Professional Info

Awards

• Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching (2023)

• Faculty Service Merit Award and Faculty Merit Award in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (2023)

• William F. Homiller Award for Teaching Excellence (2022)

• Second Place, Greater Philadelphia Social Innovator Award (2021)

• Outstanding Chapter Advisor in the Nation, Society of Physics Students (2018)

• Inaugural Award, Charles Kaufman Foundation Integrated Research & Education Award (2018)

• Bright Ideas Award for Teaching (2016)

• Allan Rothwarf Award for Teaching Excellence (2008, Drexel University)

Research and Education Grants at SJU/USciences

• PI, $100,000.00 Undergraduates Investigating Quantum Effects in Multi-Gap Superconductivity in Novel Superconductors, The Charles Kauffman Foundation (2018-2022)

• PI, $ 66,300.00 RUI: Probing the Energy Gap of “Clean” MgB2 using High Resolution Tunneling Spectroscopy, National Science Foundation (2015-2020)

• Co-PI, $ 50, 000  STEM Equity Research Scholars, Jannsen Pharmaceuticals (2021-2022)

• Co-PI, $ 17, 500 STEM Equity Research Scholars, Bristol-Myers Squibb (2021-2022)

• PI, $35, 818.00 Physics Wonder Girls Camp/Undergraduate Research in Renewable Energies (2022-2023)

• PI, $29. 975.00 Physics Wonder Girls Camp/Undergraduate Research in Renewable Energies (2021-2022)

• PI, $29,914.00 Physics Wonder Girls Camp/Undergraduate Research in Renewable Energies (2019-2021)

• PI, $25,507.00 Physics Wonder Girls Camp/Undergraduate Research in Renewable Energies (2018-2019) + $25, 507.00 matching

• PI, $ 15,000.00 Physics Wonder Girls Camp: A Summer STEM Day Camp for Middle School Girls, The Lindback Foundation (2017)

• PI, $ 8, 255.00 Physics Wonder Girls Camp, Puratos Corporation (2018) + $ 8, 255.00 matching

• PI, $ 8, 000.00 Physics Wonder Girls Camp, Puratos Corporation (2019)

• PI, $4,300.00 Incorporating Optics and Photonics in a Physics Girls Camp, SPIE – the International Society for Optics and  Photonics (2018)

Grants before SJU/USciences

• PI, $623,337.00 NSF S-STEM Scholarship Program, Indiana Wesleyan University (2015)

• PI, $230, 000.00 NSF RUE "Probing the Energy Gap of “Clean” MgB2 using High Resolution Tunneling Spectroscopy" (2012)

• PI, $460,000 NSF S-STEM Scholarship Program, Drexel University (2007)

Professional Information

Employment History before University of the Sciences/Saint Joseph's University

1. Indiana Wesleyan University (Sept 2011-Aug 2015)

Blanchard Endowed Chair of Physics and Mathematics/Associate Professor of Physics 

PI/Program Director, NSF-IWU S-STEM Scholarship Program funded at $623,337.00

PI, NSF-RUI Superconductivity Research grant, funded at $230,000.00 

Research  Accomplishments

• Obtained $230,000 in NSF research funding to study superconductors with undergraduates.

• Published in Nature Communications (2012), reporting the first experimental evidence of sub-structure in MgB2 energy gap, as predicted by Marvin Cohen and Stephen Louie.

• Experimentally demonstrated multi-photon transitions and macroscopic quantum mechanics in sub-mm Josephson junctions. Observed Fermi-Perot interferometry  in nanoscale graphene.

• Awarded $76,000 worth of equipment through the U.S. Department of Energy

• Recipient, Hinds Fellowship and two-time Principium Lectureship

• Built a Low Temperature Laboratory with a 3K cryo-free cryocooler and a 3He cryostat

• Supervised three IWU undergraduates and two continuing Ph.D. students at Drexel University in research on superconductivity, quantum mechanics, and nanoscale physics.

• Conducted STEM education research with  iPADs (as virtual oscilloscope and for video motion analyses). Published results in 2014 book “The New Landscape of Mobile Learning”

• Conducted STEM education research on “flipping classes” and active learning using video lectures.

• Served as 2012 on-site NSF federal grant panel reviewer.

• Participated in brainstorming initiatives during the National Science Foundation Broader Impacts Workshop at NSF Headquarters, Arlington, VA.

• Collaborated with University of Maryland researchers for 6 weeks on Hybrid Quantum Computing and Dual-STM-based atomic imaging projects during Summer 2015 at College Park, MD

• Collaborated with Maryland collaborators resulting in an 8-week NSF research internship for physics major Alex Waters at NSA’s Laboratory for Physical Sciences in College Park, MD

     Teaching, Mentorship and Service Accomplishments

• Established and coached the Society of Physics (SPS) chapter to 5 AIP awards in under 2 years: 1 Outstanding SPS Chapter Award, 2 Marsh White Outreach Awards, 1 Blake Lilly Prize, and 2 Future Faces of Physics Awards.

