- Department: Physics
- University: Clemson University
- Location: Pendleton, South Carolina
I grew up in Highlands NC. After graduating HS I spent a few years as a mechanic. Then I met my wife of 47 years now, Penny. I decided to start college and went to then Anderson College to be a History teacher. I took Astronomy and Physical Science from a Christian professor and I was forevermore hooked. I went to Clemson then to major in Physics and had great teachers who I grew to love. I got my BA (BS didn't accept 2 years of Spanish) in Dec. 1980. PhD In 1985. I then went to the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC on an NRC Fellowship and then as staff scientist. After 11 years, I got a call from Clemson asking if I was interested in returning. Six weeks later I was hired Aug, 1996. I went through the ranks, graduating 21 PhD students and retiring as Chairman in 2018. I have 4 kids and seven grandkids. I could never have done this without my faith in God and the leadership of the Holy Spirit and my wife.
Favorite Quote
"You can’t stop a man who knows he is right and won’t stop coming." Louis L'Amour
Friends describe me
You don't have to wonder what he’s thinking. He will let you know.
My hobbies
Bluegrass music, golf, fishing, riding on my tractor, woodworking, and my grandkids
Fantasy dinner guests
Ronald Reagan, Winston Churchill and Sequoia
Best advice I ever received
You are too smart to be working for me. You need to go to college. Tom James of Tom James Shell in Highlands NC
My undergrad alma mater
Clemson University
My worst subject in school
Literature
In college I drove
VW Wagon
If I weren't a professor, I would
be a Historian or Archaeologist in Native Studies
Favorite books
John Grisham, Steven Ambrose, Louis L’Amour and many others
Favorite movies
Driving Miss Daisy, Open Range, El Dorado, Lilies of the Field (Sidney Poitier 1963), Second Handed Lions, and many more
Favorite city
Greenville, SC
Favorite coffee
Seattle’s Best
Nobody knows I
ever plowed with a mule or spent my senior year nights out coon hunting
My latest accomplishment
I won the 2020 Lifetime Achievement award given by the International Thermoelectric Society and was recently designated as the # 3 cited author in the field of thermoelectrics.
Current Research
I am retired, but the last 3.5 years I have been consulting as the Chief Technology Officer for NISO Energy in Toronto, Canada. Our team, including McMaster University and CanMet (a national lab) both in Hamilton, ON, has published a paper in Chemistry of Materials. It corrected some previous work on SnSe and gave the reasons for their erroneous results.