December 03, 2009

(l) Wolfgang Christian in physics lab with students (l-r) Daniel Bernstein '13, Ruel Neupane '13 and Ree Lightsey '12.

by Emily Matras ‘12

Davidson's Brown Professor of Physics, Wolfgang Christian, has been recognized for his commitment to teaching excellence. Christian was recently honored with the George B. Pegram Award, which is presented to a member of the Southeast Section of the American Physical Society who has made outstanding contributions to physics education.

Christian's name can be found on 11 books that span the field of physics teaching. His focus, however, has been on computational physics, a relatively new branch of study in which computer algorithms are used to solve problems for which theory cannot provide an analytic solution. "When I started out, computation was a niche; not many people knew it," said Christian, who has taught at Davidson since 1983. "Now, computation is as important as theoretical and experimental physics. The combination of theory and experiment with computation is how physics is done."

Christian has made significant contributions to the teaching of computational physics through his writings and through developing and distributing programs and an open source software library. He and his students started to investigate the educational opportunities of computers 15 years ago by developing "Physlets," interactive computer simulations that can be used to illustrate numerous physical phenomena.

Physlets are now used in college classrooms nationwide, including many Davidson physics and chemistry courses. "With Physlets, we strive to have ‘interactive engagement,'" he said. "We want students to interact with the program in a meaningful way. The Physlet core only has 20 programs, but one program can run many different problems."

To assure that this sophisticated software is available to all students, Christian releases it for free.

"Professor Christian recognized that the commercial approach of charging for educational projects just hinders adoption," said Mario Belloni, Associate Professor of Physics and a frequent collaborator with Christian. "There's a lot of free stuff out there that's not very good, and there's some good stuff that costs a lot. But he has held to his vision of high-quality, tested, educational software that is freely available."

Christian is currently the managing editor of the Open Source Physics national science digital library, an online collection of computer simulations and modeling resources for teaching physics and computational physics. He has been tremendously supportive of teaching aids for computational physics because he feels there is a disconnect between what's being used in the "real world" and what's being taught in the classroom.

"If you look at the physics syllabi at many colleges and universities, computational physics is not required. Davidson is quite unique in that requirement," he said. "To me, not requiring the study of computation in the standard course of study is one of the great failures of the educational establishment. It's not congruent with professional practice."

Christian's passion for educational change isn't just talk. He brings intensity to each new project he undertakes. "When I work with Professor Christian on a project or paper, his goal is always excellence," said Belloni. "Excellence in the quality of the material, excellence in getting the physics right, and excellence in getting the project to the widest possible audience."

Christian pours liquid nitrogen for students for a lab experiment.

Christian was flattered when he was notified of winning the Pegram Award, because he feels like he's just doing his job.

"Being involved with physics education means staying abreast of developments in teaching and being a better teacher," he said. "In the end, that's what you want of any faculty member. Being a participant in a process and not just a spectator is always a good thing."

In his classrooms at Davidson, Christian challenges himself to teach his students things that will be useful after they leave their desks.

"The majority of the students in my introductory physics classes are not going to be physics majors," he admitted. "Often they're just trying to get general or pre-med requirements out of the way. So I want to give them an idea about physics beyond just a set of formulas. I want them to develop an appreciation for it in a practical way. They must grapple in their lives with everything from global warming to everyday technology, and it's beneficial for them to know how those things work."

The Pegram Award indicates his success and dedication to helping students achieve a deeper grasp on the fundamentals of science. He commented, "People say that once you understand the science it takes away from the magic. I think it's the other way around!"

Davidson is a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1,800 students located 20 minutes north of Charlotte in Davidson, N.C. Since its establishment in 1837 by Presbyterians, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently regarded as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. Through The Davidson Trust, the college became the first liberal arts institution in the nation to replace loans with grants in all financial aid packages, giving all students the opportunity to graduate debt-free. Davidson competes in NCAA athletics at the Division I level, and a longstanding Honor Code is central to student life at the college.
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