杰夫·格罗夫01年

杰夫格罗夫' 01,a 物理 major whose graduate school focus was the bio物理 of neurons 和 muscle cells, is Professor of 物理 at Shepherd University 和 chair of a department that offers a degree in environmental studies.

事实上，谢泼德大学不提供物理学学位. 然而，获得博士学位的格罗夫.D. 和M.S. 威廉与玛丽学院, has thrived in this area – earning the West Virginia Professor of the Year honor in 2020 和 innovating the Environmental Studies curriculum. He’s created a course in using electronics to interact 与 environments 和 another on the geology, 生态, 和 historical significance of Yellowstone National Park.

“The Yellowstone course culminates 与 a field excursion to the park where the students 和 I seek the signs of the restless super volcano lurking under the park 和 experience the thrill of connecting 与 the wild,他说. “对很多学生来说, the trip is their first visit to the American west 和 first encounter 与 intact wilderness.”

在电子学课程中, 物理计算, Groff’s students are learning about his project to do real time monitoring of the water quality in the stream that flows through Shepherdstown. The data collected will be posted to the web 和 accessible anywhere. The same class will be working on a network of humidity 和 temperature sensors to place throughout the aquaponics laboratory he’s helped build at Shepherd’s 158-acre Tabler farm. This will result in a 3D map of the environment in that space, identifying potential problems 与 the environmental controls.

近年来, Groff’s work has centered on developing Shepherd’s Agricultural Innovation Center 与 colleagues 和 community partners alike on Tabler Farm. The work has been unconventional for professors – from trenching for irrigation, 权力, 和 internet lines to the installation of networking equipment, 太阳能发电系统, 以及高科技的LED生长灯.

“The result is that we have turned an ab和oned farm 与 no utilities 和 a few run-down structures into an educational asset 与 a high tunnel greenhouse, 蜂房:养蜂场或蜂场, 一个果园, 了床, 太阳能发电系统, 和 an aquaponics lab where fish grown in tanks provide nutrient for hydroponically grown vegetables,格罗夫说。, adding that all students coming through the Environmental Studies program will be doing coursework, 研究, 甚至在农场找乐子.

格罗夫主要负责泰布勒的养蜂场. This year will be his third season maintaining honey-bee colonies at the farm. Two honey-bee related 研究 projects await students in the spring of 2021. Students will have the opportunity to study how bees build wax comb using test materials built 与 a 3D printer 和 electronically monitoring how bees control hive temperature.

In a higher ed arena where faculty tend to narrow their focus as they move up what he calls the “academic funnel,格罗夫却反其道而行之. By nature, he’s always embraced interdisciplinary studies. 这就是为什么他选择了金沙js6038的文科使命.

Although he notes a long list of transformative courses 和 professors at McDaniel – from 物理 与 比尔。帕格尼丝 和 阿波罗面 to 哲学 与 维拉Jakoby 和 音乐 与 大卫罗斯 – his most memorable class was the Honors First Year Seminar, Great Works of the Western World taught by now emeriti faculty Nancy Palmer 和 Thomas Deveny, 读荷马, 维吉尔, 但丁, 塞万提斯, 莎士比亚, 和陀思妥耶夫斯基.

“These works may span thous和s of years of human history, 但它们对人类生存状况的启示是永恒的,格罗夫说。, who graduated from McDaniel summa cum laude 和 a College Scholar, 获得物理系荣誉. 如果雪莱在今天写作, Frankenstein’s monster might be made via genetic engineering instead of reanimated body parts, but his loathsome existence in alienation from his creator 和 in isolation from other humans would still haunt us.

如果伏尔泰从他的时代穿越到我们的时代, he would tell us to stop obsessing over political intrigues 和 psychologically menacing interactions on social media 和 to ‘cultivate our garden’ instead.”

Groff’s love of the liberal arts 和 interdisciplinary studies is also why he chose to teach 物理 at an institution that doesn’t have a 物理 major in a department that offers a degree in Environmental Studies.

“It was an exciting 和 somewhat surprising opportunity to explore a whole new field 和 maybe even enrich it 与 my unique expertise,他说. “Along the way I have gained an assortment of new expertise in areas such as geographic information systems, 养蜂(养蜂), 可再生能源.

“I’ve been able to contribute to exciting initiatives such as the Agricultural Innovation Center at Tabler Farm 和 successfully pursue opportunities such as grants for major solar energy projects at Shepherd.”