Bruce Emerson

Hello and welcome! What you will find here is the kind of information that I always wanted to know about my instructors. All this stuff is public domain and could be found elsewhere if you were persistent. Have fun and I'll see you in class!!

Now there's a budding physicist!

• Schedule (Fall, Winter, Spring)
  

  Campus Address	Ochoco Hall, Rm 203 (541) 383-7558
  Mailing Address	Science Department Central Oregon Community College 2600 NW College Way Bend, OR, 97701

  Where I went to school:

  • Ph.D in Physics (8/92) from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, in cosmic ray astrophysics. Thesis based on work with the Fly's Eye Collaboration.
  • B.S. in Physics (6/79) from Montana State University, Bozeman, MT.
  • Member American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) .

   

  Where I've worked:

  • Instructor of Physics at Central Oregon Community College since 9/92. Teaching standard introductory physics sequences for engineering majors and premed/life science students. Special topics and student research taught as enrollment and student preparation permit.
  • Research Staff at Lincoln Laboratory/MIT working on wafer scale VLSI technology and nitrided oxide films.1982-87
  • Engineer for ARO at Arnold Engineering Center, Arnold AFB, Tullahoma, TN. Characterized small rocket motors and infra-red sources. 1980-81

   

  Things I've published:

  • Cosmic-ray composition around 1018 eV, T.K. Gaisser et al., Phys. Rev. D, 47:1919, (1993)
  • Deeply Penetrating Particles in the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray Flux,B. Emerson, Thesis for University of Utah, August 1992
  • Update on Limits on the Flux of Deeply Penetrating Particles at the Fly's Eye, S.C. Corbato et al., Proc. 22nd ICRC (Dublin), (1991)
  • New Limits on the Flux of Deeply Penetrating Particles at the Fly's Eye, SC Corbato et al., Proc. 21st ICRC (Adelaide), 10:35, (1990)
  • A Monolithic Hough Transform Processor Based on Restructurable VLSI, F.M. Rhodes et al., IEEE Patt., 10: 106, (1988)
  • Low Resistance Programmable Connections through Plasma Deposited Silicon Nitride, J. A. Burns et al., J. Elchem. Soc., 133:C313, (1986)
  • The constitution of nitrided oxides and reoxidized nitrided oxides on silicon, M.L. Naiman et al., J. Ap. Phys., 58:779, (1985)

   

  Presentations at meetings:

  • Quantitative Estimation Tasks in Introductory Physics, Presented at the Spring Meeting of the Oregon Section of the AAPT in April 1997 at Lewis and Clark College in Portland.
  • Writing and Learning Across Disciplinary Boundaries in College Math and Science Courses, with C. Agatucci, J. McCown, and M. Sequiera, invited talk at the National Council of Teachers of English Convention, Orlando, FL, (November 1994)
  • UHE Cosmic Rays: Physics at the Fly's Eye Detector, Undergraduate Seminar Series (Physics), University of Utah, (May 1990)
  • Laser Restructuring in Wafer-Scale VLSI, invited talk at Workshop on Laser Processing in Industry, San Jose, CA, (May 1986)

   

  Grants and Proposals:

  • Development of Curricular Tools for Quantitative Estimation. A proposal to the 1996 NSF ILI-IP grant program for equipment to facilitate the development of quantitative estimation skills in Physics students at all levels.Grant was approved and the proposed changes in curriculum and facilities are being implemented through the 1996-1998 academic years. New equipment for the physics labs includes computers and software for each lab station. Each station is now fully equiped with computer based data aquisition devices for facilitating data gathering.
  • Investigation and Application of Math and Science Concepts in Astronomy for Middle School Teachers in Crook, Deschutes, and Jefferson Counties., With Larry Pratt, Richard Norton, and Anne Kennedy, 1994 Eisenhower Grant. Provided training and materials for middle school teachers using astronomy as a theme for teaching general physical science concepts and modeling.
  • Applying Math and Science Concepts in Astronomy for Fith Grade Teachers in Crook, Deschutes, and Jefferson Counties., With Larry Pratt and Anne Kennedy, 1993 Eisenhower Grant

   

  Current Committees and Projects I am working on:

  • Chair of Science Department: I have served the science department as its chair from 1999-2001 and am starting up again in 2002
  • Alternative Building Materials: I have a long term interest in a variety of building materials which are at once non-traditional and very traditional. These include rammed earth and straw bale technologies. I am working to develop a collaboration between local building officials and engineering students at COCC to characterize and validate such materials as options for local and regional citizens.
  • Foucault Pendulum Installation Committee. Done at last!! See the COCC Foucault Pendulum in the atrium of Modoc Hall.

   

  What I do for fun:

  • Walks with the family, wrestling with the kids, Aikido (modern Japanese martial art) with my partner, playing trombone with the Central Oregon Symphony and the Cascade Brass Quintet, developing alternative earth building technology, reading (who's got the time for that?), and gardening (playing in the dirt!).