Teaching Portfolio

Geophysical Data Analysis

In 1995 I designed an advanced statistics class entitled "Geophysical data analysis" that attracted Ph.D. students from Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Meteorology, Environmental Sciences, and Oceanography when it was taught in the fall of 1995 and 1999. Prof. Avissar, Dept. Chair of Environmental Sciences at RU observed over 50% of my lectures in 1995, provided exceptional peer-review and feedback. He presently requires his students to take this class which in 1995 it received above average student evaluations, which are included here as section A2.1.

About half of the course consists lectures on a wide variety of abstract statistical material with direct relevance to oceanographic and meteorological research and data analysis (see syllabus in section A2.2). For example, the course covers intricate aspects and consequences of discrete sampling (aliasing of signals) as well as consequences of sampling over a limited period of time (leakage). Both temporal and spatial aspects of geophysical data are covered through spectral analysis and empirical orthogonal functions. These are by now fairly standard modern analysis tools that, I believe, have matured over the last 30 years to the point that any serious scholar in the observational physical oceanography or meteorology should master them at the very least conceptionally. This mastery is reached through the hands-on transformation of lecture material into analysis software that is designed by the students. In about four closely guided digital data analysis projects students develop and subsequently test their own software with artificial data in order to connect statistical theory with practical data analysis. All four projects are included in A2.1. As the teacher I frequently help students outside the class room in the design, coding, debugging, and verification analysis software. As a result of the 1995 class I served on Ph.D. theses committee of Somnath Baidya Roy (Environmental Sciences) and Tsin-Chien Tai (Chemical and Biochemical Engineering).

The class helps student to develop an intuitive feel about (a) the relevance of abstract ideas and data analysis tools for their own data and (b) the many assumptions, limitations, and drawbacks of a set of data analysis tools. The projects treat Fourier transforms, frequency (or wave number) domain correlation (or linear systems) analysis, digital filters, and empirical orthogonal function (or principal component) analysis. At the end of this intense class each student that completes the course successfully will have his/her own tool box of verified analysis routines at his/her disposal. Several students develop these tools further within their own research and consult with me problems encountered in their subsequent research. A student who "...started from scratch..." stated in his/her evaluation that he/she "...feel[s] comfortable to handle issues related to data analysis confidently..." and "...while doing the computer exercises, we were asked to draw interferences that forced us to think and read more..." I feel encouraged by this and similar compliments, however, there is plenty of space for improvement as detailed and very constructive evaluations suggest. I am implementing these suggestions during the second offering of the class in 1999.

My detailed class notes for this course are also requested as research tools by faculty members at Old Dominion University (Prof. Valle-Levinson), at the State University of New York at Stony Brook (Profs. Wilson and Lwiza) and by students at RU. I also use these notes to instruct undergraduate students who conduct Honors theses (such as Penny Cohen, BS99) or independent studies (Hank Statscewich, BS97). Much of the data analysis software that I developed over the years directly relates to this class. I share the software with the general public through my web-pages at

http://marine.rutgers.edu/ac/page1.html

and

ftp://gwynedd.rutgers.edy/pub/data/software

Collaborators at Rutgers University (Drs. Chant and Francis), University of Delaware (Drs. Garvine and Wong), Old Dominion University (Dr. Valle-Levinson), Miami University (Ms. Framiñan), University of Connecticut (Drs. O'Donnell), and the State University of New York in Stony Brook (Drs. Wilson and Lwiza) all expressed interest in the class notes and used subsets of the related analysis software.

Introduction to Physical Oceanography

Prof. Miller and I co-teach "Introduction to Physical Oceanography" every fall semester to both graduate and undergraduate students. The course constitutes a core requirement in the Graduate Program of Oceanography, however, about a third of the audience consists of undergraduates with an interest in oceanography. The class constitutes a teaching challenge as it is designed to give incoming graduate students from diverse backgrounds such as biology, chemistry, geology, meteorology, and mathematics both a solid and broad physical basis to understand ocean processes and the quantitative way to study them. Appendix A.2.2 includes course syllabus and motivation.

Calculus is the language of physics and its application to the ocean that is physical oceanography. All but those students with an engineering or physical backgrounds struggle with calculus, physics, and often any quantitative aspects of a hard science. It took several iterations of teaching this class to accommodate the variety of student backgrounds and different learning styles. As I learned how to teach this class, the quality of the course and my teaching effectiveness as measured by student evaluations improved over time (Fig. 1). More specifically, very positive ratings resulted in 1998 when I introduced study guide questions along with detailed reading assignments, web-based homework assignments, interactive computer animations and laboratory experiments into the class. These most valuable instructional material I found at

http://dennou-k.gaia.h.kyoto-u.ac.jp/library/gfd_exp/index.html

however, a CD-ROM ordered through the above address allows much faster access and ease of demonstration on a local PC in the class room. Students responded positively both with lively questions in-class and compliments on the evaluations that are included in A2.2.

