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I grew up in Solon, Ohio. My mother was a voracious reader and she took me to our public library every week where as a young boy I discovered books on rocks and dinosaurs and astronomy and all sorts of wonderful things, which kindled a life-long passion for learning and discovering new things. I graduated from Solon High School in 1970. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Astronomy with Highest Honors at Case Western Reserve University in 1974. (CWRU website) I moved to California for graduate school and earned a Master of Science in Astronomy at California Institute of Technology in 1977. (Caltech website)
I taught astronomy and physics at Crafton Hills College, El Camino College, Santa Monica College and Orange Coast College until I was hired full time in 1978 at LBCC. I have taught calculus based physics since then, and have recently started teaching Astronomy 1. I have also taught a variety of mathematics and programming courses in the past. The web pages for the classes I teach are:
Astronomy 1 website
Physics 3A website
Physics 3C website
For my Physics classes, I have written numerous lab handouts customized to the equipment that we have at LBCC. I have also produced a variety of videos on DVD for both the lab and lecture portions of my classes. My goal in the calculus based physics classes is to have students learn the basic laws of physics, and thinking critically and analytically, be able to solve a wide variety of problems in numerous situations. Although I put a lot of effort into helping students understand what they are trying to learn, and I am happy to explain things in multiple ways, I expect students to develop personal responsibility for their education. It has been my experience that the most successful students are those who take personal responsibility for their learning, while the least successful students take no responsibility for their education, or blame others for their lack of success.
I enjoy building things, woodworking, digital photography, digital videography, reading and learning new things (such as how to create this website). I and my wife have spent the last several years learning telemark skiing, which is similar to alpine (downhill) skiing, but with a free heel instead of a fixed, locked down heel. It is more difficult to learn than downhill skiing, and feels very awkward at first, but when mastered it is a graceful dance down the mountain. (a telemark website)
My wife and I also enjoy backpacking, hiking, trekking, mountaineering and adventure travel. We have climbed numerous peaks in the Sierra Nevada in California and in other mountain ranges. We have backpacked across Baffin Island north of the Arctic circle in the Canadian Nunavut territory, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro (the highest point in Africa), trekked in Patagonia (Chile and Argentina), hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru, trekked in the Cordillera Blanca in Peru, and visited the huge stone statues on Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean. We look forward to visiting many more wild places on the planet.
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