Faculty
One of the strengths of the physics and pre-engineering programs at Truman is the close interaction betwen faculty and students. Classes are small: introductory classes range from 20 to 70 students, advanced classes range from 5 to 15.
The physics faculty consist of nine full-time professors, with diverse backgrounds, who share the common goal of providing an excellent undergraduate education for their students. Each faculty member reserves ample time for working one-on-one with students in their classes, and for supervision of student research.
Our faculty have a broad range of training and experience, including postdoctoral work, industry experience, sabbatical leave research, and extensive travel. Their undergraduate and graduate degrees were obtained from both large and small institutions.
To learn more, including opportunities for research involving students, click on the photos and visit the personal web pages of the faculty.
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Matthew Beaky, Associate Professor of Physics B.S., Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Ph.D., The Ohio State University. Research Interests: Millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelength spectroscopy (experimental); photonic bandgap crystals (experimental and theoretical). General Interests: Molecular astrophysics; molecular gas lasers; atomic and molecular collisions; chemical physics, paleoastronomy. Magruder Hall 3168, beaky@truman.edu, (660)785-4594. Home Page. |
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Taner Edis, Associate Professor of Physics B.S., Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, Turkey; Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University. Research Interests: Computational condensed matter physics, particularly the phenomenology of superconducting systems; atmospheric modeling; foundations of statistical mechanics and artificial intelligence. General Interests: The physics of complex systems; philosophy of science; philosophy of religion; criticism of paranormal and fringe science claims; public science literacy. Magruder Hall 3004, E-mail Page, (660)785-4583. Home Page. |
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Michael Goggin, Associate Professor of Physics B.S., Oakland University; Ph.D., University of Arkansas. Research Interests: Nonlinear dynamics and chaos (theoretical, computational, and experimental), foundations of quantum mechanics (theoretical, computational), quantum optics (theoretical, computational, and experimental). General Interests: Optics, foundations of quantum mechanics, nonlinear dynamics and chaos, computational methods, philosophy of science, philosophy in general. Magruder Hall 3172, mgoggin@truman.edu, (660)785-4410. Home Page. |
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Vayujeet Gokhale, Assistant Professor of Physics B.Sc., University of Bombay, India; Ph.D., Louisiana State University. Research Interests: Formation and evolution of compact binaries, population synthesis, gravitational waves, accretion disks. General Interests: Astrobiology, habitable planets, earth system science. Magruder Hall 3164, gokhale@truman.edu, (660)785-4411. Home Page. |
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Ian Lindevald, Professor of Physics, Department Chair B.A., Gettysburg College; Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University. Research Interests: Modal characteristics of clarinet reeds, imaging vibrations of surfaces using holography, sound propagation in nonuniform waveguides - horns. General Interests: Musical acoustics in general, random sound fields in rooms (architectural acoustics), perception of sound (psychoacoustics). Magruder Hall 3002, lindy@truman.edu, (660)785-4574. Home Page. |
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Peter Rolnick, Professor of Physics B.S., Antioch College; M.S., Ph.D., University of Oregon Current Interests: Relativistic corrections in descriptions of small nuclei, physics pedagogy, history of nuclear weapons development. Magruder Hall 3006, prolnick@truman.edu, (660)785-4611. Home Page. |
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Mohammad Samiullah, Professor of Physics B.Sc., The University of Burdwan, India; M.Sc., Indian Institute of Technology; Ph.D., Boston University. Research Interests: Elementary particle theory, neural networks, mathematical modeling of biological systems, ultrasonic study of biological tissue. General Interest: Foundations of quantum mechanics. Magruder Hall 3174, msamiull@truman.edu, (660)785-4070. Home Page. |
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Eduardo Sánchez Velasco, Associate Professor of Physics B.S., Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain; M.A., Ph.D., State University of New York at Stony Brook. Research Interests: Wave propagation, ray theory, thermodynamic properties of phase transitions, statistical mechanics, quantum theory. General Interests: Continuous mechanics, optics and lasers, theoretical and computational fluid mechanics, foundations of quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, imaging and inverse problems. Magruder Hall 3170, velasco@truman.edu, (660)785-4603. Home Page. |