Dr. Daniel W Koon
St. Lawrence University News
Submitted by dkoon on Tue, 08/12/2008 - 12:35.
Professor
Courses I teach regularly:
I have taught every course in the physics major, both lecture and lab, along with other courses for non-majors, including Energy (Phys/ENVS 105/107). I have also taught science fiction courses in the First Year Program, including To Boldly Go: The science and fiction of space travel, time travel and extraterrestrials, and Global Science Fiction.
My research interests:
Charge transport in metal-hydrogen systems
Error analysis in van der Pauw resistivity and Hall measurement
Translation of Spanish-language science fiction, especially Cuban
Sample student projects I have supervised:
"Efficiency of PEM Fuel Cells" – Chad Miller '10
"Optical Transmission and Resistivity Measurements of Pd/Mg Film Hydrides" – Corey Griffin '09
"Hydrogen Absorption in Palladium" – Brian McGuire '06
"Butterfly Wing Thin-Film Structure and Absorption of Radiation in Morpho menelaus" – Andrew B. Crawford '99
"Examining the Optical Properties of the Polar Bear Pelt" – Reid Hutchins '98
"Optical Upconversion in an Er:YLF Doped Crystal" – Daniel Montbriand '97
Examples of presentations, exhibitions, performances and published work:
D. W. Koon, "La CF Global y el Proyecto SETI (La Búsqueda de Imaginación Extraterritorial)" [Global SF and the SETI Project (The Search for Extraterritorial Imagination], II Evento Teórico Espacio Abierto, Havana, Cuba, April 24, 2010.
D. W. Koon, J. R. Ares, F. Leardini, J. F. Fernández, C. Sánchez, "Simultaneous resistive and Hall measurements of hydriding and dehydriding Mg:Pd bilayers", International Symposium on Metal-Hydrogen Systems, Reykjavik, Iceland, June 25, 2008.
D. W. Koon, "Is polar bear hair fiber optic?", Appl. Opt. 37 (15), 3198-3200 (1998).
D. W. Koon and C. J. Knickerbocker, "What do you measure when you measure resistivity?", Rev. Sci. Instrum. 63, 207 (1992).
Examples of connections between my research and my teaching:
Usually it's the research that enriches my teaching, but sometimes it's the other way around. I've incorporated aspects of my experimental solid state physics research into my teaching, mostly into upper-level labs and senior projects, as well as Electricity and Magnetism. On the other hand, teaching of science fiction in the First Year Program led me, in a roundabout way (ask me about it sometime: it's a cool story) to my connections with the Spanish-speaking science fiction world, starting with Cuba.
Examples of my work as a visiting scholar or guest at another institution:
University of New Mexico: Visiting Researcher, Center for High-Technology Materials (CHTM) and Visiting Assistant Professor, Physics Dept.
Universidad de Costa Rica: Visiting Professor, Centro de Investigación en Ciencia e Ingeniería de Materiales (CICIMA) and Physics Dept.
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid: Visiting Professor, Depto. de Física de Materiales
My current projects:
Hall studies of hydrogen absorption in thin metal films (in collaboration with groups from Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and Universidad de Costa Rica)
Various science fiction translation projects, working with people in Cuba, Argentina, Spain and Greece