@uni.edu)

CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY

Duane Bartak’s research interests include the newly developing area of nanoscience and nanotechnology with a focus on the synthesis and applications of metal oxide nanoparticles. As an electrochemist, he remains interested in the applications of electrochemistry toward the remediation of hazardous materials. (duane.bartak@uni.edu)

John Bumpus studies the ability of certain wood destroying fungi to metabolize "hard to degrade" environmental pollutants to carbon dioxide, ways in which fungi can be used for bioremediation of contaminated soil and water, photochemical processes, biochemistry and mechanism of action of enzymes, oxidation by catalase of cyanamide and azide, and improving undergraduate education in chemistry. (john.bumpus@uni.edu)

Robert Martin Chin examines synthesizing metal complexes that incorporate bowl-shaped hydrocarbon ligands (bucky bowls) to protect one side of the metal center, the stability and reactivity of the resulting metal complex, and arranging two and three transition metal centers in configurations that will maximize the reactivity of these multi-nuclear clusters. (martin.chin@uni.edu)

Shoshanna Coon focuses on the surface chemistry of salts and metal oxides, photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes on metal oxides, new chemical vapor sensor materials, adsorption and reaction of small molecules on metal oxides at various temperatures, and the computational modeling of surface chemistry. (shoshanna.coon@uni.edu)

Dawn Del Carlo examines how students at all levels approach data acquisition in their chemistry laboratory classes. More specifically, she focuses on how students approach an experiment, what their views are toward that experiment, and how their views affect their approach and data analysis. These issues can be directly related to students' perceptions of academic dishonesty in the classroom laboratory. (dawn.delcarlo@uni.edu)

Jeffery E. Elbert investigates the mechanisms of various reactions, especially photochemically induced reactions. Currently, naphthalimide dyes and their spectroscopic responses to transition metal complexation are an area of interest. The use of computational programs to theroretically study reactions in an effort to better describe their mechanism is also a group focus. Photoacoustic calorimetry is an exciting technique for the study of reaction intermediate lifetimes and energies and its use is currently being expanded to more types of reactions. (jeffrey.elbert@uni.edu)

Michael Elioff is interested in the chemical and photophysical reactions of small molecules, particularly systems that are important in atmospheric, environmental and combustion processes. He uses laser-induced fluorescence and transient infrared absorption spectroscopy to perform quantum state-resolved studies of energy transfer between infrared-absorbing molecules such as water, carbon dioxide, and methane as well as studies of reactive systems involving polyatomic infrared absorbers produced via the degradation of common soil fumigants. (michael.elioff@uni.edu)

Nalin Goonesekere's research interests fall into two broad categories. One is to provide information (annotation) on new protein sequences that become available from human and other genome sequencing projects. He attempts to do this by improving the detection power of computer algorithms used to annotate protein sequences through detection of relationships (homology) to other proteins of known structure/function. A second area of research is using bioinformatics tools to make structural and functional annotations of protein and DNA sequences of unknown function. (nalin.goonesekere@uni.edu)

Curt Hanson investigates analytical applications of mass spectrometry for biomolecule analysis using Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time-of-Flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF) and gas phase ion-molecule chemistry using Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR). These instruments provide research opportunities in classical physical analytical areas for both graduate and undergraduate students in the College of Natural Sciences. (curtiss.hanson@uni.edu)

Bill Harwood examines the development of scientists from novice through expert, with a particular focus on the development of undergraduate chemists. Current projects explore the nature and impact of undergraduate research experiences. (bill.harwood@uni.edu)

Kirk Manfredi studies natural products chemistry, novel compounds from natural sources (including prairie medicinal plants and the chemistry associated with their "ethnobiology"), and plants known to have activity against malaria. (manfredi@uni.edu)

Ira Simet investigates the properties of DNA polymerases from embryonic chicken brain, a tissue source with defined growth characteristics, and DNA polymerase alpha, a main copying enzyme. (simet@uni.edu)

William Stigliani focuses on the newly emerging field named "industrial ecology," examining the potential role of industry in reducing environmental burdens, including an analysis and refinement of emissions from combustion of coal and alternative fuels in electricity production. (stigliani@uni.edu)

