Dirk Grupe, Ph.D.
Chair, Associate Professor
Office: SC 204I
Phone: (859) 572-6549
Email: gruped1@nku.edu
BIO
Dr. Grupe received a diploma in Physics and a Ph.D. in Physics/Astrophysics (Dr. rer. nat.) from the University of Goettingen in Germany. Dr. Grupe's primary research interests are Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) – accreting super-massive black holes in the centers of galaxies.
Seyed Allameh, Ph.D.
Professor, Program Director
Mechatronics Engineering Technology
Office: BC 231
Phone: (859) 572-5759
Email: allamehs1@nku.edu
BIO
Education: Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in Materials Science and Engineering working on the “Energy and Structure of Interphase Interfaces,” Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Associate at The OSU working on superconductors and advanced electronic ceramics for 6 years. Research staff scientist at Princeton University working on MEMS, nanotechnology and advanced materials for 5 years. Dr. Allameh joined faculty of NKU in 2004. He has over 80 publications and over 65 national and international presentations and invited talks. He has been listed in Marquis “Who’s Who in America” since 2009 and he is the recipient of 2017 NKU “Excellence in Research, Creativity and Innovation” award.
Interests: Combinatorial Composite, Research, Automated biomimicked construction, Mechanical properties of MEMS-scale structures
Nathan De Lee, Ph.D.
Professor, Program Director
Astronomy
Office: SC 151
Phone: (859) 572-5492
Email: deleen1@nku.edu
BIO
Dr. De Lee received a B.S. in physics and a B.S. in astronomy at the University of Kansas. Dr. De Lee went on to receive a M.S. and Ph.D. in Astronomy and Astrophysics at Michigan State University. His research interests are in astronomy, primarily focusing on: variable stars, brown dwarfs, exoplanets, and the structure and formation history of the Milky Way. He is also interested in working on algorithms and tools to explore large data sets.
Chari Ramkumar, Ph.D.
Lecturer II, Program Director
Pre-Engineering and Engineering Physics
Office: SC 142
Phone: (859) 572-5405
Email: ramkumarc@nku.edu
BIO
Dr. Ramkumar received a B.S. and M.S. from University of Madurai, India, and the M. Tech. and Ph. D from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India. Dr. Ramkumar does research in solid state physics.
Christa Speights
Lecturer, Planetarium Director
Haile Digital Planetarium
Office: SC 444
Phone: (859) 572-5115
Email: speightsc1@nku.edu
BIO
Christa Speights joined NKU in July 2015. She graduated with an MS in physics from Clemson University, where a majority of her responsibilities as a graduate assistant were in the planetarium, which had been newly outfitted with a Digistar 4 system. She is interested in science outreach, eclipsing binary stars, and star formation. Her future plans for the planetarium include continuing science outreach for a range of different sciences, and starting to use the data visualization capabilities for research purposes.
Matthew Zacate, Ph.D.
Professor, Program Director
Physics
Office: SC 144
Phone: (859) 572-1365
Email: zacatem1@nku.edu
BIO
Dr. Zacate received a B.S. from Northeast Missouri State University, and the M.S. and Ph.D. from Oregon State University. Dr. Zacate’s area of research is in computational solid state physics.
Nilesh Dixit, Ph.D.
Lecturer II
Geology Program Director
Office: SC 250
Phone: (859) 572-6907
Email: dixitn1@nku.edu
BIO
Dr. Dixit areas of focus are Petroleum Geophysics, Geomechanics, Structural Geology, and Planetary Geology.
Amanda Ashcraft
Academic Advisor
Office: SC 203C
Phone: (859) 572-7833
Email: ashcrafta2@nku.edu
Rachel Thornton
Academic Advisor, Lecturer
Office: SC 152
Phone: (859) 572-1523
Email: thorntonr3@nku.edu
BIO
Rachel's teaching areas of focus are Science Communication and Geoscience Education.
Roger Miller
Lab Coordinator, Lecturer
Office: BC 119A
Phone: (859) 572-5183
Email: millerr@nku.edu
Wayne Bresser, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
BIO
Dr. Bresser received a B.A. in physics from Thomas More College, and the M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from University of Cincinnati. His area of research is solid state physics.
David Cain, Ph.D.
Lecturer
BIO
Dr. Cain received a B.S. in physics at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Cain continued his studies at the University of Cincinnati and obtained a M.S. and Ph.D. in physics. He began teaching at Northern Kentucky University in 2015.
Nathan De Lee, Ph.D.
