Teaching

I am an astronomer in a physics department, so I get to teach both.

Physics topics I especially enjoy sharing:

• Optics. I teach an introductory course in geometric and wave
  optics. This means that I also have to teach wave phenomena
  more generally, including vibrations, resonances, and their
  application to sound. Here is the table of contents and first
  chapter of the book that I have devised for this course.
• Modern Physics. I have also taught the introductory course in
  modern physics many times. I treat it as one-quarter story-
  telling about how discoveries were made, and three-quarters
  framing the new, brain-busting realities that underlie much of
  our understanding of the world around us. Topics usually
  include relativity, notable historical experiments, quantum
  mechanics, atomic physics, molecular radiation, and particle
  physics.
• Electromagnetism. This is the most difficult material taught to
  undergraduate students, primarily because it is so abstract
  that it is difficult to see how it boils down to a small number of
  simple-to-follow principles. When I teach intermediate
  electromagnetism, students spend a lot of time working at the
  board to hone a deeper understanding of the mathematical
  formalism. Juniors and seniors only.

Astronomy topics I especially enjoy sharing:

• Stars. This should come as no surprise. In their abundance,
  stars have a lot to teach us about the nature of reality on cosmic
  scales. And the tools we use to investigate their properties (like
  the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and spectra) are enjoyable in
  their own right.
• Space and Time. The time unit of a second is based on the
  length of the solar day, and the unit of measure for space is
  based on the distance between the Sun and Earth. Revealing our
  conceptions of time and space based on these facts tells us a lot
  about ourselves.
• Orbits. Gravity is the force that binds celestial objects.
  Observing how that works reveals how a myriad of seemingly
  unrelated phenomena are connected.
• Light and Matter. Under this general heading, I can introduce
  students to everything from how telescopes work to how
  starlight interacts with interstellar material.
• Ancient Night Sky. I spend some of each JanTerm class on
  ancient views of the night sky, but it is something that I also bore
  some of my poor colleagues with on a somewhat regular basis.
  When discovering how our ancestors viewed the sky, we catch a
  glimpse of how the human mind works on a fundamental level.