Dawn C. Meredith

Associate Professor of Physics

DeMeritt Hall, Room 337 Department of Physics University of New Hampshire Durham, NH 03824-3568, USA
Voice: (603) 862-2063 Department Staff: (603) 862-1950 Fax: (603) 862-2998 E-mail: dawn.meredith@unh.edu

Professional interests:

The main focus of my research is in the small but growing field of physics education research. Research in this field probes the following: what are student difficulties in understanding physics concepts, in generating solutions to problems, in understanding what it means to learn physics; what kinds of activities can be developed to help students overcome theses difficulties; and how do we assess the effectiveness of the curriculum. There are also those who are very interested in cognitive theories of how we learn, and what are the basic pieces of our understanding on which all else is built. For a listing of some useful and interesting physics education research papers, visit this site develoed by Prof. Redish's Physics Education Research Group at the University of Maryland.

My own work includes the following (please follow these links to find curricular materials):

• Development of curricular materials for the algebra-based course for life science students
• Development of curricular materials that help students connect meaning and mathematics.
• Development of a course (in collaboration with Prof. Kelly Black in Mathematics) that fully melds the calculus and physics courses to give a richer context to the mathematics and a deeper understanding of the physics. Some of our calculus/physics materials are available on the web in pdf format.
• Participant in the national program to disseminate materials A new model course in Applied Quanutum Physics
• Participant in the national program to disseminate Student-Centered Activities for Large Enrollment University Programs (SCALE-UP)
• Development of labs that compliment the University of Washington Tutorials funded by NSF ILI.

Graduate students who are interested in Physics Education Research may be intersted to know that more tenure-track positions in this field are opening up every day. Typically across the country, a Ph.D. in Physics Education Research requires the same courses and qualifying exams as any other Physics Ph.D., with original research in Physics Education. If you are intersted in doing Ph.D. research in this field, feel free to contact me for more information. Also, you may be interested in Prof. Redish's list of Physics Education Research group home pages.

Computational Physics, Fortran Edition

The book Computational Physics, Fortran Edition by Steve Koonin and myself once again in print as of Spring 2002. Thanks to technological improvements in the printing process, small quantities of books can now be printed at a reasonable cost. See our Computation Physics Web page for more information. The Basic and Fortran codes are available using http.

Positions held:

1991-present: Associate Professor of Physics, University of New Hampshire.
1987-1991: Assistant Professor of Physics, University of New Hampshire.

Education:

1987: Ph.D. degree in Physics, California Institute of Technology where I did my thesis on Quantum Chaos with Professor Steven Koonin. Click here for Harvard Professor Rick Heller's quantum chaos links.
1980: B.A. degree in Liberal Arts, St. John's College, Santa Fe NM where I was able to read "the Great Books of the Western World", began to learn how to learn and to ask more interesting questions.