Professor, Program Director
Astronomy
Office: SC 151
Phone: (859) 572-5492
Email: deleen1@nku.edu
BIO
Dr. De Lee received a B.S. in physics and a B.S. in astronomy at the University of Kansas. Dr. De Lee went on to receive a M.S. and Ph.D. in Astronomy and Astrophysics at Michigan State University. His research interests are in astronomy, primarily focusing on: variable stars, brown dwarfs, exoplanets, and the structure and formation history of the Milky Way. He is also interested in working on algorithms and tools to explore large data sets.
Sharmanthie Fernando, Ph.D.
Professor
BIO
Dr. Fernando received a B.Sc. in mechanical engineering from University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, M.Sc. in physics, M.Sc. in mathematics, and Ph.D. in physics from University of Cincinnati. Dr. Fernando’s research is on general theory of relativity and black hole physics.
Dirk Grupe, Ph.D.
Chair, Associate Professor
Office: SC 204I
Phone: (859) 572-6549
Email: gruped1@nku.edu
BIO
Dr. Grupe received a diploma in Physics and a Ph.D. in Physics/Astrophysics (Dr. rer. nat.) from the University of Goettingen in Germany. Dr. Grupe's primary research interests are Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) – accreting super-massive black holes in the centers of galaxies.
Scott Nutter, Ph.D.
Professor
Office: SC 147
Phone: (859) 572-5369
Email: nutters@nku.edu
BIO
Dr. Nutter received a B.S. from University of Georgia, and the M.S. and Ph.D. from Indiana University. Dr. Nutter’s area of research is astrophysics.
Website: http://nku.edu/~nutters/
Chari Ramkumar, Ph.D.
Lecturer II, Program Director
Pre-Engineering and Engineering Physics
Office: SC 142
Phone: (859) 572-5405
Email: ramkumarc@nku.edu
BIO
Dr. Ramkumar received a B.S. and M.S. from University of Madurai, India, and the M. Tech. and Ph. D from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India. Dr. Ramkumar does research in solid state physics.
Christa Speights
Lecturer, Planetarium Director
Haile Digital Planetarium
Office: SC 444
Phone: (859) 572-5115
Email: speightsc1@nku.edu
BIO
Christa Speights joined NKU in July 2015. She graduated with an MS in physics from Clemson University, where a majority of her responsibilities as a graduate assistant were in the planetarium, which had been newly outfitted with a Digistar 4 system. She is interested in science outreach, eclipsing binary stars, and star formation. Her future plans for the planetarium include continuing science outreach for a range of different sciences, and starting to use the data visualization capabilities for research purposes.
Matthew Zacate, Ph.D.
Professor, Program Director
Physics
Office: SC 144
Phone: (859) 572-1365
Email: zacatem1@nku.edu
BIO
Dr. Zacate received a B.S. from Northeast Missouri State University, and the M.S. and Ph.D. from Oregon State University. Dr. Zacate’s area of research is in computational solid state physics.
Hugh Henry, Ph.D.
Part-time Faculty
Email: henryh1@nku.edu
BIO
Dr. Henry obtained a BS in physics from Duke University, and obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. He retired form his work in radiation oncology in 2002, and began teaching at Northern Kentucky University in 2004.
Bogdan Leu, Ph.D.
Part-time Faculty
Email: leum1@nku.edu
BIO
Dr. Leu obtained a B.S. in Physics from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Romania, a M.S. in Physics from Northeastern University, and a Ph.D. in Physics from Northeastern University.
Charles Wilton
Part-time Faculty
Email: wiltonc1@nku.edu
Nilesh Dixit, Ph.D.
Lecturer II
Geology Program Director
Office: SC 250
Phone: (859) 572-6907
Email: dixitn1@nku.edu
BIO
Dr. Dixit areas of focus are Petroleum Geophysics, Geomechanics, Structural Geology, and Planetary Geology.
Julie Ann Reizner
Lecturer
Office: SC 251
Phone: (859) 572-6683
Email: reiznerj1@nku.edu
BIO
Julie Ann Reizner's areas of focus are Dinosaur Paleontology, Cave Geology, and Historical Geology.
Rachel Thornton
Academic Advisor, Lecturer
Office: SC 152
Phone: (859) 572-1523
Email: thorntonr3@nku.edu
BIO
Rachel's teaching areas of focus are Science Communication and Geoscience Education.
Robert Elkin
Part-time Faculty
Email: elkinr1@nku.edu
Sarah Hunter
Part-time Faculty
Email: christens@nku.edu
Seyed Allameh, Ph.D.
Professor, Program Director
Mechatronics Engineering Technology
Office: BC 231
Phone: (859) 572-5759
Email: allamehs1@nku.edu
BIO
Education: Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in Materials Science and Engineering working on the “Energy and Structure of Interphase Interfaces,” Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Associate at The OSU working on superconductors and advanced electronic ceramics for 6 years. Research staff scientist at Princeton University working on MEMS, nanotechnology and advanced materials for 5 years. Dr. Allameh joined faculty of NKU in 2004. He has over 80 publications and over 65 national and international presentations and invited talks. He has been listed in Marquis “Who’s Who in America” since 2009 and he is the recipient of 2017 NKU “Excellence in Research, Creativity and Innovation” award.