Laura Hoistad Strauss's interests include the synthesis and the physical characterization of inorganic solid-state materials and the understanding of the electronic structure of solid-state materials through theoretical models. (laura.strauss@uni.edu)

COMPUTER SCIENCE

Janet Drake focuses on software engineering, especially the first stage of software development--requirement analysis--as well as Personal Software Process (PSP), a method that uses metrics and intensive review to improve the quality of code. (drake@cs.uni.edu)

Philip East studies a model of human learning and its application to the teaching of computer science as well as the use and impact of technology in society, particularly in education. (east@cs.uni.edu)

Mark Fienup focuses on applying parallel computing to solve real-world applications; developing environments and tools to aid in the development, tuning, and performance analysis of these parallel applications; and the effectiveness of applying active and group learning techniques in the computer science classroom and laboratory. (fienup@cs.uni.edu)

Paul Gray studies aspects of parallel algorithms and distributed computing by bringing scientific tools into the curriculum, often referred to as emphasizing "computational sciences" and issues surrounding High Performance Computing education. (gray@cs.uni.edu)

John McCormick investigates software engineering, real-time systems, and computer science education. (mccormick@cs.uni.edu)

Kevin O'Kane's interests include visualization of medical and text databases, Internet-based information systems, database systems, compilers and language translators, information storage-retrieval and data mining, and health care information systems. (okane@cs.uni.edu)

Aleksandar Poleksic specializes in bioinformatics and cheminformatics, with emphasis on computational protein and DNA remote homology detection and protein structure modeling. (poleksic@cs.uni.edu;www.cs.uni.edu/~poleksic)

J. Ben Schafer studies collaborative information systems, which help a user leverage the power of computers and the opinions of other people to find items of interest. These systems build on traditional information filtering/retrieval techniques by blending in tools from market segmentation, data mining and collaborative filtering. (schafer@cs.uni.edu; www.cs.uni.edu/~schafer)

Eugene Wallingford studies how people build things, especially intangible things like computer programs and legal arguments. His work helps us build software that changes how people work, including computer programmers themselves. His interests include programming languages, agile software methods, design patterns, compilers, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. (wallingf@cs.uni.edu; www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/)

EARTH SCIENCE

Tim Cooney focuses on earth science and weather education curriculum development, and on learning processes. (timothy.cooney@uni.edu)

Alan Czarnetzki explores the analysis and forecasting of middle-latitude cyclones (dynamic and synoptic meteorology); thunderstorm phenomena (mesoscale dynamics); air quality; and meteorological decision-support systems that can be used by decision makers, planners, and emergency managers charged with protecting communities in the path of potentially adverse weather. (alan.czarnetzki@uni.edu)

Kenneth De Nault examines the physics of volcanic processes and the geographic distribution of fatal diseases in Iowa. (denault@uni.edu)

John Groves focuses on micropaleontology by reconstructing evolutionary relationships among related groups of microfossils and using the evolutionary histories of microfossils as a means to correlate rocks of similar age on a global basis. (john.groves@uni.edu)

Thomas Hockey directs the Institute of Cultural Astronomy. Projects include the Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, the American Astronomical Society Obituaries, and editing Archaeoastronomy: The Journal of Astronomy in Culture. (thomas.hockey@uni.edu)

Chad Heinzel integrates techniques from geology, geography, and archaeology to study possible environmental and anthropogenic influences on the socioeconomic development of indigenous populations in locations such as Sicily, the Great Plains of the U.S., and the Rocky Mountains. He is also interested in examining innovative and effective ways of incorporating new technologies (such as GIS) into the classroom. (chad.heinzel@uni.edu)

Mohammad Iqbal specializes in hydrogeological research including soil water and groundwater contamination, assessment of groundwater flow parameters in various hydrogeologic settings, groundwater modeling, subsurface contaminant transport mechanisms, and environmental water pollution research. He is also interested in the effects of agricultural practices on groundwater quality and nitrate degradation pathways in the Cedar River watershed of northeast Iowa, nitrogen isotopic source evaluation, and development of multi-component mixing models of storm discharge in a watershed by using oxygen and deuterium isotopes. (m.iqbal@uni.edu)

