David P. Feldman

David Feldman received a B.A. in Physics from Carleton College in 1991 and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California at Davis in 1998. From 1991-1993, he was a teacher of 9th and 10th grade physics and mathematics at The McCallie School in Chattanooga, TN. As a graduate student at UC-Davis, Dave received several awards in recognition of both teaching and scholarship: The Dissertation Year Fellowship; The Chancellor's Teaching Fellowship; and he was nominated for the Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award. Dave joined the faculty at COA in 1998, where he teaches a wide range of physics and math courses. He also teaches classes that explore connections between science and politics, such as Making the Bomb (about the Manhattan project and atomic weapons), and Gender and Science. Students that have worked with Dave at COA have done a wide range of projects, including: designing a web page about Three Mile Island; developing a computer model of a lobster fishery; writing a high school physics curriculum; and doing applied mathematics research.

Dave's research training is in theoretical physics and mathematics, and his research interests lie in the fields of statistical mechanics and nonlinear dynamics. In particular, his research has examined how one might measure "complexity" or pattern in a mathematical system, and how such complexity is, or is not, related to disorder. This work can be loosely categorized as belonging to the constellation of research topics often referred to as "chaos and complex systems." In his research, Dave uses both analytic and computational techniques. Dave has authored research papers in journals including Physical Review E, Chaos, Physics Letters A, and Advances in Complex Systems. Dave is a frequent visiting researcher at The Santa Fe Institute and is an Associate Graduate Faculty member in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Maine. His other interests include ultimate frisbee, hockey, politics, cooking, and gardening.

Dave's website: http://hornacek.coa.edu/dave/