Keith A. Sturgess

Assistant Professor of Physics

Department of Physical and Biological Sciences
The College of Saint Rose
432 Western Avenue
Albany, NY 12203
tel.: 518-485-3771 (direct)
tel.: 518-454-5140 (main)
fax: 518-458-5446
email: keith.sturgess@strose.edu

Keith and Denney beginning.jpg

Ph.D. Physics, Naval Postgraduate School (Advisor: William Colson)

Minor: Space Science

M.S. Physics, Naval Postgraduate School (Advisor: William Colson)

B.S. Science Education: Physics, Florida Institute of Technology

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Activity-Based Physics Education Research

I am investigating the effectiveness of several Activity-based physics approaches using the force Concept Inventory (FCI) as the pre and post test vehicle to track learning gains. I am specifically investigating the use of Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILDs) in both a traditional calculus-based physics course as well as with pre-service elementary school teachers in a physical science course. Preliminary data indicates a significant increase in learning gain compared to the traditional classroom lecture. I also ran an experimental section of Workshop Physics last semester and am evaluating the effectiveness of that delivery method. I have also received a small grant from the college to purchase a video camera and software to enhance my ability to bring video motion analysis activities to my introductory physics classroom.

Problem Based Learning for teaching science to pre-service teachers

The College of Saint Rose requires all pre-service childhood education majors to take a 3 course science sequence consisting of SCI-100 (a chemistry and physics course), SCI-200 (a biology and earth science course) and EDU 355 (Methods of teaching science course). We are introducing Problem Based Learning (PBL) into the curriculum throughout the sequence. In SCI-100 we are experimenting this semester with an integrated course taking the overall issue of “The high price of gasoline” and designing most of the lectures, laboratories, and workshops around that topic. We are finding that the general topic of energy provides a rich framework from which most of the concepts of chemistry and physics typically taught during the semester can be organized and presented. We are developing workshop problems that enhance and extend the students understanding of the topics covered.

Free Electron Laser theory

My original dissertation was on aspects of free electron laser theory and I continue to follow the developments in the field. I have done work on analytical solutions to special cases, extension of classical FEL theory to Whistler Waves in the ionosphere, and a quantum limitation to the start-up of small, compact FELs.

Nuclear weapons effects

My final years in the Army were spent working in the area of nuclear weapons design and effects. I spent a summer (2004) doing research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory working with nuclear effects software to do predictions for a variety of scenarios. I am interested in using some of the more basic, unclassified, prediction simulations to continue doing dirty bomb predictions and also to compare predicted fallout to actual measured fallout from above ground test data in an effort to validate some of the “rule of thumb” calculations in the unclassified effects manuals.

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PHOTOS


Dean of the National Military Academy of Afghanistan, Keith Sturgess (College of Saint Rose), the chair of the department of physics of Kabul University, Dr. Keith of USMA.	Keith Sturgess handing out candidate exams for entry into the National military Academy of Afghanistan (NMAA) in November 2005.	Keith Sturgess and translator Azir at NMAA.

K-6 Teacher In-Service workshop on electric generators and motors held at the College of Saint Rose (May 2008).	Best windmill design team during teacher in-service workshop on electric generators and motors held at the College of Saint Rose (May 2008).	Students in Science 100 at the College of Saint Rose design mouse trap powered cars. (September 2008)

Students in Science 100 at the College of Saint Rose design mouse trap powered cars. (September 2008)	Students in Science 100 at the College of Saint Rose collect data on the condition of the Hudson River. (September 2008)	Students in Science 100 at the College of Saint Rose collect data on the condition of the Hudson River. (September 2008)

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Keith Sturgess and William Colson, An Analytic Description of Longitudinal Modes in Free Electron Lasers, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, A318, (1992) pp. 576-581.

Keith Sturgess, David Frost, and William Colson, Short Pulse Evolution in the Boeing APLE oscillator, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, A331, (1993) pp. 650-653.

William Colson, Bernard Gately, Daryll Caudle, and Keith Sturgess, Analogies between the free electron laser and whistler mode amplification in the ionosphere, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, A331, (1993) pp. 522-526.

Keith Sturgess, A Quantum Limitation on the Start-up of Free Electron Lasers, Presented at the 1994 Army Science Conference, Proceedings of the 1994 Army Science Conference.

Vincent Sabio, Lynn Happ, and Keith Sturgess, Army Research Laboratory Ultra-Wideband Synthetic Aperture Radar: System Overview and Results of Resonance Based Target Recognition Studies, Presented at the 1994 Army Science Conference, Proceedings of the 1994 Army Science Conference. (Awarded best paper of the session)

Keith Sturgess, Matthew Bennett, Marc Ressler, Ted Grosch, Army Research Laboratory Ultra-Wideband Boom-SAR: System Overview and Minefield Detection and Recognition Results, presented at the Symposium for the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems (SAGEEP ‘95) April 24 - 27, 1995 in Orlando, Florida.

Lynn Happ, Marc A. Ressler, Keith Sturgess, Matthew Bennett, Lawrence Carin, and S. Vitebskiey, Army Research Laboratory ultrawide-band testbed radar and comparisons of target data with models, Proc. SPIE Int. Soc. Opt. Eng. 2496, 42 (1995)

Dennis J. Blejer, Carl E. Frost, Steven M. Scarborough, Karl A. Kappra, and Keith Sturgess, SAR imaging of mine-like targets over ultrawide bandwidths,Proc. SPIE Int. Soc. Opt. Eng. 2496, 54 (1995)

Stanislav Vitebskiy, Keith Sturgess, Lawrence Carin, Short-Pulse Plane-Wave Scattering from Buried Perfectly Conducting Bodies of Revolution, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, (1996), pp. 48-63.

Keith Sturgess, Lynn Happ, Mary Collins, James Kurtz, Results of a Remote Sensing Experiment Using a Low Frequency Ultra-Wideband SAR to Investigate the Phenomenology of Landmines, Proceedings of IGARSS ‘96, (1996), pp. 1145-1148.

Benny C. Wong, Ian J. Chant, Graeme N. Crisp, Karl A. Kappra, Keith Sturgess, Alan R. Rye, and Kelly D. Sherbondy, Suggested soil characterization techniques and surrogate targets for ultrawideband radar mine detection experiments, Proc. SPIE Int. Soc. Opt. Eng. 3079, 555 (1997)

Keith Sturgess, Problem Based Learning in the Science Education Development of Elementary Education Majors, AAPT conference proceedings, (2008)