Paia, Maui, Hawaii -- August 2010

I work at the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, which is operated by Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corporation for the Department of Energy.  I am also employed as an adjunct faculty member at the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I teach online Physics courses and, occasionally, traditional classroom courses in Mathematics and Astronomy.  I have been teaching part-time since 1993 and have taught Physics at Robert Morris University and Mathematics at La Roche College.

I did graduate studies at Kent State University in experimental medium energy nuclear physics, and my research focused primarily on spin observables for proton-neutron (p,n) reactions, which are useful reactions to study nuclear structure.  Experiments for my thesis were conducted at the Indiana University Cyclotron Facility in Bloomington, Indiana.

After completing a PhD in early 1989, I received an appointment as a staff scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Long Island, New York.  There I worked on neutron beam experiments and developed Fortran and C++ software tools to analyze nucleon-nucleon scattering data.  This work ultimately led to further career growth in computer science in the area of expert- and knowledge-based systems using Oracle databases, object-oriented languages, and Internet technologies.

Before starting a professional and an academic career, I served in the U.S. Navy from 1974 to 1978 as an engineman and a scuba diver on the USS Tang (SS-563), a fast-attack, diesel-electric submarine.  As a young man, I profited highly from this experience as I was fortunate enough to serve with some really sharp and inspiring people.

Outside my family and professional interests, I enjoy amateur astronomy, digital photography, and maintaining good health and fitness (my son Rajan and I with Grand Master Kong, 2003).

I live in Pittsburgh with my wife Dr. Sulakshana Plumley and our two teenage children.