Home Page for Michael Dubson, 
Dept. of Physics

Michael Dubson 

phone 

(303) 492-4938

FAX 

(303) 492-3352

e-mail 

michael.dubson@colorado.edu

address 

Dept. of Physics
CU Boulder, CB 390
Boulder, CO 80309 USA

Portrait

Send Dubson Email.

During Spring of 2009 , I am the lecturer for Physics 1110.  I am a Senior Instructor in the Physics Department, and I am the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies. I am a member of the Physics Education Research Group at CU, doing research on curricular reform, and I do some research in optics and planetary science, collaborating with Prof. Nick Schneider. Here are slides for my talks on physics pedagogy , and clicker use in upper-division classes . My resume may be viewed. 

Among my current projects is PhET, the Physics Education Technology project, founded and directed by Nobel prize winner Prof. Carl Wieman. I write the Flash programs for PhET and provide science expertise for some of the other java programs. The unofficial motto of PhET is: "It's the best science education software that money can buy, except you can't buy it because it's free."

In the Fall term, I teach a seminar on how to prepare for the Physics GRE.

I manage the online homework system CAPA (Computer Assisted Physics Assignments), an Internet-based physics homework system developed at Michigan State University, and I coordinate the Physics HelpRoom, a centralized facility providing tutoring services for students in Freshmen physics courses. The Physics HelpRoom is wildly popular with undergrad physics students and is chronically understaffed.  If you are an altruistic person, with a grasp of freshmen-level physics, please consider volunteering an hour per week of your time to help freshmen physics students in the HelpRoom. Email Dubson for details.

Personal ancestry:  My father was Russian, born in Vladivostok and raised in Harbin, China. As a boy, he was trained to be a classical pianist, but gave up music when he came to the US at age 18. In WWII, he served as a gunner on a sea rescue plane; in 1943 his plane was shot down and crashed in neutral Spain.  He and his crew were interned for several months, but eventually escaped via submarine-pickup from a midnight beach. He subsequently became a navigator in the US Air Force.  My mother, who is still vital at age 78 + (last two digits of the present year), served in the Marine Corp.  She was a draftsman and met my father in Korea, where they were both stationed in the late 40's. Father often flew on "Weather Reconnaisance" missions, a euphemism for electronic surveillance of the Soviet Union. Dubson is a rare name in the US.

Jokes:
My favorite Dilbert cartoon.

There are 3 kinds of people -- those who can count and those who can't.

How many dyslexics does it light to take in a screwbulb?
 
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Here is my basic CU info


University of Colorado.