Gary White

Gary D. White's current research interests include rolling marbles on curved spandex surfaces, and rolling unfair dice on flat, non-spandex surfaces, as well as a variety of topics in physics pedagogy. Most recently he has been working to better understand how to improve the writing and trouble-shooting skills for physics undergraduates in the upper level curriculum. In addition to serving as Adjunct Professor of Physics at The George Washington University, he is also the Editor of The Physics Teacher, a peer-reviewed journal devoted to the teaching of introductory physics. His background includes stints as a nuclear theorist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, as a math instructor and researcher in nuclear engineering at Texas A&M University, as a physics professor at Northwestern State University of Louisiana, as the national Director of the Society of Physics Students, and as a program director at the National Science Foundation, but he considers himself a physics teacher, primarily. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT).

Physics 1005, 1008, 1011, 1012, 1021, 1022, 2151W, 2165

“Continuing conversations on equity in the physics classroom” with Geraldine L. Cochran, Editorial, The Physics Teacher 56, page 3 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1119/1.5018672

“Uptake of solution checks by undergraduate physics students” with Tiffany Sikorski and Justin Landay, Proceedings of the 2017 Physics Education Research Conference, page 368 (2017), https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2017.pr.087

"Consider a circular cow," The SPS Observer, Volume LI, Issue 3, page 9-11, Fall 2017, https://www.spsnational.org/the-sps-observer/fall/2017/consider-circular-cow

“Unique voices in harmony: Call-and-response to address race and physics teaching” with Geraldine Cochran, Editorial, The Physics Teacher 55, page 324 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4999720

“Race and physics teaching, and the fair: A call to all physics educators for manuscripts on a rarely discussed topic”, Editorial, The Physics Teacher 54, page 70 (2016); https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4940166

“In Praise of Imperfection,” Editorial, The Physics Teacher, 52, page 8 (2014); https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4849141

“Integration of Physics and Biology: Synergistic Undergraduate Education for the 21st Century” with Terry Woodin, Helen Vasaly, and Duncan McBride, CBE—Life Sciences Education Vol. 12, No. 2, page 120 (2013); 

“Integration…by parts,” Editorial, The Physics Teacher, 51, page 328 (2013); https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4818364

"On trajectories of rolling marbles in cones and other funnels,” American Journal of Physics, 81, pages 890-898 (2013); https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4823475

PhD, Texas A&M University

BS, Northeast Louisiana University