Personality Profile

I think sometimes it is too little appreciated in science that good presentations and papers require a little artistry. Imagery and timing of delivery make the difference between a transfer of understanding and a cure for insomnia. It is important to understand the level of familiarity of one's audience with the topic being discussed. Avoid using acronyms as if they were household words, and explain things thoroughly, as if the audience had little knowledge of the subject. My evaluation is that if each member of the audience comes away feeling that he has learned something, then the presentation has been a success.

I have experimented with expressing my creativity in various media. I did some painting in both oil and acrylic. I like acrylic better; it requires less patience. I've found photography to be a quick way to capture the intricate details of nature, while still evoking a response in the viewer. I did some of my own developing and enlarging in High School.

I've played the piano for most of my life; I took lessons for ten years, starting in the second grade. I played the clarinet in the marching band in High School and also in what passed for a marching band at Princeton University.

I learned to play Rugby Football at Princeton. I loved the game so much that I continued to play in and after graduate school, until I ``retired'' in 1995. The physical and social aspects of the game helped to keep my feet on the ground through the intense commitment of getting a Ph.D. and of producing rigorous scientific measurements. In addition, I learned a great deal about dealing with people from all walks of life. My understanding of what is involved in being a part of a team and in leading others has come primarily from my associations with the several rugby teams for which I've played. I have been elected to several offices on these rugby clubs: Captain, Selector, President, Treasurer, Secretary, and Publicity Secretary. As the Publicity Secretary for the Boston Rugby Football Club, my duties included, among other things, editing the bi-monthly newsletter. I had quite a bit of fun writing the game reports and some humorous articles for those newsletters. More recently, I have been the President of the Louisville Rugby Football Club. I have overseen the merging of the Men's, Women's, and Old Boys' teams under one corporate infrastructure.

My sense of responsibility was developed early, as I had to work on a farm, until I graduated High School and moved away to College. When the crop is ripe, it must be harvested. The lives of our cattle depended upon our getting them food and water. We had to work until the job was done, often very long days. In fact, I still gauge the raw difficulty of any job by comparing it to bailing hay. From farming I also learned to appreciate planning for contingencies; the weather is inevitable, and it takes no consideration whatsoever of our schedules. We always had to have plans B and C ready.

In High Energy Physics, we must deal with problems in all components of a project, from hardware to software and from finance to management. After a while, this leads to the conviction that we can solve any problem when we work hard enough, even with poor funding. In addition, there is a strong sense of team involved in these projects, and when someone discovers a problem, he feels somewhat responsible for presenting a possible solution along with it.