Marshall Thomsen
|
Strong Hall 302B |
(734) 487-8794 |
|
Department of
Physics and Astronomy |
jthomsen@emich.edu |
Advisor for:
Undergraduate Physics Major and Minor
Master of Science in Physics
Course Information Available for:
What does Nicaragua have to do with education and EMU?
Financial
ties to textbook publishers
Research Interests:
Laser-Solid Interactions-- I
am collaborating with Professor Donald Snyder of the Chemistry Department in
studies of optical absorption by bulk polymers and polymer films. The
absorption can be detected in a very sensitive way using photothermal
techniques: absorbed radiation heats the polymer causing a change in the
geometry and the refractive index of the film. These changes are then be
detected by a probe laser. Funding for this project has been provided
through the State of Michigan Research Excellence Fund and the National Science
Foundation.
Ethical
Issues in Physics--I
maintain an interest in ethical issues confronted by professional
physicists. These issues involve both interactions within the physics
community (such as issues associated laboratory procedures) and interactions
between physicists and society at large (such as giving technical
advice). For more details, see my ethics page.
Thermodynamics--I
am evolving an approach to teaching thermodynamics which builds on students'
existing knowledge of classical mechanics to develop an intuitive appreciation
for the laws of thermodynamics. This approach at times takes the
microscopic perspective normally found in statistical mechanics courses, but it
does not require the use of the partition function. Special attention is
given to fluids that do not behave like ideal gases.
Sample Publications:
Thomsen, Marshall. “A course
treating ethical issues in physics.”
Science and Engineering Ethics 13 117-127 (2007).
Thomsen, Marshall.
"Conflicts of Interest in University Research",
"Research Misconduct", and "Publication Practices and
Responsible Authorship" Research ethics modules developed
2002-2004 and posted at www.rcr.emich.edu .
Thomsen, Marshall.
"Learning lessons about ethics." Invited editorial for the
Forum section of Physics World 12 no. 3 pp. 15-16 (March 1999).
Bonnie Wylo and M. Thomsen.
"Should Physics Students Take a Course in Ethics?--Physicists
Respond". Science and Engineering Ethics 4 473-486 (1998).
Joseph Lowry, M. Thomsen, E.
R. Behringer, and Z. L. Wu. "Layer Thickness Fluctuations in Optical
Coatings With Non-Quarterwave Design". Applied Optics 38 p. 2083 (1999)
M. Thomsen and Z. L. Wu.
"Polarizing and Reflective Coatings Based on Halfwave
Layer-Pairs". Applied Optics 36 307 (1997).
Z. L. Wu, M. Thomsen, P. K.
Kuo, Y. S. Lu, Christopher Stolz, and Mark Kozlowski. "Overview of
Photothermal Characterization of Optical Thin Coatings". Proceedings
of the 27th Annual Symposium on Optical Materials for High Power Lasers,
October 30 - November 1, 1995, Boulder Colorado and also published in Optical
Engineering 36 252 (1997).
M. Thomsen and Z. L.
Wu. "Multilayer Optical Coatings Based on Halfwave Layer
Pairs". Proceedings of the 27th Annual Symposium on Optical
Materials for High Power Lasers, October 30 - November 1, 1995, Boulder
Colorado.
M. Thomsen and D.
Resnik. "The Effectiveness of the Erratum in Avoiding Error
Propagation in Physics". Science and Engineering Ethics 1 231
(1995).
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