New Course Announcements:
In Fall 2024, I will be teaching PHY 1310 Physics in Medicine. This is an algebra-based course that reviews the entire year of introductory physics. Pre-professional students interested in taking the MCAT should strongly consider taking this course.
About
I teach coursework in physics and medical physics, organize the Cancer Support Group at OU, serve as de facto advisor for the Minor in Geology program, and have an appointment in the Medical Physics program. My research focuses on numerical modeling in biological physics, with a particular emphasis on heart arrhythmia.
In summer 2024, I will begin a program in psychology, with a course plan that focuses on biological psychology and the psychology of aging.
My professional interests are in the physics of heart arrhythmia and the mechanics of soft tissues. My personal interests are cancer and Alzheimer's disease. Please visit the American Cancer Society and the Alzheimer's Association to learn how you can help. Please also consider reading my letter to the editor about lung cancer.
Research News
Since I am pursuing an educational program while teaching, I have temporarily suspended my research activities. Some of my previous research highlights include:
2024 Dr. Puwal's article on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in nuclear weapons was published in NATO Review. This online magazine published by NATO provides a forum for opinion, debate, and analysis on security issues. It is noteworthy that NATO Review publishes only a small number of articles, and the article published immediately before this was written by the President of the Czech Republic.
2022-2024 As part of her Honors College thesis, Kylie Bedard continues working on the problem of whether the shape of an action potential in phase space correlates to the rate of spontaneous termination of fibrillation. We were very surprised to find that it does not. More interestingly, with recent innovations in chatbots, Kylie has integrated the use of chatGPT into the research process. At each step, Kylie developed the research and then prompted chatGPT to see if it would have done the same. We find that chatbots can be very useful, but there is still a need for a human in the research process.
2020-2022 Literally nothing interesting happened in the world of science.
2018-2019 Grace Goodrich, Shelby Gulda, Sharon Taragaturi, Alyson Light, Jason Medcoff, and Christina Ramotowski looked at whether the size and shape of phase space trajectories correlate to the rate of spontaneous termination of fibrillation. Their work was presented at the 2018 Meeting of Minds Conference. Grace has since graduated from nursing school, and Christina is graduating from medical school.
2015-2017 Courtney Clark and Erin Feeney of the Biology program developed a model of electrical defibrillation with class IV antiarrhythmics (calcium channel blockers). Both have since graduated from medical school.
2013-2014 Michael Kenney in the Health Science program assisted with summarizing the zoo of numerical models of fibrillation. Michael has since graduated from a PA program.
2011-2012 Natalya Melkus, a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the Biology program, developed a model of ventricular fibrillation to determine the key factors that can be used to guide the design of a defibrillator. Her work was presented at the 2012 Fall Meeting of the Ohio Region Section of the American Physical Society. Natalya has since graduated from a nursing program (yay!).
Letters of Reference
Due to so many recent requests for letters of reference, please note my new policy:
I am willing to consider writing letters of reference for polite, academically mature students who perform well in class, if you give me sufficient time to write the letter. Letters of reference are a courtesy, not an entitlement.
You must have received a grade of at least B+ in a 1000-level course that I have taught, or worked as a grader or teaching assistant for me, or taken a course above the 2000-level that I have taught, or worked on a summer research project with me.
I will only write letters directly to US-based educational programs. I will not provide letters of reference for employment (except for student employment), international programs, or provide a letter for you to keep as a reference "just in case".
Letters are expected to discuss interactions with the student. If you enrolled in my class but never stopped by my office hours, I am essentially limited to saying what your grade was, how you performed in relation to your peers, and the format of my class.
You will find that some of the best letters are written by faculty with whom you have engaged in research. So my best advice is to try to work on summer research projects with multiple faculty to build the kind of professional references that you will need for employment or graduate education. You will find it is best to have at least five people willing to write detailed professional references.
Interesting Articles
My favorite volcano (yes, I’m one of those people) is Mt. St. Helens. It’s one of the most dramatic eruptions to occur in North America, and we captured it all on film and on seismographs! The PBS series NOVA has an excellent documentary about Mt. St. Helens today. The mountain is extensively monitored on the US Geologic Survey page. I encourage you to watch PBS, and the many excellent episodes of NOVA.
Worthwhile educational programs are Bill Nye: The Science Guy, Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage and James Burke's Connections (the first series; it really picks up from episode 2 onward). Watching these programs certainly helped me want to become a scientist.
My Academic Genealogy
An academic genealogy traces your roots back through your academic advisor. Dr. Puwal earned his doctorate from Oakland University in Biomedical Sciences with a specialization in Medical Physics in 2008. His mentor was
Bradley Roth - PhD Physics, Vanderbilt University (1987)
Going back from student to advisor from Dr. Roth, we have
John Wikswo, Jr. - PhD Physics, Stanford University (1975)
William Fairbank - PhD Physics, Yale University (1948)
Cecil Lane - PhD Physics, McGill University (1929)
Etienne Bieler - PhD Physics, University of Cambridge (1923)
James Chadwick - PhD Physics, University of Cambridge (1921) - Discoverer of the neutron
Ernest Rutherford - University of Cambridge - "father of nuclear physics"
Ernest, apart from being the father of nuclear physics and the pride of New Zealand, didn’t actually earn a doctorate.
J.J. Thomson - Discoverer of the electron
John Strutt (Lord Rayleigh) - Rayleigh scattering explains why the sky is blue
Sir George Stokes - Stokes theorem, Navier-Stokes equations in fluid dynamics
William Hopkins - Discovered melting point increases with pressure; Notable for two of his other students, James Clerk Maxwell and Lord Kelvin
Adam Sedgwick - Mostly notable for one of his other students, Charles Darwin
Thomas Jones
Thomas Postlethwaite
Stephen Whisson
Walter Taylor
Robert Smith
Roger Cotes - First introduced what is known today as Euler’s formula
Isaac Newton - Co-inventor of calculus, Formulated laws of Newtonian mechanics, Universal Law of Gravity
Isaac Barrow - Discoverer of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus
According to the Mathematics Genealogy Project, Isaac Barrow wasn’t Newton’s formal advisor. Pulleyn was his official tutor, but it is said that Barrow had the greatest influence on Newton as a student. Isaac Barrow formally studied the classics. In parallel and after graduation he learned his mathematics under Vincenzo Viviani.
Vincenzo Viviani
Galileo Galilei - the principle of inertia, discovering the Galilean moons of Jupiter,
Ostilio Ricci
Niccolo Tartaglia - Self-taught in mathematics, first to publish a translation of Euclid’s Elements into a modern European language.
Most academic genealogies stop at Tartaglia. According to academictree.org, Galileo has an alternative connection. Galileo was a student of
Guidobaldo del Monte a Mathematician who was influential in ensuring Galileo had patrons, leading to his professorship at the University of Padua. del Monte's connection to Galileo is, therefore, indirect. But from him we can resume an academic genealogy of direct study
Frederico Comandino, Mathematician
Francesco Maurolico, Mathematician and Astronomer
Antonio Maurolico, father of Francesco
Konstantinos Laskaris
Johannes Argyropoulos, whose impressive career includes one other student of note: Leonardo da Vinci
Office: 186-D MSC, 146 Library Drive, Department of Physics, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan
Email: smpuwal2@oakland.edu