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Peter Sheldon is the Chair of the Physics Department, Director of the Dual-Degree Engineering Program, Director of the Summer Research Program, and Assistant Coach of the Men’s and Women’s Cross-Country Teams at Randolph College. He has a PhD and an MS in Physics from the University of Massachusetts, and has a BA in Physics and a BA in Mathematics from Amherst College. Dr. Sheldon's research net is wide: he is by education a low-temperature physicist, but has picked up the fields of ultrafast laser spectroscopy and physics education research in the last ten years. He has published in all of these fields.
Dr. Sheldon is currently working on two grant-funded projects. He has a grant from Verizon and the VFIC to improve technology education for under-represented groups, and a grant from SCHEV (State Council of Higher Education in Virginia) to train elementary and middle school teachers to better teach science.
Another of Dr. Sheldon's specialties is bringing physics to the general public. He regularly gives talks to all age groups on Amusement Park Physics, Newton's Laws, Pseudoscience, Why Cats Land on Their Feet, and of Innovative Uses of Technology. He is certainly a computer geek, and teaches and uses computers extensively. A selection of Dr. Sheldon's publications include “Scientific Inquiry: Improved Learning,” with Peggy Schimmoeller, and Tatiana Toteva, Academic Exchange Quarterly 13 (2009); "3He spin diffusion measurements in 3He-4He mixture films," P. A. Sheldon and R. B. Hallock, Physical Review Letters 85, 1468 (2000); and "Short pulse excitation and spectroscopy of KNbO3, LiNbO3, and KTiOPO4," H. M. Yochum, P.A. Sheldon et al, Radiation Effects and Defects in Solids 150, 271 (1999).
Along with Kacey Meaker (R-MWC ’08), Dr Sheldon is currently writing a book that will appeal to a popular audience or an introductory physics class, on the physics of roller-coasters.
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Tatiana Gilstrap
(e-mail)
(web site)
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Tom Michalik grew up in northern New Jersey. He earned a BS degree in Engineering Science/Physics from New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in Newark, and then MA and Ph.D. degrees in Physics from Temple University in Philadelphia. NJIT was characterized by a well-known bullet hole in the cafeteria window. So Dr. Michalik was quite astounded to arrive at the College in 1977 to find students singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow by candlelight. Dr. Michalik was trained as a theoretical physicist with special interest in the theory of general relativity. When his thesis title, Homogeneous Cosmologies With Strong Neutrino Fields , was first announced to the College faculty, spontaneous laughter erupted. Soon after the mirth subsided, Dr. Michalik realized the irrelevance of general relativity to his work at the College. He has since devoted himself to three things: developing the ability to teach most of the courses in a rigorous curriculum for physics majors, increasing the number of physics faculty, and developing Winfree Observatory into a well-equipped small college observatory suitable for student and faculty research. Completely uninterested in campus politics, Dr. Michalik devotes all his energy to the courses he teaches and his observatory work. Theoretically minded students usually do their senior research projects with Dr. Michalik, and those interested in astronomy or astrophysics can work with him at Winfree Observatory. On nearly every clear night, Dr. Michalik can be found at Winfree Observatory testing his tolerance for cold and sleep deprivation. He has contributed more than 4,300 variable star measurements to the international database of the American Association of Variable Star Observers.
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