Dr. Derrick E. Boucher
What's physically wrong with this photo? Click it
to find out.
Associate Professor of Physics at King's College
in Wilkes-Barre PA.
Weekly schedule for this semester
Contents
Associate
Professor of Physics
Why I am a
physicist: I think just about
everything in the physical universe is profoundly interesting. A common thread
running through all of it is physics. I love to be able to look at any
phenomenon or object and understand something about it, however basic.
After you've been exposed to some of the basic ideas of physics, the world
looks very different. Everywhere one sees motion, forces, light, color,
magnetism and virtually any machine or device there is a physics story behind
it.
I have been
teaching at King's College since 1996 and have been teaching physics since my
graduate school days at Lehigh University, 1988-1993, and then again at Lehigh
as a visiting professor from 1994-96. I simply LOVE to talk about physics and
to show students how profound, exciting and challenging it can be.
Key
responsibilities
Dr. Kristi
Concannon and I pretty much run the whole physics endeavor here at King's
College. I teach the General Physics lectures and some lab sections and she the
rest. We also maintain and organize the physics laboratory, to the extent that
it can be called "organized."
In addition to
physics, I also teach science to non-science majors (CORE 270, 276 and PHYS 100) and
occasionally a philosophy course with one of our resident philosophers. It’s a course
on Religion and Science, with specific emphasis on issues in physics and
cosmology (CORE 289: Science and Religion). Every couple years or so I help
team teach the Chemistry of Materials course, CHEM 476. Occasionally, I teach
an upper-level physics elective for a student or two.
The Department
of Chemistry and Physics
I am one of two
physicists amid a sea of chemists in the department. A sea of about seven or
eight, so a very small sea, more of a puddle. (a gaggle of geese, a murder of
crows….a puddle of chemists! I like it.) For the departmental home page, click here.
My place in
the department
Although I'm a
physicist, my field of expertise is in territory on the boundary between
chemistry and physics. I specialize in quantum mechanical calculations in
molecules and crystals. In essence, this is the foundation of all chemical
behavior; where the electrons are and what they're doing. In practice, it's a
very large step between simulating a molecule on a computer and running a real
reaction in the lab. So, keep those test tubes handy!
You may email me at: derrickboucher@kings.edu
My office coordinates are: Administration Building, room A307 (570) 208-5900 ext. 5427
For Mailing, the address below is sufficient:
Dr. Derrick Boucher
King's College, 133 N. River St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18711
Current Courses
I'm teaching
three courses in spring 2007:
Physics 108 and 108 Laboratory; Applied Biophysics for Athletic Trainers
Physics 112 Laboratory
Research Interests
I am interested in the atomic-scale mechanisms behind electrostatic phenomena. Since my area of expertise is computer modeling of chemical bonding, I approach this topic theoretically; what might the atoms and electrons be doing that leads to electrostatic behavior?
The phenomena include frictional electrification (like rubbing a balloon on you hair!), electrostatic discharge (sparks flying from a doorknob to your finger) and the differences among different materials in such situations.
I am currently collaborating with researchers in NASA's Electrostatics and Surface Physics Laboratory, and in particular with Dr. Steve Trigwell who works there. We're studying the effects of air pressure plasma discharge on the electrostatic properties of polymers. He does the experiments and I do parallel calculations that seek to interpret the experimental findings, letting us understand what might be happening at the atomic scale, but about which we don't know directly from the experimental data.
Last Revised: February 2007