Biography
I was born in Flushing New York in 1954. I attended St. Kevin parochial school until grade 8, and played in their marching band (fife, bugle and eventually drums). I attended Bishop Reilly High School where my main extra-curricular activity was yearbook photographer, and also had a home dark room. I attended City University of NY at Queens College where I completed my BS and MS degrees in Environmental Science and Geology, along with a teaching certification. My graduate thesis involved geologic field mapping in eastern Maine, where I analyzed the structure and stratigraphy of strata related to the closing/opening of the early Atlantic margin. I held summer jobs working as a geologist intern for the State of Maine and for the Washington State Public Power Supply System. My primary hobbies during college were sport motorcycles and music, primarily guitar. Following college, I taught high school for a year and then moved to Texas where I spent 6 years as an oil and gas exploration geologist. I returned to New York in 1987 and began my teaching career at Dryden High School where I currently teach Physics and Earth Science and am the science department chairman. My current interests include drumming for the Tarps, a classic rock cover band, skiing, motorcycling, sports cars, triathlons, mountain biking, kayaking, and camping in the Adirondacks. When I have free time, I design and execute home projects, pretty much anything from appliance repair to garage construction, tiling to wiring, and roofing to car repair. I am a Cinemapolitan (our local art cinema) and foodie. I keep a pretty full plate and I like it that way; life is good!
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I currently teach Concurrent Enrollment College Physics at Dryden High School, which is an 8 credit, two-course program affiliated with Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3). I initiated this course some 18 years ago and have developed a vast arsenal of demonstrations and activities for it. I occasionally teach other physical sciences including Earth Science (currently), Environmental Science, Astronomy, and Science 8. I present a "best of" “best of” lecture demonstration for high school science teachers at TC3 each summer. I have participated in Cornell's Cornell’s CIPT summer program and various other programs. I am procuring two GoPro video cameras with their highest available frame rate for the coming school year in order to have students "capture “capture real physics in action." ” The hope is that some of the student videos will reveal "physics “physics that happens to fast to see," ” captured on camera and replayed in slow motion.