Prof. Tom Herrmann

Enjoying one of the benefits of living in eastern Oregon. Near the top of the Anthony Lakes ski area; the Baker Valley is seen in the left background, and beyond that you can see the Wallowas --- part of the Eagle Cap Wilderness. Sorry, this was taken with a phone cam, so the resolution is not that great.

Contact:

• tom.herrmann "at" eou.edu (replace "at" by @)
• (541) 962-3315 (office)
• (541) 962-3873 (fax)
• Badgley Hall, Eastern Oregon University, 1 University Blvd, La Grande, OR 97850-2899
• Office: Badgley Hall Room 107D.

My current schedule:

2009-2010 Courses:

• General Physics (for non-physical science majors)
• Physics of Music Offered alternate years. (Next is Fall 2011.)
• Experimental Techniques, offered alternate years.
• The lab portion of Waves and Quantum Theory, Winter term.
• Waves and Quantum Theory (Spring term 2009)
• Distance Education Students click here for links to the distance education section of General Physics.

CV excerpts:

• B.A.'s in Physics and Mathematics from EOSC, 1971.
• One-year hiatus for travel. . .
• M.A. in Physics from the University of Oregon, 1974.
• Ph.D in Physics from the University of Oregon, 1978.
• Thesis title: "Bacteriorhodopsin in Thin Lipid Films."
• Postdoc'ed at U of Rochester and U of Maryland School of Medicine.
• At EOU since 1982; currently Professor of Physics.

Research Interests:

• Biophysics, specifically membrane phenomena.
• Laser spectroscopy of lanthanide probes for protein metal-binding sites.
• Electronic instrumentation, especially embedded controllers.
• Two ongoing projects:
  • Methods for extracting lifetimes from samples containing more than one emitting species with different lifetimes, using digital signal processing in the frequency domain.
  • Using two tuneable IR diode lasers to excite fluorescence in Europium and/or Terbium. This is a long shot but may turn out to be more useful than using the visible excitation wavelengths alone.

Educational Interests

• Interactive instructional methods for laboratories and lectures.
• Microcomputer-enhanced laboratory instruction.
• Upper-division laboratories. For example, I attended a the NSF-sponsored workshop on advanced physics labs.
• Chemistry professor Dr. Jeff Woodford. and I have recently completed an introductory quantum theory textbook. The goal is a textbook suitable for classes which are taken by both physics and chemistry students. At small institutions like ours, we must combine the physics and chemistry introductory term of quantum theory. In the second term, physics has its own course designed mainly for physics majors, though many chemistry students also take it.
• Distance delivery of physics courses, especially development of suitable laboratory-type activities.

Published papers

Click here to see a boring list of papers published by me.

Progeny

Click here, Mom, to see an image of your grandchildren from last summer's reunion. Or here to see an older photo of the kids in a lava tube near Bend, OR.

Internet sites of interest. . .

• Papers by John Baez. Dr. Baez is a mathematician who writes some interesting conversational-style papers on a number of topics, including physics. Serious students of science will find these rewarding reading. Try, for example, "stars" and "length scales."
• Linux is packaged in many different distributions. I'm using Ubuntu, a popular distro based on the Debian project's distribution.
  For semiconductor physics information, it's hard to beat this site:
  
  
  Here's a reference on a hot topic: quantum dots! Those who have taken PHYS 322 or equivalent should appreciate how they work.
  

Links to some other science areas at EOU:

• Biology/Botany
• Chemistry
• Geology
• Mathematics
• Psychology

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(Thanks to microsith.com for the above image.) Note added Jan. 2006: it looks like this site is no more or has gotten hijacked by an internet poker site.