Faculty Profiles – Physics

Franklin Dollar

Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, Associate Professor

Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, UC Irvine

Franklin Dollar is the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies for the UCI School of Physical Sciences, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy. He has served on graduate admissions for the past 5 years, where holistic admissions have become a key component of the admissions process in the department. He serves on the steering committee for the  University of California Leadership & Excellence through Advanced Degrees (LEADs) program, and is a site lead for the National Science Foundation Science & Technology Center STROBE. He has been awarded for his work in research, teaching, and outreach efforts, being an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, the American Indian Science & Engineering Society’s Most Promising Scientist, and the National Science Foundation’s early CAREER award.

Specifications Grading in a Large Lecture, Introductory Physics Class
In this presentation, I will show the implementation of specifications for a large lecture introductory physics class. Utilizing multiple smaller assessments, mastery in electrostatics, DC circuits, magnetism, and induction will need to be demonstrated in order to pass the course. I will present the class structure, which involves active learning techniques such as flipped classrooms and Just-in-time teaching, and show how specifications grading can be deployed in such a course. 

David Kirkby

Professor, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, UC Irvine

David Kirkby is a Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at UC Irvine. He uses telescopes to study the properties of cosmic dark energy and dark matter.  He enjoys finding creative ways to incorporate elements of his research program into his teaching, such as machine learning and interactive visualization.

First Steps in Specs Grading for Upper Division Physics
This presentation will explore some of the challenges and opportunities to integrate elements of Specifications Grading into upper-division physics courses with 20-50 students.

Michael Ratz

Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, UC Irvine

Dr. Ratz focuses on research concerning the question of how the world works at the fundamental level. The common theme is physics beyond the standard model of particle physics. Research topics include neutrino physics, dark matter, the early universe and string phenomenology.

Specifications Grading Light
Experiences, challenges and successes of an attempt to implement a version of specification grading in a core graduate class are surveyed. The challenges include the pandemic, a transition from remote to in-person instructions, and considerations related to the workload of the graders. Successes consist in a perceived improvement of the learning outcomes, which may however not yet be statistically significant

Laura Tucker

Assistant Professor of Teaching, Department of Physics and Astronomy, UC Irvine

Laura Tucker is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in Physics at University of California, Irvine (UCI). Her research focuses on interactive classroom strategies and student success. After earning both undergraduate and graduate degrees in physics, Laura transitioned into science education as a postdoc at Harvard University. At UCI, she is scaling research-based teaching methods to larger class sizes, and implementing evidence-based mentoring and advising to help physics majors have the support they need to succeed.

Using Specifications Grading With Mastery Quizzes And Other Alternatives
We discuss two implementations of specifications grading in a large, lower-division physics course. In the first implementation, we transformed midterms into quizzes. Students were given multiple attempts to take the quiz and achieve 75% or better, which was meant to transform high-stakes testing into a lower-stakes environment. We will discuss perceptions of this implementation and modifications we have made in the second implementation.