Mentor Search
Dr. Bernhard Bach
( University of Nevada, Reno )
- Institution:University of Nevada, Reno
- Departments: Physics
- Research Fields: Laser, Plasma, Diagnostics
- Disciplines: Physical Sciences, Plasma and High-Temperature Physics
- Location:Washoe County
- Funding:EPSCoR - Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research
Mentoring
For the last eleven years I have been Director of Undergraduate Laboratories and a lecturer in the Department of Physics at the University of Nevada, Reno. As lab director I am responsible for managing all undergraduate physics laboratories, this includes five different laboratory courses for a total of 52 lab sections. In this role I am responsible for: scheduling, purchasing, budget, reporting, curriculum and managing the twenty-seven lab instructors. As the undergraduate lab director I also served as the vice-chair/interim chair of the department.
In addition to my responsibilities as lab director, I lecture at both the graduate and undergraduate level. At the undergraduate level I typically teach sophomore to senior level courses on: mathematical methods, optics, wave and oscillations, quantum mechanics and elementary particle physics. I also lecture the large level freshman courses (both non-calculus and calculus-based courses) as needed. A potion of my mathematical physics course has been published as a book: A Student’s Guide to Infinite Series and Sequences, by Cambridge University Press.
As a member of the graduate faculty I teach courses on: mathematical methods, optics, wave and oscillations and particle physics. As a “DOG” (Director of Graduate Students) I oversee twenty-seven graduate instructors and the program of study for a number master and Ph.D. candidates.
Biography
I am involved in the support and development of various research programs. At the Nevada Terawatt Facility I am involved in the development of optical and x-ray diagnostics for two research programs. As a Co-Pi for the American Climber Science program I am involved with the development of optical instrumentation for field measurements of snow and ice.
Prior to my employment as Undergraduate Lab Director at the University of Nevada, I was owner and/or founder of two optical manufacturing firms. As a business owner I worked closely with various university research programs as well as foreign (ESA, DESY) and national laboratories (NASA, NIST, LBL, etc.). Optics that I have had a hand in designing and or fabricating have seen use in space flight programs –– Scimachy, Venus Express Missions and the James Webb Telescope, for example ––and in synchrotron beamlines, SRC, ALS, NSLS and DESY. . I still maintain close ties with industry, consulting with aerospace firms developing optical elements for space flight and aiding high-tech firms in developing novel optical instrumentation. From 2004-2005 I sat on the industrial advisory board for NSF’s Engineering Research Center For Extreme Ultraviolet Science and Technology’s