141 Professor Abigail ViereggWhat do you think the coolest part of your research is? I build cosmic microwave background telescopes and neutrino detectors at the South Pole, in Greenland, and that fly on high-altitude balloons. The thing that got me hooked was that I get to go to these crazy places to build my experiments! Camping out on the Antarctic or Greenland Plateau (both of which I have done!) trying to get some equipment to work with only your hands and the resources you have out there is an amazing mental challenge. But ultimately, the thing that keeps anyone, including myself, going in science is that there are times when you literally know more than anyone in the world about the one tiny piece of the puzzle of how the universe works that you are researching. That’s a pretty amazing feeling, and its worth all the hours turning screws and debugging code. What active measures do you take to ensure that your classroom is an inclusive space for all of your students? There are a variety of subtle and not-so-subtle ways I try to do this. First, I directly put language on the syllabus addressing class standards for the way we treat each other, and ask students to hold me accountable to those standards as well. I try to set the tone on the first day of class that students should ask for help with course work, and give resources and ways they can get help. I try to be careful in what physics and math I assume students know before walking in the door, and what I am implicitly assuming about students’ lives outside of school by the policies and expectations I set for the course. I also have started to employ think-pare-share strategies in my classrooms, which are fun ways to meet other students and talk with classmates in more casual way than having to raise your hand. One of the hardest things, which I think is extremely important, is to continue training myself to not just pay attention to the students in the front row, or the most vocal students. This is especially difficult in a crowded office hours session! I remember as a student sitting in the middle of the lecture hall, never once asking a question in a physics lecture hall in probably the entire four years of college, how important it was to me when professors would be able to read my facial expression and know that I needed more explanation, without even asking. If you could switch lives with anyone in the department for a day, who would it be and why? Jon Simon! He has an awesome cat, kite boards, and does jiu jitsu! That sounds like a super fun day. What is your favorite place on campus? My lab of course. I wish I were kidding, but I’m not! Any day I get to do a project in the lab is a good day. Do you have children/pets/plants that make guest appearances on your zoom calls? Yes! This summer, my four year old daughter Lydia ran in to the room I was working in at home while I was holding Zoom group meeting and exclaimed “Mama! James (her baby brother) had a super big poop!” My research group was… bemused? What is your favorite part of the introductory physics sequence and why? As I have gone back and taught mechanics a few times now, both in 131 and 141, my favorite lecture to give is about work, energy, and potentials, especially in 141. It really is beautiful. There are also a few things I really love that you see later on in physics. I use E&M in my every day research life, and have a fondness for Fresnel coefficients, and I think the derivation of polarization-dependent reflected and refracted power is pretty amazing. I also use statistics a lot and really love giving the graduate students their first lecture on a likelihood-ratio based approach to frequentist confidence interval construction (Feldman-Cousins), after setting them up for an entire lecture on the troubles with classical confidence intervals. Its a slick solution to a problem with no one right answer. You can learn more about Professor Vieregg's research on the Department of Physics webpage and the Vieregg Lab webpage. Meet the 130s & 140s Professors is a series of mini interviews with professors teaching the general and honors introductory physics sequences, 13100-13300 and 14100-14300 respectively. Check back soon to read more!
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