Shawn Westmoreland
     Physics Department
     Kansas State University
     Manhattan, KS 66506
 

     Email: westmore AT phys DOT ksu DOT edu


Last revised: August 30, 2012

Education

Ph.D. Mathematics, Kansas State University, 2010
Dissertation: "Optical black holes and solitons"
Advisor: Louis Crane

M.A. Mathematics, University of Texas at Austin, 2004

B.S. Mathematics, University of Texas at Austin, 2001

Teaching experience

Kansas State University - Physics Department (January 2011 - present) official workload: 20 hours per week
* Lab instructor for "Engineering Physics 1," "Engineering Physics 2"
* Recitation instructor for "General Physics 1," a problem-solving based class

Highland Community College - Wamego, Kansas (January 2012 - AUgust 2012) official workload: 4 hours per week per class
* Adjunct math instructor: "College Algebra," "General Calculus and Linear Algebra"

Kansas State University - Math Department (August 2004 - December 2010) official workload: 20 hours per week
* Instructor/coordinator: "General Calculus and Linear Algebra"
* Teaching assistant/Instructor: "College Algebra"
* Teaching assistant: "Calculus 2," "Trigonometry," "College Algebra," "College Algebra Studio (computer lab component)"

Austin Community College (August 2003 - May 2004, MAy 2005 - August 2005) official workload: 8 hours per week during Fall and Spring semesters, 4 hours per week during Summer semesters.
* Adjunct instructor of developmental math: "Intermediate Algebra," "Elementary Algebra," "Basic Mathematics"

University of Texas at Austin (August 2001 - May 2004) official workload: 20 hours per week
* Teaching assistant: "Calculus 1," "Calculus 2," "Business Calculus"

Public outreach service

I have done some work with the television show "Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman," where I discussed black hole radiation and presented the speculative idea that tiny artificial black holes might be used as power sources for starship engines in the far future. The show is expected to air in the Summer of 2013.

I am on file as a volunteer science consultant for film and television with The Science and Entertainment Exchange (a program of the National Academy of Sciences).

Research interests

Mathematical physics, general relativity, Morse theory, integrable systems

Publications

click here to access my papers on arXiv

Seminars organized

Fall 2008: Co-organized (with Dany Majard) a seminar on quantum gravity; gave a six-part presentation on General Relativity

2006 - 2007: Graduate Student Seminar (faculty sponsor: Zongzhu Lin)

Conference participation

International Conference of Trends in the Mathematical Representation of Space (Boston, Massachusetts, December 1 - 2, 2007). Contributed talk: Twin paradox without acceleration

Honors and awards

Elected to the National Scholars Honor Society (Jan. 2009)

Elected to Golden Key International Honour Society (Dec. 2007)

Elected to Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society (Nov. 2006)

Professional memberships

American Mathematical Society

Mathematical Association of America

American Physical Society