Michael Rogers

My passions are teaching, cooking, and photography.

If you've been a student in my classroom you've experienced my passion for teaching. If you've been at the physics fall picnic you've experienced just a hint of my cooking skills through my grill work. And you can see my recent DSLR photographic work at www.flickr.com/photos/photos-by-bodhi/.

Two IC Physics students and Professor Rogers spent eight days in Las Vegas during the January break using archaeological geophysics instruments to non-invasively search for 1,300-year-old Native American pithouses. Check out our photojournal

Our work was feature on the front page of the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Research

• My research examines methods of increasing the accuracy and efficiency of ground-based remote sensing (GBRS). I am interested in all types of GBRS methods, but my current research focus is on magnetometry and ground-penetrating radar (check out the photolog from summer's research 2008, 2007, and 2006). My research is often applied to archaeology projects and to helping solve environmental problems. You can download an interactive Quicktime move of the slides used during my recent talk at Ithaca College's Physics Cafe. When the Quicktime opens you need to click on each frame to see the next slide.
• I am also interested in Physics Education Research and implementing successful strategies at increasing student learning. Most recently I facilitated the purchase and implementation of 375 Personal Response Units (PRS) using the Peer Instruction method of teaching in introductory astronomy, physics, science of sound, chemistry, and biology classes. The physics department is also in the process of adapting and implementing the SCALE-UP (Student-Centered Activities for Large Enrollment Undergraduate Programs) developed at North Carolina State University. Learn more about our project.
• I've recently become interested in sustainability and presented our sustainable renovation to create our new physics classroom at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education conference in Tempe, AZ in Oct 2006. I often have one or two students work with me doing sustainability research. Two current projects involve measuring temperature changes in the science building due to the sliding entry doors and developing a system to harness thermal energy from the College's compost facility.

Pictures

• Summer 2008: Archaeological Geophysical Surveys at a Late Bronze Age city, Cyprus and a Native American Village in Central New York.
• Summer 2007: Archaeological Geophysical Surveys at an Historic Cemetery, A French and Indian War Fort, and a Mound site in Central New    York. Students also worked on understanding positional errors, unpacking new equipment, working on the new physics classroom, and studying  compost piles as energy sources.
• Summer 2006: Topographic, Magnetic, and Ground-penetrating radar at the Site of Eight Mounds in the Fingerlakes National Forest, NY.
• Summer 2005: Magnetic surveys at the Corey Site (a possible Cayuga healing village site) near Aurora, NY with students Kristiyan Georgiev and Kevin Faehndrich
• A photojournal of 2004 summer research trip to Silver City, NM with IC physics students Greg Shear and Kevin Faehndrich to conduct magnetic surveys at a 1,000-year-old pithouse village site.

Personal Interests

• Cooking (I'm teaching myself French style cooking this year)
• Mountain Biking and Cross-Country Skiing (which I learned last year)
• Playing the Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game (by Decipher, Inc.)
• 9th Century Scandanavian Living History
• Guitar and Saxophone (I dabble)