• Mentorship led to SPS chapter featured in nationally-distributed SPS Fall 2013 Awards Poster

• Nominated for National Science Foundation’s  Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics & Engineering Mentoring (NSF PAESMEM)

• 2014 Outstanding SPS Chapter Advisor Nominee

• Developed an NSF-funded three-day “Physics Wonder Girls” STEM Day Camp for Middle School Girls: http://msdn.cis.indwes.edu/spaswebserver/physicsgirlscamp/ 

• Mentored Drexel Ph.D. student Joseph Lambert towards a 2012 Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid Award and three IWU undergraduates towards three Eli Lilly Research Fellowships

• Mentored physics major David Cusick to successfully apply for a $500 APS Travel Grant to present results at 2015 APS March Meeting.

• Developed the Physics Department website and faculty research website.

• Founded IWU Science Colloquium Series, Workshops for Internships and Fellowships

• Member, Executive Scholarship Council, Grants Management Committee, and Diversity Council.

2. Drexel University (Sept 2004-Aug 2011)

Assistant Professor of Physics

PI/Program Director, NSF-Drexel S-STEM Scholarship Program, funded at $430,000.00

Allan Rothwarf Awardee for Teaching Excellence

Research Accomplishments

• Built a state-of-the-art, Ultra-low Temperature Quantum Device Characterization Laboratory.

• Demonstrated substructure in the superconducting energy gap of MgB2 below 1° Kelvin, that confirmed the 2002 anisotropic Eliashberg theory of  Cohen and Louie

• Experimentally demonstrated RF resonant activation in MgB2 thin film Josephson junctions.

• Measured laser-induced structural defects and tuning of charge carrier concentration in single-layer graphene nanoscale flakes using Raman spectroscopy.

• Measured quantum-to-classical crossover behavior of  superconducting Josephson phase qubits.

• Awarded  $650,000 worth of research equipment from the DOE ERLE program. 

• 26 invited scientific talks and 56 contributed (shared with students) research presentations.

• Chair of 2004 Int’l. Applied Superconductivity Conference Quantum Computing Session

• Co-Chair of 2008 Phil-American Academy of Science Symposium Spectroscopy Session

• NSF Travel Grant Awardee, 2010 NORDITA Conference on Quantum Information, Sweden

       Teaching, Mentorship and Service Accomplishments

• 2008 Allen Rothwarf Awardee for Teaching Excellence, Drexel University’s highest award given competitively to a junior faculty for teaching excellence

• PI/Program Director of $460,000 NSF S-STEM Grant for scholarships to financially-needy, under-represented students to study physics and chemistry.

• Mentored multiple undergraduate physics students towards national fellowships and awards:

Alyssa Wilson              - Drexel U’s first Cambridge-Gates Fellow, Goldwater Scholar, NSF Graduate Research Fellow

Carlos Aspetti              - Department of Defense Graduate Fellow, NSF IGERT

Jerome Mlack              - NSF Graduate Research Fellow, Goldwater Hon. Mention

Steven Carabello         - Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid

• Nominated as 2010 Outstanding SPS Chapter Advisor

• Four undergraduate mentees are now doctoral students at Harvard U, Purdue U, Johns Hopkins U and Columbia U. Another is an NSF-IGERT fellow at UPenn.

• Mentored physics Ph.D. Steven Carabello towards a 2010 Sigma Xi Research Society Grant-in-Aid Award, a 2010 Outstanding Graduate Research Student Award, and 1stPrize in 2010 Drexel Research Day Outstanding Research Poster

• Revived and coached the Society of Physics Students (SPS) and Sigma Pi Sigma (ΣΠΣ) Physics Honor Society towards record awards from American Institute of Physics (AIP): five consecutive Marsh White Outreach Awards, two Undergraduate Research Awards, two ΣΠΣ Project Awards, two Outstanding SPS Chapter Awards, twoChapter Reporter Awards, one Blake Lilly Prize, and multiple travel grants in five years.

• Developed a Quantum Information Hybrid Course for undergraduates and graduate students.

• Revamped the Introductory Physics curriculum for engineering students by infusing contemporary physics topics including superconductivity, microwave optics, and tunneling (STM).

• Authored the Drexel University Physics Lab Manual (Ramos et al., Pearson/Addison-Wesley, 2009) introducing 12 new lab experiments.

• Introduced use of “clickers” to Drexel University using a $7K Technology grant obtained competitively; successes led to adoption by Chemistry, Math,  and other disciplines.

• Introduced a “How Things Work” course that inspired a Chemistry analog: “Why Things Work”.

• Led annual University Workshops  on “Preparing to Teach” & “Different Styles of Learning”,required of all University TA’s for three consecutive years (2008, 2009, 2010)

• Collaborated with Drexel Nanomaterials group (Yury Gogotsi) and Mesomaterials group (Jonathan Spanier) on graphene, Maryland’s Joint Quantum Institute Fellows (Chris Lobb, Fred Wellstood) on superconducting qubits and Temple U’s Superconductivity Group (Xiaoxing Xi) on MgB2.

• Onsite Grant Panel Reviewer for NSF, the US Civilian Research and Development Foundation, and the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

• IEEE Technical Editor, 2008 Proceedings of Applied Superconductivity Conference (ASC).

• Reviewer for APS journals (PRB, PRL), IEEE Transactions in Applied Superconductivity, Journal of Low Temperature Physics, and Institute of Physics journals.

• Member, Board of Advisors for “University Physics” textbook, by Bauer & Westfall.