Interests: Combinatorial Composite, Research, Automated biomimicked construction, Mechanical properties of MEMS-scale structures
Mark Keshtvarz
Lecturer
Office: BC 228
Phone: (859) 572-5767
Email: keshtvarzm1@nku.edu
BIO
Education: M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Morth Carolina A&T State University, B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Jackson State University.
Zeel Maheshwari, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Office: BC 233
Phone: (859) 572-5308
Email: maheshwarz1@nku.edu
BIO
Education: B.E. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Visvesvarya Technological University,India; M.S and Ph.D from Oklahoma State University
Research Interests: My areas of research include Power Systems, Smart Grids, Integration of Renewable Energy Systems, Microgrids, Energy management and controls, Neural Networks, Deep learning, Fuzzy Logic and Direct Energy Conversion.
Morteza Sadat-Hossieny, Ph.D.
Professor
BIO
Education: B.S. MET, Oklahoma State University, M.S. Manufacturing Eng. Tech., Murray State University Ph.D. Industrial Technology & Education, Iowa State University
Areas of Concentration: CAD, CAM, CNC, Quality, Industrial Automation
Interests: Engineering/Technology Education, EGT innovative Curriculum Development
Minchul Shin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
BIO
Education: Minchul Shin received the B.S degree from Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea, in 2005, the M.S degree from University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the Ph.D. degree from the Tufts University in 2012, specializing in Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) and Micro/Nano Fabrication. Following his Ph.D., he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan with a research concentration on thin film micro-robot design.
Research Interests: soft robotics, MEMS design, sound source detection, and micro robotics
Gang Sun, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Office: BC 225
Phone: (859) 572-5385
Email: sung1@nku.edu
BIO
Education: Ph.D. in Ag & Biosystems Engineering and Ph.D. minor in Statistics (Big Data Analytics) from Iowa State University; M.S. in Environmental Engineering from University of Saskatchewan, Canada and M.S. in Bioenvironmental Engineering (Biomedical Engineering Program) from Zhejiang University, China; B.E. in Electrical Engineering from Zhejiang University of Technology, China.
Research Interests: My research involves designing mechatronic systems that integrate embedded systems, programmable logic controllers, ubiquitous computing, real-time operating systems (RTOS), wired/wireless communication, sensor networks, and actuator control in various industrial, commercial, and environmental applications. Furthermore, my research is concerned with the study of complex dynamic systems using computational intelligence/data mining methods.
Mahdi Yazdanpour, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
BIO
Education: Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Oklahoma State University, M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), and BSc. in Computer Engineering from Qazvin Azad University.
Research Interests: Intelligent Mechatronic Systems, Medical Robotics, Brain Computer Interface, Human Machine Interface, Mind-Controlled Systems, Companion Robots, Computer Vision, 3D Scene Reconstruction, and Machine Vision.
Ralph Draper
Part-time Faculty
Email: draperra@nku.edu
Elias Feghali
Part-time Faculty
Email: feghalie@nku.edu
Marian Ihlenfedlt
Part-time Faculty
Email: ihlenfeldm1@nku.edu
Dave Robers
Part-time Faculty
Email: robersd1@nku.edu
Karl Vogler, Ph.D., Permanent Lecturer - Retired in 2019
John Filaseta, Ph.D., Associate Professor Emeritus - Retired in 2015
Charles Hawkins, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus - Retired in 2013
Raymond McNeil, Ph.D., Associate Professor Emeritus - Retired in 2013
Michael McPherson, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus - Retired in 1999
Dr. McPherson joined NKU in 1971 serving as NKU's first Physics faculty member. Dr. McPherson also served as Department Chair.
William S. Wagner, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus - Retired in 1995
Sarah Johnson, Ph.D. - Lecturer, retired in 2023
Janet Bertog, Ph.D - Professor, Retired in 2019
John Rockaway, Ph.D. - Associate Professor, Retired in 2018
Samuel Boateng, Ph.D. - Professor Emeritus, Retired in 2016
Jonathan Bushee, Ph.D. - Associate Professor, Retired in 1997
Raman J. Singh, Ph.D. - Professor Emeritus, Retired in 1995
Dr. Singh joined NKU in 1971 serving as NKU's first Geology faculty member.
Harold Wiebe - Associate Professor, Retired in 2019
Department of Physics, Geology, & Engineering Technology
Dorothy Westerman Herrmann Science Center (SC), Room 204H
(859) 572-6549
