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I am an experimental condensed matter physicist. My research interest is measuring thermal and electrical properties of thin films. I also study the morphology and surface characteristics of these films using atomic force microscopy. Although I have probed magnetic metallic films in the past, my current research focuses on carbon nanomaterials such as such as films of carbon nanotubes, with a specific emphasis on studying materials for renewable energy applications.

As well as being a professor in the Department of Physics, I am a joint appointee at (formally the National Renewable Energy Laboratory or NREL) with ongoing collaborations. I teach the upper division physics laboratory sequence and often work with students on individual research projects related to studying carbon nanomaterials. Previous º£½ÇÉçÇø students have conducted atomic force microscopy to image and measure properties of these materials as well as worked at the National Laboratory of the Rockies onsite as interns.

My research interest in general is theoretical astrophysics. I have worked on understanding the physical environment outside the event horizon of accreting black holes associated with X-ray binaries, the cause and extent of photoionization of the interstellar medium in our galaxy, and various aspects of magnetohydrodynamics associated with the corona of our Sun. More recently I have also worked on the structure of neutron stars.

My research interests center on emergent properties of complex systems, modeling complex and chaotic systems and the evolving science of Emergence. With a background in non-linear systems and geophysical fluid dynamics, I build, refine and utilize computer models to simulate complex aspects of the physical world in a wide array of physics subfields. These simulations include a wide range of physical and temporal scales, from complex quantum simulations for acoustic speaker design, to climate dynamics, mechanisms for ENSO prediction, to solar system formation and evolution and galactic collisions. I have also served as the principal or co-principal investigator on several National Science Foundation grants for Astronomy Education and education in general in virtual environments.