Distance learning is a great way to learn when not able to attend the traditional classroom in a college or a university; however, the shortfall is distance learning is somewhat impersonal not meeting your fellow students and teacher. To help you at least get acquainted with your instructor, what follows is a little bit about me.
- Aside from my day job at Naval Nuclear Laboratory, I am an adjunct faculty instructor at the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I teach Physics and Meteorology courses online, 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 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 the 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/art, and maintaining good health and fitness through walking and biking (my son and I with Grand Master Kong, 2003).
- I live in Pittsburgh, PA with my wife Dr. Sulakshana Plumley.
Publications
Principal Author
- “Spin observables for the 208Pb(p,n)208Bi reaction at 135 MeV,” M.R. Plumley, J.W. Watson, B.D. Anderson, A.R. Baldwin, C.C. Foster, R. Madey, P.J. Pella, Physical Review C 56 263 (1997)
- “Medium-Energy Neutron Polarimetry and Spin Observables for the 208Pb(p,n) Reaction,”M.R. Plumley, Ph.D. dissertation, Kent State University, 1989
- “Saturation Studies of Spin Probes Dissolved in a Glass-Forming Isotropic Liquid ,” M.R. Plumley, E. Gelerinter, and J. I. Spielberg, Chemical Physics Letters 113 299 (1985)
Co-author
- “Spin Observables for the Isovector Spin-Dipole Resonance seen in 40Ca(p,n),” J.W. Watson, B.D. Anderson, A.R. Baldwin, R. Madey, M.R. Plumley, D. Prout, C.C. Foster, P.J. Pella, S.N. Ershov, F.A. Gareev, and E.L. Trykov, Nuclear Physics A 599 221 (1996)
- “The spin-dipole resonance in (p,n) on 16O and 40Ca,” J.W. Watson, B.D. Anderson, A.R. Baldwin, C.C. Foster, D. Lamm, R. Madey M.R. Plumley, and P.J. Pella, Nuclear Physics, A577 79 (1994)
- “Spin Observables for the (p,n) Reaction at 135 MeV,” J.W. Watson, N. Al-Niemi, B.D. Anderson, A.R. Baldwin, C.C. Foster, D. Lama, R. Madey, M.R. Plumley, P.J. Pella, J. Schambach, W. Unkelbach, and Y. Wang in “International Conference on Nuclear Structure and Nuclear Reactions at Low and Intermediate Energies,” (1993)
- “The 208Pb(p,n)208Bi Reaction at 135 MeV,” J.W. Watson, M.R. Plumley, P.J. Pella, B.D. Anderson, A.R. Baldwin, R. Madey, and C.C. Foster in “Spin Observables of Nuclear Probes,” ed. By C. Howowitz, et al. (1989)
- “A High Performance Polarimeter for Medium-Energy Neutrons,” J.W. Watson, M.R. Plumley, P.J. Pella, B.D. Anderson, A.R. Baldwin, and R. Madey, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A272 750 (1988)
- “Saturation Studies of Spin Probes Dissolved in a Glass-Forming Nematic Liquid Crystal MBBA,” D.A. Patterson, M.R. Plumley, E. Gelerinter, and J. I. Spielberg, Molecular Crystals Liquid Crystals, 135 23 (1986)