Email

603-563-1294

Math & Science

Director of the Perkin Observatory

BA (Liberal Arts) St. John's College

BS (Physics) University of Massachusetts, Amherst 
MS (Mechanical Engineering) University of Massachusetts, Amherst 

I grew up on the campus of Massachusetts boarding school, where my father taught math. This has had a strong effect on my feelings about both profession and lifestyle. For high school I went away to boarding school, an experience that has, I hope, helped me to be aware of the challenges that face young people away from home. Four years of studying the liberal arts led to a nine year stint as a bicycle mechanic. During this time I did some coaching, my first work with adolescents. This inclined me towards teaching; so I determined to gain qualification in a field that would be likely to offer a steady possibility of employment in schools. Despite having not had math beyond basic algebra and little science, I decided, at age 28, that physics might be an interesting field. A few years of part time study proved to me that this was true. However, a few years of teaching in a small public school soured me on the profession. Back to UMass again, I took an MS in engineering, with a thesis on noise reduction in ducts. I should have paid more attention to the fact that my favorite aspect of the job was teaching undergraduates. Instead I took an engineering position. Four years of this convinced me to try teaching again, this time in the friendlier confines of Dublin. I've been here and happy ever since.

What book has made you think the most?: "Jefferson Davis, American" , the biography of the Confederate leader by William Cooper, is a thought provoking book that I read recently. Here we have the story of a man who gave himself to the service of his country, as a senator, secretary of war, and finally as President of one of the great factions contending during the terrible events of 1861-5. History has not been kind to this man. Consensus on his career has generally lain in the horrors our nation suffered, for the discredited and even reprehensible (to modern mind) views he upheld. Davis was a capable man and an idealist. It is easy for us now to view the Civil War simply as a contest between good and evil. This book helped me to see the whole tragedy of the times more clearly, as the outcome of a deep conflict between thoughtful and truly patriotic people who still stood opposite sides of a profound divide. I am no less an admirer of Lincoln for having read the book, and no less relieved at failure of the Confederacy, but I feel a more complete understanding of both the issues at stake in those times and of the passions in the human heart that make such conflicts so intractable, in our day as much as in the remote past.

If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?: I really do not want to be a superhero. My efforts are best spent in trying to figure out how to use my own limited powers as effectively as I can, rather than wishing for what I do not have.

How would your friends describe you in 3 words?: No easy description

You are hosting a dinner party and must invite 3 famous people. Who would you choose and why?: I would invite Phil Geer, Niklaus Heusch, and Sara Schultz, three former students of mine at Dublin. Phil was a bright student who never clicked well with me and who sometimes seemed ill placed in school at all. Just the same, he had an independent mind and always saw things from an unexpected viewpoint, from geometric propositions to much broader questions. We struggled when he was here but my guess is that he would make a fine dinner guest now. Niklaus was a one year visitor from Germany who combined a fine mind for math with some scary computer skills, and best of all, a real sense of adventure. He accomplished a more thorough exploration of Mount Monadnock in his year here than any other student has done in four. He did all this with a big smile and a delightful willingness to meet others on their own terms. After Dublin, he ended up rowing for his college at Oxford, the most estimable of university accomplishments. Finally, Sara Schultz was an endlessly curious polymath who entertained me in class for her entire three years here and who could doubtlessly entertain any dinner company. On the other hand, if I could have one dinner guest all to myself, it would be Sung Ho Hong, Dublin '06. There is not enough space here to list his accomplishments or describe personal qualities. Suffice to say, I would prefer to have him for myself.