Carleton College: Physics and Astronomy: Faculty and Staff

Faculty and Staff

Physics and Astronomy

Phone: (507) 222-4383
Fax: (507) 222-4384

Faculty

Cindy Blaha

Professor of Physics and Astronomy

Office: Olin Hall 321

Phone: x4429

Email: cblaha@carleton.edu

Cindy is an astrophysicist interested in the optical and radio properties of star formation and evolution in the disks and nuclei of spiral galaxies.

Cindy's Webpage

Nelson L. Christensen

Professor of Physics

Office: Olin Hall 317

Phone: x5932

Email: nchriste@carleton.edu

Nelson is an experimental physicist with current interests in quantum chaos, medical imaging, and gravitational radiation.

Nelson's Webpage

Rich Noer

Laurence McKinley Gould Professor of the Natural Sciences, Emeritus

Office: Olin Hall 331

Phone: x4383

Email: rnoer@carleton.edu

An experimental solid state physicist, Rich conducts research on electron field emission and the application of superconductivity to particle accelerators. He is also interested in the history and philosophy of science.

Rich's Webpage

Arjendu K. Pattanayak

Associate Professor of Physics

Office: Olin Hall 337

Phone: x7166

Email: apattana@carleton.edu

Arjendu is a theorist studying chaos and quantum chaos, particularly issues in decoherence and entropy dynamics. He is deeply interested in the integration of research with education.

Arjendu's Webpage

Robert A. Reitz

Professor of Physics, Emeritus

Office: Olin Hall 331

Phone: x4383

Email: breitz@carleton.edu

Bruce R. Thomas

Laurence McKinley Gould Professor of the Natural Sciences, Emeritus

Email: bthomas@carleton.edu

Bruce bridges the gap between the theoretical and experimental sides of physics. While his graduate work was in high energy theory, Bruce now finds himself involved in electronic instrumentation and computers. His main research interests are atomic and molecular physics and laser spectroscopy.

Bill Titus

John E. Sawyer Professor of Physics and Liberal Learning

Office: Olin Hall 323

Phone: x4386

Email: btitus@carleton.edu

Bill is a theoretician interested in computer modeling, problems in statistical mechanics, solid state and low temperature physics.

Joel M. Weisberg

Herman and Gertrude Mosier Stark Professor of Physics and Astronomy and the Natural Sciences
Chair of Physics and Astronomy

Office: Olin Hall 319

Phone: x4367

Email: jweisber@carleton.edu

Joel is a radio astronomer who studies pulsars, gravity waves, and the interstellar medium at the Arecibo, Green Bank, and Very Large Array radio telescopes.

Joel's Website

Steve Parker

Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics

Office: Olin Hall 327

Phone: x4381

Email: sparker@carleton.edu

Steve is an experimental surface scientist interested in the nucleation, growth, thermal sintering, and structure of nanometer-scale particles on well-defined substrates.

Melissa Eblen-Zayas

Assistant Professor of Physics

Office: Olin Hall 325

Phone: x7838

Email: meblenza@carleton.edu

Melissa's Web Page

Hector H. Calderon

Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics

Office: Olin Hall 335

Phone: x7167

Email: calderon@carleton.edu

Hector was an experimentalist during his undergrad years. He switched to study Quantum Fields in Curved Spacetimes for his graduate work. He is currently interested in finding a suitable axiomatic formulation of General Relativity in the hope that it will lead to an appropriate mix-and-match with the postulates of Quantum Mechanics.

Liz McDowell

Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics

Email: lmcdowel@carleton.edu

Dwight Luhman

Assistant Professor of Physics

Email: dluhman@carleton.edu

John W. Weiss

Visiting Assistant Professor of Astronomy

Email: jweiss@carleton.edu

Marty Baylor

Assistant Professor of Physics

Email: mbaylor@carleton.edu

Staff

Thomas R Baraniak

Electronics & Laboratory Manager in Physics & Astronomy

Office: Olin Hall 208

Phone: x4033

Email: tbarania@carleton.edu

Tom has worked on the Hubble Space Telescope and writes for Circuit Cellar Magazine about cool sensors he develops for robots, spacecraft, and home automation. Tom is interested in integrating and broadening the sciences and science education.

Tom's Webpage