Click HereI received a bachelor's degree in physics from West Texas State University, Canyon, TX, in 1965. A year later I obtained a master's degree in physics from the same institution. After completing my military obligation and spending a year in Viet Nam, I entered the University of Arkansas in 1969 to begin work on my Ph.D. At the University of Arkansas, I studied the structure of liquid metals using x-ray diffraction techniques. I received my Ph.D. in 1973. After finishing at the University of Arkansas, I accepted a teaching position at Stephen F. Austin State University, and I have been happily engaged in teaching and research here ever since.
My current teaching interest centers around the use of multimedia materials for physics instruction. Dr. Jim Dennis, a faculty member in our department, has developed a point and click presentation system using a Macintosh computer that integrates CD-ROM, laser disk, hi-8 computer controlled VCR tape, pict files, and various demonstration software to display physics animation and graphics. The hardware ports all presentation media through a computer controlled switch to an LCD projector so that all I have to do is advance clips using an infrared remote switch. This system has allowed me to improve the classroom dynamics of the physics classes I teach, because I don't have to constantly be connecting wire, throwing switches, and pushing buttons. My students seem to enjoy the graphics and animation.
I have maintained an active research interest in the structure of non-crystalline materials and liquids. My most recent work has been devoted to structure studies of amorphous metals. I have collaborated with the amorphous metals group at Texas A&M University headed by Dr. Don Naugle. We have conducted studies on the structure of and thermoelectric properties of ternary amorphous metal systems produced by rapid quenching of molten alloys using the spin quench technique. The X-ray Diffraction Laboratory in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Stephen F. Austin State University possess a theta theta x-ray diffractometer specially designed to study the structureof liquids, a Seemann Bohlin x-ray diffractometer with the capability of studying the properties of thin films and amorphous metals and a theta-two-theta diffractometer designed to study amorphous metals and powder patterns.