I received my undergraduate degree in Physics with a Computer Science minor at New Mexico Tech, then went on to get a PhD in Computational Condensed Matter Physics at the University of South Carolina in 1993. After teaching at Appalachian State University for a year, I joined my husband Paul at LSUS in 1994. In 2003 I became Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Physics.

As a computational physicist, I am particularly interested in using Monte Carlo simulations to model a variety of systems.  My original work involved models of phase transitions in simple two-and three-dimensional crystalline systems using the Heisenberg model, t-J, and Hubbard models.  More recently I have been developing Monte Carlo simulations of the diffusion of near-infrared photons in human tissue. This research has the ultimate goal of producing a new non-invasive, non-ionizing modality for imaging the brain – in particular blood oxygenation within the brain (important for the diagnosis of stroke) and CSF thickness (possibly useful in the diagnosis of edema in the brain).

I am also actively involved in Physics Education Research and the premise of scientific teaching – bringing the rigor and research methods of science into investigations of learning and teaching.    I am a mentor & team leader for the FIRST4 project (https://www.msu.edu/~first4/), teaching best practices in the classroom to post-docs. In my own research, I am currently investigating ways to use technology to increase student problem solving skills and overall success in introductory physics courses.