Siobahn Morgan studies the behavior of pulsating stars found in our galaxy and others and the evolution of stars, particularly massive stars. In addition, she provides on-line databases of pulsating star data for other researchers and WWW-based educational packages for K-12 and higher education astronomy courses. (siobahn.morgan@uni.edu)

Jim Walters examines frozen ground and frost action processes and features produced through intensive freeze-thaw activity, both present-day and relict. He also investigates permanently frozen ground (permafrost) distribution and characteristics in arctic and subarctic environments and how these environments are changing with global warming. (james.walters@uni.edu)

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY

Carl Nelson Blue's academic research interests are the study of curriculum and instructional materials in communication technology, primarily how people use communication technologies, the design of human interface, natural mappings and communication technologies for usability and accessibility. (carl.blue@uni.edu; www.cnblue.com)

H. Stephan Egger is interested in productivity (construction), international housing, safety, and human motivation. (h.stephan.egger@uni.edu)

Mohammed Fahmy investigates engineering materials properties and ultrafine microstructural analysis using electron microscopy. Specifically, this involves recycling of polymers in concretes, ferrous alloy characterization and properties, laser surface treatment of ferrous alloys, and glass and ceramic composites. (mohammed.fahmy@uni.edu)

John Fecik examines the area of technology enhancement, innovation and assessment, as well as instructional technology and methodology, content standards, benchmarks, and authentic assessments in technical subject areas. (john.fecik@uni.edu)

Scott Giese's primary research interests are in the areas of solidification science, metal casting technology, thermal and fluid dynamic simulation with an emphasis on metal casting, computer-aided design as well as research areas in manufacturing technology, advanced manufacturing processes and material science. (giese@uni.edu)

Doug Hotek studies the identities of individuals and groups who learn and work in the world of technology. He pays particular attention to workers and supervisors, and students and educators with a focus on improving their knowledge, skills, dispositions, and the systems in which they learn and work. His teaching emphases lie primarily in the areas of technology education, training and management. (doug.hotek@uni.edu)

Charles Johnson explores communication technology, graphic communications, management and leadership, career/technology education, articulation, and distance education. (charles.johnson@uni.edu)

Ali Kashef's research interests include total quality management (TQM) in industry and higher education, technology management, industrial supervision and management, productivity improvement in manufacturing and services, team building, operation management, computer-aided drafting and design (CADD), rapid prototyping (RP), geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T), and vocational education. (kashef@uni.edu)

Hong (Jeffrey) Nie's current research interests include advanced wireless transceiver architectures for sensors in industrial applications, ultra wide-band techniques for wireless sensor transceivers, software defined radio and related digital signal processing techniques, inter-cell interference and capacity analysis of cellular CDMA systems, multi-user detection and macrodiversity techniques, channel coding and digital modulation techniques for mobile communications, OFDM transmission techniques, adaptive antenna array and multi-input multi-output systems. (hong.nie@uni.edu)

Ron O'Meara's research interests are in the area of manufacturing processes and materials, nondestructive evaluation, materials testing, computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), quality assurance and operations management. (ronald.omeara@uni.edu)

Recayi Pecen's research interests include AC/DC power system interactions, power electronics, power system control, power quality and harmonics in industrial plants, renewable energy applications. He is specifically interested in the enhancement of commercial wind/PV renewable energy units in grid-connected power systems. (pecen@uni.edu)

Nilmani Pramanik has research interests in the areas of automated design and product development, synthesis and analysis of geometric tolerances, object-oriented assembly modeling, lean manufacturing systems, simulation and optimization of manufacturing systems, CAD/CAM systems, modeling and analysis of mechanical systems. (n.pramanik@uni.edu)

Posinasetti Nageswara Rao's research interests are in the area of manufacturing technology, machining process modeling and simulation, computer-aided process planning, computer-aided manufacturing, numerical control, engineering design, computer-aided design, engineering graphics, computer-integrated manufacturing, show floor control methods, simulation, and tool design. (posinasetti.rao@uni.edu)

