非常感谢，丹尼斯·艾格斯顿

Professor of Physics Dennis Eggleston is retiring after 35 years at Oxy.

是什么吸引你来奥施康定的? “I was looking for an academic position that emphasized both teaching and research. A friend told me that Oxy was searching for a physics professor who could setup a research program that would involve undergraduates. I interviewed and was impressed by the College and the quality of the students. 看起来很合适.”

你最喜欢的课程是什么，为什么? “I’ve taught almost every course in the physics curriculum and enjoyed them all but I favored the ‘classical’ courses most: Mechanics, 电动力学, 和海浪. These are the ones I use most in my plasma physics research. I also have a special place in my heart for Electronics, a subject I learned after coming to Oxy. I taught the course and its associated lab many times and eventually wrote a textbook for it.”

你的退休计划是什么? “We’ll see what opportunities present themselves and what life allows. I hope to: continue some scholarly and scientific work, maybe write a second edition of my textbook; enjoy some of the activities I put aside during my time as a professor; better understand my faith; try to finish well.”

Anything else about your time at Oxy you would like to add? “我要感谢许多学生, 教师, 工作人员, and administrators who have been so helpful over the years. I'm especially grateful to my departmental colleagues. We've been able to work well together and get a lot done. 向大家问好!”

校友的贡品

Kayla Currier ' 17: When I first met Dennis in Introductory Electricity and Magnetism, I was thinking that physics might not be the right place for me, 说实话, after that semester I still was unsure; E&M是硬的. However, I decided to take one more physics course before giving up. That course was Modern Physics, which also happened to be with Dennis. Though the material was a lot more exciting than E&M, it was ultimately the patience and enthusiasm with which Dennis taught the course that helped to solidify my decision to stick with physics. 

I remember a time I asked Dennis a question in class and he was unsure of the answer. Instead of trying to give a hand-wavy answer he simply stated that he did not know. However, later that evening I received an email from him explaining the answer. He had not only remembered my question and made sure to find an answer, but the way in which he did not try to hide that he was unsure made him much more approachable to a young physicist, 这在一个有很多自大狂的领域里很少见.

我大二毕业后在丹尼斯的实验室工作. Coming from a non-academic family, I had no clue what performing scientific research was like. I remember reading the word “azimuthal” in one of the papers Dennis referred me to and thinking I was way in over my head. But Dennis served as an amazing mentor and I learned how to be a scientist that summer. 他鼓励我继续学习物理, and even nominated me for the Goldwater Scholarship, which I would have never received without his guidance. 

我目前在读博士学位.D. program at one of the top physics graduate programs in the world, and I can confidently say that I would not be here without Dennis. 在一个像物理学一样艰难的领域里, 我很幸运有一位耐心的导师, 鼓励, 而且平易近人. I will always be thankful to him for making me the scientist I am today. 

Currier is a doctoral student in the physics department at UC Berkeley.

阿芬恩. Rebassoo 03: Dennis Eggleston had an integral role in helping guide and mentor me during my time at Oxy as well as after. He was my academic adviser, teacher for an electronics course, and mentor for summer research. My summer doing plasma physics research with him was my introduction to science research and really provided the spark that led me to want to pursue a Ph.D. 在物理. 在里面我学会了如何做实验, 分析结果, 最重要的是, how to explore and persist on difficult research problems. It was amazing at a small liberal arts college to be able to run experiments with his Malmberg-Penning Trap in Fowler Hall. This was the perfect setup to introduce and excite students about physics research. 当时我正在申请研究生院, Dennis gave me advice on different schools and research, 给我写了推荐信. I do not know where I would be without my introduction from him to physics research (possibly doing something else besides physics).

除了我的研究经验, I have great memories of his enthusiasm for helping students, whether it was at office hours in Fowler or periodic meetings as my academic adviser. He taught me important lessons in problem solving that I carried on with me into my graduate and postgraduate career. 虽然我们最近没怎么说话, it turns out that a student who recently did research for him at Oxy, 奎因泰勒, is going to be doing research on a project of mine this summer. So, the family tree of those he has influenced has now been connected in other ways. Here’s to Dennis and hoping that retirement is halfway as fulfilling as teaching and doing plasma research.

Rebassoo is a 工作人员 scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory at UC Santa Barbara.