Curriculum Vitae

Michael E. Huster

Assistant Professor of Physics Director of Instructional Labs

Physics Department, Duquesne University

600 Forbes Ave

Pittsburgh, PA 15282

husterm@duq.edu

Education

• University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA B. A. in physics
• University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA M. S. in physics
• University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA Ph. D. in physics

Professional Experience

• July 2014 – Present. Assistant Professor of Physics and Director of Instructional Labs, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA

• January 2010 – June 2014. Professor of Physics, Nyack College, Nyack and Manhattan, NY
• September 2000 - December 2010. Associate & Assistant Professor of Science, Simpson University, Redding CA
• September 1988 - September 2000. Program manager and member of technical staff at AETC, Inc, now part of SAIC/Leidos. Program manager for Navy sonar development subcontracts. Wrote winning contract proposals. Developed and specified algorithms for environmentally adaptive sonar control, broadband classification, non-Gaussian processing, beamforming, and array shape compensation for towed array sonar systems. Conducted applied research in physical oceanography.
• September 1986 - September 1988. Technical staff at Energy Science Laboratories. Designed and built experiments on low-gravity growth of nanowires.
• August 1984 - August 1986. Post-doctorate appointment at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Conducted research on phase transitions in liquid crystal.

  Current Teaching Responsibilities

• Lab for General Analytical Physics I and II
• Optics Lab (second year physics)
• Modern Physics Lab (second/third year physics)

Publications

• Huster, M. E., “An Improved Box Theater,” The Physics Teacher, September 2011. Nero, R.W. and Huster, M. E., “Low-frequency acoustic imaging of Pacific salmon on the high seas,” Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 53, pp 2513 - 2523 (1996).
• Adair, R. G. and Huster, M. E., “High resolution surface reverberation imaging during CST 7 Phase 2. Critical Sea Test 7, Phase 2: principle investigators’ results”. Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory Report STD-R-2258, pg. 4-1-4-83, (1993).
• C. W. Garland and M. E. Huster, “Nematic-smectic-C heat capacity near the nematic-smectic-A-smectic-C point,” Phys. Rev. A 35, 2365 - 2368 (1987).
• Michael E. Huster, Paul A. Heiney, Victoria B. Cajipe, and John E. Fischer, “Structure of high-stage potassium intercalated graphite,” Phys. Rev. B 35, 3311 - 3326 (1987).
• P. A. Heiney, M. E. Huster, V. B. Cajipe, and J. E. Fischer, “Structure of high-stage potassium graphite,” Syn. Metals 12, 21 - 26 (1985).
• J. A. Griffin, M. Huster, Robert J. Folweiler, “Critical behavior of the spontaneous magnetization at marginal dimensionality in LiHoF4,” Phys. Rev. B 22, 4370 - 4378 (1980).

Awards

• Faculty Award for the Support of Information Literacy and Critical Thinking, May 2013, Nyack College Library. Astronomy project. A formal paper on one of six interpretations of Genesis 1-2, including a source summary, draft, in-class presentation with a 1-page hand-out and a 3-5 page personal position response.

Professional Presentations

• Teaching Relativity Using Spacetime Graphs, Northern California-Nevada AAPT meeting, April 9, 2005.
• Physics Flings: The Camera Obscura, Association of Christian Schools International, Regional Meeting, Sacramento, CA, October 2004.
• Active Engagement of Students in Astronomy to the Simpson College faculty in-service, November 5, 2002.
• A Net Force Direction Demonstration, No. California-Nevada AAPT meeting, April 5, 2003.

Professional Society Memberships

• American Association of Physics Teachers. (AAPT) http://aapt.org
• American Modeling Teachers Association (AMTA) http://modelinginstruction.org/
• STEM Teachers New York City. http://www.physicsteachersnyc.org
• American Scientific Affiliation. (ASA) http://asa3.org

Conferences and Workshops Attended

• Advanced Labs for Physics – FPGA Workshop, July 2015. Bethel University, St. Paul MN.
• AAPT Summer Meeting, July 2014, Minneapolis, MN.
• Advanced Labs for Physics – Arduino Workshop, July 2014. Led by Eric Ayars, Chico State University, CA.
• Modeling Instruction in Mechanics (Week 2 of 3), July 2012. Columbia Teachers College. Led by Mark Schober, Craig Buszka, and Fernand Brunschwig.
• ASA Annual Meeting, August 2008, George Fox University, Newberg, OR.
• Astronomy Camp for Educators, June 2004, Tucson, AZ.
• Learner Centered Astronomy Teaching Chautauqua course, May 18 - 20, 2003, Tucson, AZ.
• Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data workshop at the August 2002 AAPT meeting, Boise ID.
• Workshop for New Physics and Astronomy Faculty, November 8 - 11, 2001, American Physical Society Headquarters.
• Explorations in Physics workshop, July 9 - 13, 2001, Dickinson College, PA.
• RealTime Physics workshop for physics instructors at the January 6, 2001 AAPT meeting, San Diego, CA.

Campus Service

Nyack College

• Seminar Responder for several campus talks.
• Faculty Sponsor for Asian Student Fellowship.

Simpson University

• Chaired the General Education Committee that reformed the curriculum.
• Taught First Year Experience, a freshman orientation course.
• Faculty sponsor for a student service trip to Amman, Jordan, 2008.
• Faculty sponsor for the Asian Fellowship.
• Faculty sponsor for Hispanic Club.
• Connection Group host during orientation.
• Faculty sponsor for a student service team to Cairo, Egypt, 2001.
• Floor Parent for a dormitory.

Public Outreach

• The Transit of Venus, June 2012, Nyack Public Library.
• Planets: Majors, Minors, Dwarfs, and Plutinos, October 2006, Shasta Astronomy Club.
• Several planetarium shows, Redding CA. 2005.
• Local liaison for the Shingletown Star Party, 2003 and 2004.
• Galaxy Formation in the Early Universe, February 2005, Shasta Astronomy Club.
• Chaos in the Solar System, April 2004. Shasta Astronomy Club
• Extreme Stars, September 2003, Shasta Astronomy Club.
• Einstein’s Relativity - Fact or Fiction?, February 2003, Shasta Astronomy Club.
• Quark Stars - The Penultimate Fate?, September 2002, Shasta Astronomy Club.
• Relativity - How Fast is Fast, How Slow is Time?, September 2001, Shasta Astronomy Club.

Skills

• Programmed data processing and analysis programs, primarily in python.
• Designed and built electronics and hardware for research experiments.

Other Achievements

• Messier Certificate, The Astronomical League, 2006.
• Binocular Messier Certificate, The Astronomical League, 2003.

Other Hobbies and Activities

• International Folk Dancing. Member of Morristown (NJ) Folkdancers, and Brooklyn Heights * International Folkdancers. Past member of the Redding Folk Dancers.
• Traveling. Have visited all 50 states and many countries including Vietnam, Taiwan, Paraguay, Jordan, Egypt, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Japan.
• Recreational lake and flat river kayaking.