Md Salim studies composite materials, material management, application of artificial intelligence (AI) in construction and manufacturing, automated system development, and process planning. Additional interests include transportation systems and asset management, wind and solar energy, information technology: tools and approaches, and productivity improvement. (md.salim@uni.edu)

Shahram Varzavand focuses on Web-based project management, computer and Internet applications in construction, personal communication systems (PCS) and wireless construction, construction project administration, and virtual reality applications in construction education and industry. (varzavand@uni.edu)

Michael White is interested in managerial effectiveness as a function of organization systems and leadership styles and the history and the ethics of technology, specifically technological decision making. (white@uni.edu)

Julie Zhang's research focuses on manufacturing processes and quality control, computer-aided manufacturing, simulation and monitoring of manufacturing systems and processes, the application of neural networks and statistics, and curriculum development for industrial applications. (julie.zhang@uni.edu)

Jin Zhu's research interests are in the area of data communications and wireless networks, including design and implementation of ad-hoc and sensor networks, modeling and simulation of wireless networks, QoS provisioning, resource allocation, network security, and performance evaluation of stochastic systems. (jin.zhu@uni.edu)

MATHEMATICS

Russell Campbell's interests include mathematical evolutionary and population genetics. (campbell@math.uni.edu; math-cs.cns.uni.edu/~campbell)

Mark Ecker examines spatially correlated data, methodologies for modeling the spatial correlation as a function of the distance and direction of pairs of sites, and methodologies for modeling block (areal) averages and detecting extreme observations. (mark.ecker@uni.edu)

Joel Haack explores topics in the history of mathematics as well as connections between mathematics and the arts, specifically music, literature, and art. He presently serves as dean of the college. (joel.haack@uni.edu)

Theron Hitchman studies geometry, dynamics and Lie theory. He is particularly interested in the rigidity properties of discrete subgroups and their relations with differential geometry.(theron.hitchman@uni.edu)

Syed Kirmani develops stochastic models, particularly for applications in engineering reliability and survival analysis. (kirmani@math.uni.edu)

Min Ho Lee examines number theory and algebraic geometry, abelian varieties, and algebraic varieties that generalize the shape of a torus. He is also interested in automorphic forms which generalize periodic functions and automorphic forms in connection with families of abelian varieties. (lee@math.uni.edu)

Bin Liu's research interests lie in operations research and applied probability, including queueing theory, production-inventory systems, supply chains, stochastic manufacturing systems, reliability, telecommunication networks, and their interface with applied probability. (bin.liu@uni.edu)

Shangzhen Luo's research interests include stochastic analysis, stochastic control and their applications to financial mathematics and actuarial science. He also does research on hidden Markov processes and filtering theory. (shangzhen.luo@uni.edu)

Catherine Miller studies teacher cognition, how and what teachers think about mathematics as it relates to the teaching of mathematics, and how they use this knowledge in their classrooms. Additionally, she studies the development and application of pedagogical content knowledge in mathematics teachers. (catherine.miller@uni.edu)

Glenn Nelson focuses on utilizing a field experience in a mathematics methods course for preservice teachers. (glenn.nelson@uni.edu)

Genevra Neumann is interested in complex analysis and studies complex-valued harmonic functions. (genevra.neumann@uni.edu)

Jihwa Noh is interested in teacher knowledge, curriculum materials, and international comparison in secondary-level mathematics education. (jihwa.noh@uni.edu)

Mike Prophet investigates optimal approximations to particular types of mathematical data and abstract approximation theory. (mike.prophet@uni.edu)

Edward Rathmell focuses on helping students meaningfully learn basic facts and mental computation and develops materials using student-centered approaches to teach these topics. In addition, he examines teaching and learning word problems, development of number sense, teacher change as it relates to the Standard for School Mathematics, NCTM 2000, and a website for elementary teachers. (edward.rathmell@uni.edu)

Vera Rayevskaya studies multivariate spines and their applications in approximation theory and computer-aided geometric design. (rayevskaya@math.uni.edu; math-cs.cns.uni.edu/~rayevska)

