Assistant Professor

At Valdosta State University, I teach courses in Astronomy & Physics in the Department of Physics, Astronomy, Geosciences, & Engineering Technology (PAGET).  My classes seek to transmit the curriculum to students, but also expose them to new ways of doing science.  For example, most of my courses include a JupyterBook that exposes students to Python, Markdown, and/or LaTex.  Below is a list of classes that I teach in a sequence designated by semester and year (even/odd):

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  • Fall (odd years)

    • ASTR 1020K Introductory Astronomy: Stars & Galaxies (using OpenStax)

    • PHYS 3820 Computational Physics (JupyterBook)​

  • Fall (even years)​

  • Spring (even years)​

    • ASTR 1010K Introductory Astronomy: Solar System (using OpenStax)

    • ASTR 4410 Modern Astrophysics (JupyterBook)

  • Spring (odd years)​

    • ASTR 1010K Introductory Astronomy: Solar System (using OpenStax)

    • ASTR 1000 Introduction to the Universe

    • ASTR 3220 Cosmology (JupyterBook in development)

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Student Engagement

I have a passion for sharing my experience with students by assisting them in engaging research.  My mentoring style seeks to foster skill building so that the students I engage with can apply their knowledge to many different areas.  Below is a list of students who I have mentored as a faculty member or postdoc, where several of these students have published our work in a major research journal in Astronomy or Astrobiology. 

Undergraduate students

  • Valdosta State University

    • Ralph Avery​

    • Jordan Hewins

    • Chris Robinson

  • Georgia Tech

    • Ziqian Hong

    • Karthik Yadavalli

  • University of Oklahoma​

    • Ethan White​

Graduate students

  • University of Idaho

    • Steven Kreyche​

  • University of Oklahoma

    • Matt Clement

  • University of Texas at Arlington

    • Shaan Patel

    • Oshina Jagtap​

    • Marialis Rosario-Franco

    • Sarah Moorman

    • Suman Satyal​​

Visiting Assistant Professor

 

After my first postdoc at NASA, I spent a full academic year teaching and learning from students a the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK).  As a Visiting Professor, I created a curriculum for introductory courses in Physics & Astronomy.  Moreover I developed and built new lab experiences, where the video on the right shows one lab I established.  In this lab, the students learned about streams, floods, and erosion, where they measured the flow rate using a stream table.

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Below is a list of courses that I taught at UNK:

Fall 2015

  • Introductory Physics for Non-majors

    • Mechanics, Heat, & Sound​

  • Conceptual Physical Science​

Spring 2016

  • Introductory Physics for Non-majors

    • Electricity, Magnetism, Optics, & Relativity

  • Introductory Astronomy​

    • Planets, Stars, & Cosmology​

  • Conceptual Physical Science​

Professional Service

Service is an integral part of the maintenance for a well-functioning academy.  Below is a list of service activities that I have performed for various institutions. 

  • Georgia Tech

    • Cosmic Coffee organizer​ for the Center for Relativistic Astrophysics
       

  • American Astronomical Society Session Chair​

    • 2018 DPS meeting

    • 2019 DDA meeting​
       

  • Academic Journal Reviewer​

    • Nature Astronomy

    • ​Icarus

    • Astronomical Journal/Astrophysical Journal

    • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

    • Advances in Space Research

    • Physical Letters A

    • Advances in Astronomy
       

  • Kepler Working Group​

    • ​Eclipsing Binaries

    • Transit Timing Variations & Multiple Bodies

    • Threshold Crossing Event Review Team (TCERT)
       

  • TESS Working Group​

    • Circumbinary Planets​