Teaching

For over 20 years,  I have taught courses to the full spectrum of the student population at the institutions I have served.  As a theoretical physicist, I am delighted to share with my audience -- be it colleagues, students, or the general public -- the known facts and deep mysteries of the curiously non-intuitive place that is our Universe. 

In 2020, I was the recipient of the President's Fritz B. Burns Distinguished Teaching Award, the highest such honour bestowed on LMU faculty.

In Spring 2024, I am teaching the following courses:

An introduction to special relativity (SR) and quantum mechanics (QM). Selected topics include (SR) frames of reference, Minkowski diagrams and space time structure, causality, Lorentz transformations, four-vectors and Lorentz invariants, relativistic conservation laws. (QM) failures of classical theory, wave- PHYS - 14 particle duality, models of the hydrogen atom, emission spectra, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, wave functions and probability, the Schrodinger equation. 

Historical introduction. Review of Special Relativity. Differential geometry, tensor analysis and curvature. The Equivalence Principle and Einstein’s field equations. The Schwarzschild solution and Black Holes. The standard model of Cosmology and Robertson-Walker metrics. The Friedmann equation and the cosmological constant. Red-shift and cosmological distance. Type la Supernovae as distance indicators. Inflation, Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and other problems of current cosmology. Alternative theories of gravity.

Independent research with a faculty member in his/her area of expertise; students must complete a written thesis and oral presentation.

Students develop and propose a research project; students must complete a written proposal, literature search, and oral presentation.