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Scholarly Interest Report
         
Jared Stenson
Instructor
Wiess Instructor of Physics and Astronomy
 
e-mail:Jared.Stenson@rice.edu
 
  • Ph.D. (2010) Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
  • M.S. (2005) Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
  • B.S. (2003) Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
 
Primary Department
   Department of Physics and Astronomy
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Research Areas
 Foundations of Quantum Mechanics; Physics Education Research; History & Philosophy of Science
 

Foundational, Pedgagogical, and Philosophical Issues in General and Quantum Physics

 

The theory of quantum mechanics has brought several new ideas to science: quantization, uncertainty, complementarity, state superposition, information, entanglement, etc.  However, it has also re-emphasized several long-standing epistemic and ontological issues in the history, philosophy, and pedagogy of science such as the role of metaphysical beliefs about the world, theory construction and selection, the independence of system from observer, the inescapable connection between formalism and interpretation, and the curious tension between conceptual understanding and computational ability to name just a few.  


While these issues are increasingly studied by the community of physics eduation researchers, they can also be studied from the perspective of fundamental questions in physics, particularly quantum physics.  I investigate and apply alternative interpretive schemes in quantum mechanics -- most notably the Bohmian trajectory formulation -- to understand these issues.  This research develops theoretical, computational, and sociological skill and understanding while being simple and accessible yet perplexing and surprisingly practical.

 
Teaching Areas
 General Physics
 
Selected Publications
 Refereed articles
 

J Stenson and A Stetz "Non-asymptotic Yukawa Scattering." Physica Scripta, 90 (2015)

 
 

Eur. J. Phys. 34 (2013) 1199-1208

 
Presentations
 Conference abstracts
 

"Complementarity in Teaching (Revisited): Experiencing and Explaining the Tension." (Jul 2014)

 
 

"Going to the Physical Situation: Making the Implicit Explicit - 2." (Jul 2013)

 
 Other
 

"Quantum Mechanics: Under-Determined Ideas or Under-Determined Reality?." (Mar 2013)

 
 

"Using Newton's Cradle to Teach About Momemtum (and Science!)." (Mar 2013)

 
 Posters
 

"Going to the Physical Situation: Helping Students See Beyond Numbers." (Jul 2013)