My activities vary widely day to day, but there are some general trends. I selected March 6, 2006 as a “typical” day because I had a wide variety of activities on that day.

6 a.m. Check email and respond to anything important. Students often email late at night, and I like to send them a response as soon as possible.

6:10 a.m. Help get two preschool-aged children awake, fed, dressed, and ready to leave the house. We are lucky to be ready to go by 8 a.m.

7:50 a.m. One last email check at home, and then take the kids to daycare.

9 a.m. Arrive at office. Work on research for 15 to 20 minutes.

9:30 a.m. Attend the weekly Physics administrative meeting. I am chair of the Physics Executive Committee and coordinator of the technical support staff (I supervise five staff members: an electronics technician, two instrument makers, a computer interface specialist, and a research analyst).

10:30 a.m. Make final preparations for graduate course in Classical Mechanics, which requires about one hour of preparation for each classroom hour.

11 a.m. Teach Classical Mechanics. This class is intense, but that kind of intensity is why I became a professor!

Noon: Prepare for Advanced General Physics class. I log on to WebAssign and select the homework problems for the day. This also allows me to think about my lecture.

12:30 p.m. Eat lunch. I usually eat while preparing for class.

1 p.m. Teach (undergraduate) Advanced General Physics. This course is the first calculus-based physics course for physics, chemistry, biochemistry, and engineering students. It provides an essential foundation for their academic and professional careers. I consider this course at least as important as my graduate course.

2 p.m. Office hour. Usually my undergraduate students come to see me during office hours. My graduate students have learned that they can “pop in” whenever they find me in my office.

3 p.m. Attend Physics Search Committee Meeting. We evaluate applicants to narrow the field to a reasonable number for conducting telephone interviews.

4 p.m. Work on research. I specialize in acoustical physics. I am involved in an interdisciplinary project with a marine biologist, a marine geologist, and an oceanographer to measure water, sediment, and acoustic properties in locations where sound-producing fish spawn. Among other questions, we are trying to determine what causes the fish to select a particular location. We are developing remote sampling devices, combining several instruments which we leave under the water for weeks. I spend much of my time programming and analyzing the data, as well as deploying the devices in the Neuse River and Pamlico Sound.

5:30 p.m. Go home, prepare dinner, and spend time with children and spouse.

9 p.m. to I can finally work uninterrupted. I grade homework or prepare a test
midnight: or other assignment. When everything for the next day is finished, I get to work on my research. I do most of my writing at this time.