Jason Ribando specializes in combinatorics and geometry. He is especially interested in the interplay between the two disciplines in large dimension Euclidean spaces and investigates triangulations of polytopes, solid angle measurements and simplotopes. (jribondo@math.uni.edu; http://math-cs.cns.uni.edu/~jribando)

Jerry Ridenhour's current research interest is in the qualitative properties of solutions of dynamic equations on time scales. This is a relatively new research area that has the study of differential equations (when the time scale is an interval of real numbers) and difference equations (when the time scale is a discrete set of real numbers) as special cases. The goal is to establish properties of the solutions without being able to solve the equations in closed form. (jerry.ridenhour@uni.edu)

Suzanne Riehl investigates the spectral functions of ordinary differential equations, focusing on the Sturm-Liouville and Dirac problems on the half line. (suzanne.riehl@uni.edu; math-cs.cns.uni.edu/~riehl)

Douglas Shaw investigates a theorem-schematic approach to the Collatz Conjecture, mathematically honest ways to improve collegiate mathematics teaching, and combinatorics and number theory. (doug.shaw@uni.edu)

Marius Somodi is interested in algebraic number theory. He investigates the properties of number fields that have isomorphic Witt rings of quadradic forms. (somodi@uni.edu; math-cs.cns.uni.edu/~somodi)

Bridgette Stevens is interested in the study of preservice mathematics teacher education and the development of teacher knowledge, as well as mathematical problem solving and the problem solving of elementary mathematics teachers. (bridgette.stevens@uni.edu)

Diane Thiessen reviews and evaluates children's books in mathematics for grades PS-6. She is currently pursuing work on proportional reasoning. (diane.thiessen@uni.edu)

Jack Wilkinson focuses on a staff development program for secondary teachers of mathematics in Department of Defense Schools worldwide. (jack.wilkinson@uni.edu)

PHYSICS

Fred Behroozi uses laser interferometry and fiber optics to study the elastic behavior of films and monolayers on fluids. He is particularly interested in studying the propagation and attenuation of miniature surface waves (known as capillary waves) to determine surface tension and viscosity of fluids. (behroozi@uni.edu)

Cliff Chancey investigates topics in neuroscience, including the biophysics of ion channel activation in neurons and other excitable cells, and studies applications of physics in geology, biology, chemistry and the emerging area of nanoscience/nanotechnology. (c.chancey@uni.edu; www.uni.edu/physics/people/faculty/chancey.shtml)

John Deisz focuses on computer modeling and simulations of magnetic, metallic, and superconducting systems, particularly where interactions between electrons drive a system from being a normal metal or semiconductor to a superconductor or magnetic system. (john.deisz@uni.edu)

Lawrence Escalada investigates how inexpensive materials, real-life applications, and various types of technology can be used within an activity-based pedagogy to help students develop conceptual understanding of physics topics and reasoning skills. He is also interested in scientific inquiry at both the secondary and university levels. In addition, he is involved in high school physics teacher preparation and professional development. (lawrence.escalada@uni.edu)

Jeff Morgan studies how undergraduate physics majors develop an understanding of quantum mechanics, and he develops curriculum used to teach quantum physics concepts to nonscience students. He is also interested in how teachers implement their college science training in their elementary school classrooms. (jeff.morgan@uni.edu)

Dale Olson studies surface measurement and character recognition using holographic methods, for example, identifying a fingerprint in a library of fingerprints. He also has developed novel optics education strategies based on holography and electro-optics. (dale.olson@uni.edu;www.uni.edu/physics/people/faculty/olson.shtml)

Michael Roth investigates computational physics (computer modeling) and condensed matter theory (study of liquids and solids), especially the phases and phase transitions of atoms and molecules placed on flat and curved surfaces. He is also interested in fluid dynamical, as well as collision-based models of solar system and planetary ring formation, and also modeling groundwater systems (flow through porous media). (michael.roth@uni.edu)

Paul Shand studies the physics of magnetic materials, especially probing and understanding the fundamental electronic and magnetic properties of these materials by means of experimental measurements. Current interests include magnetic semiconductors such as gallium manganese sulfide and metallic alloys such as gadolinium-aluminum. (shand@uni.edu)