Rhett Allain

Rhett Allain, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Physics
Southeastern Louisiana University
Department of Chemistry and Physics

SLU 10878
Hammond, LA 70402
Phone: (985) 549-2894
email: rallain@selu.edu
http://www2.selu.edu/Academics/Faculty/rallain
http://blog.dotphys.net

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Physics, North Carolina Sate University, 2001 - dissertation: "Investigating the Relationship Between Student Difficulties with the Concept of Electric Potential and the Concpet of Rate of Change."
M.S. in Physics, Univeristy of Alabama, 1995
B.S. in Physics, Benedictine University 1992

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2008 -	Associate Professor of Physics. Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, LA
2001 - 2007	Assistant Professor of Physics. Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, LA
1998 - 2001	SCALE-UP Teaching Assistant, NC State University, Raleigh, NC.
1996 - 1997	Assistant Professor of Physics, Judson College, Marion, AL.
1996 - 1997	Adjunct Professor of Physics, Marion Military Institute, Marion, AL
1992 - 1995	Teaching Assistant, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

1998 - 2001	1998-2001 SCALE-UP Research Assistant, NC State University, Raleigh, NC. Responsibilities include evaluating the effectiveness of the SCALE-UP course structure, group problem solving, and physics content. Assisted in curriculum development for the course.
1994	Research Assistant, CERN, Geneva Switzerland Analyzed data from the laser alignment system on the Silicon Microvertex Detector of the L3 detector. Modified an existing analysis program to incorporate alignment data.
1993	Research Assistant, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL. Assisted in the development and construction of an electron drift velocity monitor to be used in the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC)

CONSULTING

2000 - 2001	North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Raleigh, NC Created and reviewed test items to be used in the North Carolina end-of-course tests for high school physics.
2001 - 2002	Electrotank, Raleigh, NC. Assisted in the physics associated with a Flash-based billard game.

PUBLICATIONS

R. Allain, R. Williams, "An Analysis of a Video Game". The Physics Teacher Vol 47 (2), February 2009, pp. 115-117.
R. Beichner, et al in Physics Education Research Inspired Curricula (2006) WWW Document (http://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=4517&DocID=183)
R. Allain, D. Abbott, D. Deardorff "Using peer ranking to enhance student writing" Physics Education Vol 41 (3), May 2006 pp. 255-258
R. Allain, T. Williams "The effectiveness of online homework in an introductory science class" The Journal of College Science Teaching. Vol 35 (6), May 2006
R. Allain, R. Beichner, "Rate of Change and Electric Potential" - the Proceedings of the 2004 Physics Education Research Conference, 2004.(pdf)
Investigating the Relationship Between Student Difficulties with the Concept of Electric Potential and the Concept of Rate of Change, Doctoral Dissertation, 2001 (Advisor: Robert J. Beichner)
Introduction to SCALE UP : Student-Centered Activities for Large Enrollment University Physics, (2000). Robert J. Beichner, Jeffrey M. Saul, Rhett J. Allain, Duane L. Deardorff, David S. Abbott, Proceedings of the 2000 Annual meeting of the American Society for Engineering Education.
Evaluating introductory physics classes in light of ABET criteria : An Example of SCALE-UP Project, (2000). Jeffrey M. Saul, Duane L. Deardorff, David S. Abbott, Rhett J. Allain, and Robert J. Beichner, Proceedings of the 2000 Annual meeting of the American Society for Engineering Education.
Promoting collaborative groups in large enrollment courses, (2000). Robert J. Beichner, Jeffrey M. Saul, Rhett J. Allain, Duane L. Deardorff, David S. Abbott, Proceedings of the 2000 Annual meeting of the American Society for Engineering Education.

PRESENTATIONS

R. Allain "Pre-Service Elementary Teachers' Ideas about the Nature of Science". Presented at the 2007 Winter American Association of Physics Teachers, Seattle, WA.
R. Allain, T. Williams "Introduction to 3-D Modeling and Numerical Solutions in Physics" - Workshop at the 2006 Northshore Excellence in Teaching with Technology conference. (handout)
R. Allain "Examining Conceptual Understanding of Pre-Service Elementary Teachers" - Presented at the 2005 summer American Association of Physics Teachers meeting, Salt Lake City, UT
R. Allain "The effect of WebAssign in an introductory astronomy course" - Presented at the 2004 summer American Association of Physics Teachers meeting, Sacramento, CA
R. Allain "Rate of Change and Electric Potential" - Poster presented at the 2004 Physics Education Research Conference, Sacramento, CA.
R. Allain "Student-Centered, Technology-Rich Classroom Overview" Presented to the Louisiana Board of Supervisors, Southeastern Louisiana University
"Writing and Peer Ranking in Introductory Physics" Presented at the summer AAPT meeting, 2003, Madison, Wisconsin
R. Allain, R. Beichner "Student difficulties with electric potential and rate of change" Presented at the winter meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers, Jan 2001, San Diego, CA.
M. Dancy, R. Allain "Web-Based Assessment" , Invited talk presented at the winter meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers, Jan 2001, San Diego, CA.
R. Allain, D. Deardorff, and R. Beichner "Using Peer Evaluation to Enhance Student Writing" Presented at the winter meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers, Jan 2000, San Antonio, TX.
R. Allain "Peer Ranking with WebAssign" an overview of peer ranking with WebAssign. Presented at the WebAssign User Group meeting, May 2000