Applied Physics Faculty
Kettering University's Applied Physics Faculty are committed to helping students learn the fundamental concepts and relationships which form the exciting field of physics, and demonstrating how to apply those concepts to contemporary problems in industrial research and development. Currently there are nine full-time faculty, and each professor teaches at all levels of undergraduate physics courses, from introductory to advanced, including laboratories. As a group, the Applied Physics faculty are constantly working with each other to find ways of enhancing classroom and laboratory learning experiences through the use of demonstrations and improved teaching methods. One of the advantages of being an applied physics major is that your upper level courses tend to be smaller - on the order of 6-10 students. This means that students get much more individual attention from professors. Quite often students will take an independent study project, pursuing research with a professor as an extension or follow-up to a topic covered in an upper level course. All of our faculty are enaged in research in one of our three focus areas: applied optics, materials science, and acoustics. Most research takes place on campus in our advanced physics research laboratories which means that there are plenty of opportunities for undergraduate students to become involved in a research project with one or more of the Applied Physics faculty.

Applied Physics Faculty

Kettering University's Applied Physics Faculty are committed to helping students learn the fundamental concepts and relationships which form the exciting field of physics, and demonstrating how to apply those concepts to contemporary problems in industrial research and development. Currently there are nine full-time faculty, and each professor teaches at all levels of undergraduate physics courses, from introductory to advanced, including laboratories. As a group, the Applied Physics faculty are constantly working with each other to find ways of enhancing classroom and laboratory learning experiences through the use of demonstrations and improved teaching methods.

One of the advantages of being an applied physics major is that your upper level courses tend to be smaller - on the order of 6-10 students. This means that students get much more individual attention from professors. Quite often students will take an independent study project, pursuing research with a professor as an extension or follow-up to a topic covered in an upper level course. All of our faculty are enaged in research in one of our three focus areas: applied optics, materials science, and acoustics. Most research takes place on campus in our advanced physics research laboratories which means that there are plenty of opportunities for undergraduate students to become involved in a research project with one or more of the Applied Physics faculty.

Click on a photo for contact information, teaching schedules, and research interests

Applied Optics	Materials Science	Acoustics
Kathryn Svinarich Associate Professor Dr. Svinarich oversees the teaching of our introductory physics courses as well as teaching the upper level optics courses and laboratories. When not in the classroom she enjoys outdoor activicies including mountain climbing and spends many weekends at her cabin in Northern Michigan.	Bahram Roughani Professor, Program Director Besides his administrative duties as applied physics program director, Dr. Roughani champions the material science minor at Kettering. His research interests include nanostructures, Raman spectroscopy and electronic materials. He spends quite a bit of time in our new Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope laboratory facility.	Dan Russell Associate Professor Dr. Russell is responsible for the content and appearance of our web pages. Whenever possible he hangs out in the acoustics lab studying the vibrational and acoustic behavior of baseball/softball bats. He also develops computer animations for teaching acoustics. He oversees the acoustics minor and is SPS advisor.
Corneliu Rablau Assistant Professor Dr. Rablau joined our faculty in July 2003 after several years in industry with JDSU. His research interests in optics include investigation of semiconductor opto-electronic materials through Photoluminescence, and designing materials and devices for fiber-optic communications. Together with Dr. Sikorski he set up an Integrated Photonics and Fiber Optics Laboratory at Kettering.	Prem Vaishnava Professor Dr. Vaishnava is active in our material science area, specializing in superconducting materials and maussbauer spectroscopy. He is presently working on nanotechnology in collaboration with colleagues at Wayne State University.	Dan Ludwigsen Assistant Professor Dr. Ludwigsen is actively involved in improving our undergraduate laboratory instruction. His research interests in acoustics involve computational modeling of lip-reed and the acoustics of the trombone. He has also worked with students to measure/model some phenomena associated with human binaural hearing.
Yuri Sikorski Assistant Professor Dr. Sikorski joined our faculty in January 2004 after several years in private industry and recent teaching experience at the University of Toledo. His research interests focus on integrated photonics, fiber optics, laser micromachining and optical metrology. Together with Dr. Rablau he set up an Integrated Photonics and Fiber Optics Laboratory. He is also a director of Kettering ESEM Laboratory.	Uma Ramabadran Associate Professor Dr. Ramabadran bridges the fields of optics and materials science. She teaches our upper level optoelectronics course and is currently setting up a photoluminescence laboratory.	Computational Physics Greg Hassold Professor Dr. Hassold is a computational physicist; his research involves computational models of the evolution of microstructures in materials, as well as climate modelling. He coordinates our upper level physics sequence. He's an enthusiastic member of the University of Michigan Gilbert and Sullivan Society.
Laboratory Management and Instruction
Gary Thieme Senior Laboratory Coordinator Gary has provided technical support for physics laboratories for 20+ years. He serves as Kettering's laser safety officer and networking designer and administrator for our physics labs. He also maintains all of the equipment in our advanced optics and laser labs.	Bob Cunningham Senior Laboratory Coordinator Bob is Kettering's nuclear safety officer, and runs our new Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope laboratory facility. He also maintains the computer networks and much of the equipment in all of our undergraduate teaching laboratories.	Don Adkison Physics Laboratory Instructor Mr. Adkison joins our faculty with a background in teaching introductory lecture and laboratory courses (most recently at Lansing Community College) and implementing Web applications to enhance the classroom learning experience. He will be teaching several of our laboratory sections starting in the Summer 2004 term.
Professor Emeriti
Russ Hagler Professor Emeritus Prof. Hagler retirered from Kettering in July 2000 after teaching physics for 30 years. However, he is still continuing his research about the effects of radon on hibernating bears.	Richard Bolander Professor Emeritus Dr. Bolander retired from Kettering in July 2000 after teaching for 30 years, having been a member of the mechanical engineering, math, and physics departments.	Dave Parker Professor Emeritus Prof. Parker retired at the end of 2003, after 39.5 years of teaching. He oversaw the applied optics minor, and ran the industrial optics laboratory and the holography laboratory. Upon retirement he's looking forward to spending time investigating the physics of trout fishing.

Applied Physics Faculty

Applied Optics

Materials Science

Acoustics

Laboratory Management and Instruction

Professor Emeriti