Steven Pollock

Steven Pollock
Steven Pollock
	Steven Pollock in 2013
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Stanford University
Awards	Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow (1994); Junior Faculty Development Award (1994); Boulder Faculty Assembly Teaching Excellence (1998); Pew-Carnegie National Teaching Scholar (2001); Best Should Teach Award (2006); President's Teaching Scholar (2008); Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in STEM Education, Innovation and Research (2009); U.S. Professor of the Year (2013)
	Scientific career
Fields	Physics
Institutions	Nationaal instituut voor subatomaire fysica, Amsterdam; University of Washington; University of Colorado Boulder
Doctoral advisor	John Dirk Walecka

Steven J. Pollock is an American professor of physics^[1]^[2]^[3] and a President's Teaching Scholar^[4] at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he has taught since 1993.^[5] His specialisations are in physics education research and in nuclear theory.^[1] He is the 2013 U.S. Professor of the Year.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]

Early life and education

Pollock sat for an Sc.B. in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1982 and for an M.S. and Ph.D. in physics at Stanford University respectively in 1984 and 1987 for his thesis, entitled Electroweak Interactions in the Nuclear Domain, under Professor John Dirk Walecka.^[10]

Career

He was a postdoctoral fellow in nuclear physics at the Nationaal instituut voor subatomaire fysica (NIKHEF), Amsterdam, from 1988 to 1990, and at the University of Washington's Institute for Nuclear Theory from 1990 to 1992.^[10] In 1993 he became a senior scientist at NIKHEF before joining the University of Colorado at Boulder as an assistant professor, where he was promoted to associate professor in 2000 and to full professor in 2009.^[4] In the early aughts (2000s) he shifted his primary focus to physics education research. In 2003 he co-founded the learning assistant programme.^[11]

Research

Pollock investigates and develops curricular and pedagogical reforms and assessments in upper-division physics courses. He investigates impacts of established reforms in large lecture introductory courses, including the use of "Tutorials in introductory physics", with graduate TA training, and use of undergraduate learning assistants. He has advised four graduate students and eight postdoctoral fellows in nuclear physics and in physics education research.^[10]

Bibliography

Books

Particle Physics for Non-physicists: a Tour of the Microcosmos (2003). The Teaching Company. ISBN 1565856244.
Physics 1 (2001). Thinkwell. ASIN 1605380261.
Great Ideas of Classical Physics (2006). The Teaching Company. ISBN 1598032550.

References

^ ^a ^b "Google Scholar: Steven Pollock". scholar.google.com. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
^ "Profile: Pollock, Steven". physics.colorado.edu. University of Colorado Boulder. Archived from the original on January 5, 2016. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
^ "The Great Courses: Steven Pollock". greatcourses.com. The Teaching Company. Retrieved December 27, 2015. Dr. Steven Pollock is Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
^ ^a ^b Dodge, Jefferson (November 14, 2013). "CU's professor of the year traveled a rocky academic road". boulderweekly.com. Boulder Weekly. Retrieved December 26, 2015. In addition, Pollock is a President's Teaching Scholar, a multi-campus CU group dedicated to the scholarship of learning.
^ "University of Colorado Boulder physics Professor Steven Pollock has been named a 2013 U.S. Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education". alumni.colorado.edu. University of Colorado. November 14, 2013. Retrieved December 27, 2015. Pollock began teaching at CU-Boulder in 1993, when he took a job as an assistant professor in the field of theoretical nuclear physics.
^ Snider, Laura (November 14, 2013). "CU-Boulder physicist Steven Pollock named a 2013 U.S. Professor of the Year". colorado.edu. University of Colorado. Retrieved December 26, 2015. University of Colorado Boulder physics Professor Steven Pollock has been named a 2013 U.S. Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
^ Brennan, Charlie (November 14, 2013). "Steven Pollock, CU-Boulder physics prof, earns national Professor of the Year award: Boulder resident in Washington, D.C., today accept honor". Daily Camera. Pollock, a 53-year-old Boulder resident, is doing his part. He is in Washington, D.C., today to receive a 2013 U.S. Professor of the Year award by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
^ "Steven Pollock Named U.S. Professor of the Year". CU.edu. University of Colorado. January 6, 2014. Retrieved December 26, 2015. Pollock's teaching methods are being nationally lauded this month. At a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 14, Pollock was named a 2013 U.S. Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. The awards recognize the most outstanding undergraduate educators in the country. Pollock is the second CU-Boulder professor to win a U.S. Professor of the Year Award. Nobel laureate Carl Wieman, also a physics professor, was honored with the designation in 2004.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "U.S. Professor of the Year helps students create their own understanding of physics". colorado.edu. University of Colorado. November 13, 2013. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c Pollock, Steven (December 29, 2012). "CV of Steven J. Pollock" (PDF). spot.colorado.edu. University of Colorado Boulder. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
^ Kamenetz, Anya (February 4, 2016). "Making Science Teaching More Than 'A Backup Plan'". npr.org. NPR. Retrieved February 6, 2016.