In 1998 I handed out 1-page study guide questions for each lecture during the class preceding the class. While this requires careful and detailed class preparation well in advance, it helps the student reading the assigned text as the qualitative questions offer them guidance on where the important points are. The questions also facilitate active class participation and frequent discussions as not all questions have clear and predictable answers. Again my teaching style encourages student participation and critical thinking. The set of 9 study guide questions, one for each lecture, is also included as supplemental material in A2.2.

Increasingly I use the internet as a teaching tool in this class. This applies equally well to preparatory reading/study assignments, e.g., the study guide questions on El Niño for Nov. 19, 1999, but also in more quantitative homework assignments related to both the 1997/98 El-Niño and the 1998 earthquake in Papua New Guinea (both included as supplemental material). With these up-to-date topic I try to bring societal relevance, urgency, and global concerns into the class room. More specifically, in one homework I asked the students to prepare, explain, and discuss real time data from the equatorial Pacific Ocean that monitors ocean currents, temperature, and surface winds with an extensive network of moored buoys. The surface elements of these buoys relay information via satellite to a most wonderful data distribution system that can be accessed through

http://www.noaa.gov/toga-tao

Students thus learnt to access and interpret information on the most dramatic 1997/98 El-Niño Southern-Oscillation event whose dramatic impact was felt through extensive media coverage facilitated largely through the monitoring network in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. During my El-Niño lecture I also include readings of "The road from Coorain" where the noted historian and first women president of Smith College Jill Ker Conway describes the human impact and suffering related to draughts caused by El-Niño Southern Oscillations. Prof. Dale Haidvogel asked for some of my class material when he briefed interested senior Rutgers faculty on the subject. Other home work assignments ask the students to apply physical principles of the ocean on earth to Jupiter where a "fluid atmosphere" covers the surface and Jupiter's rotational cause similar dynamics as on earth. The assignment and its solution is included as supplemental material. The solutions I provide to students in order to compare their thought process with mine.

The in-class examination show that the teaching process is not always successful for all students despite the best efforts of both student and teacher. Two final exams from 1998 show the large spread of students. The first, an engineering student, aced the exam without problems to solve quantitative, qualitative, and logical problems as he/she got an almost perfect score. In contrast, a sea-going biological oceanographer never even grasped the basic concepts and thus failed the class even though I spent hours with this student one-on-one in my office, however, the exams never just test factual knowledge, my exams always test understanding. Throughout the class with a variety of tools detailed above, I always try to emphasize problem solving and independent thinking by presenting observational data and then ask the students for a physical interpretation. A set of exams included in the appendix demonstrates this approach as well as the hand-written comment by a student who in 1996 thought "...that this exam was just right for a discussion of oceanographic principles..."

An undergraduate student commented on his/her intellectual growth that "...through this course I have gained a greater understanding of the application of physics. And, who knows, maybe I will go into PO [physical oceanography] myself someday..." and a graduate student commented "...great job with the demos and in-class experiments. They were both cool + helpful. Also you were good about being available to answer questions and such... you definitely encouraged interest in phys. oc. and made many of the concepts seem exciting..."

Jr/Sr Colloquium: Impacts on fisheries in the Pacific Northwest

In 1992 Cook College instituted Jr/Sr colloquia as an "...upper level course requirement that would incorporate group learning in a multi-disciplinary setting..." (Dr. Small in a Dec 20, 1996 e-mail to the Cook College faculty). The requirement addressed concerns by employers that "...our graduates tended to be weak in skills associated with working in teams to deal with complex problems..." (Dr. Small, same Dec. 20, 1996 e-mail). In early 1997 I responded enthusiastically to the search for volunteers inclined to teach an experimental colloquium. My proposal to teach the Jr/Sr colloquium entitled "Impacts on fisheries in the Pacific Northwest" was quickly approved and I designed my very first undergraduate class from scratch. As the goal I wrote into the syllabus (enclosed in appendix A2.3) that

Students shall integrate complex, diverse, and at times contradicting information into an informed opinion that critically transcends facts and reflects values. They shall learn to discuss and present facts, opinions, and values to both their peers and the public.

From both the student evaluations and the very active and enthusiastic student participations, I conclude that I accomplished this goal. Student evaluations reflected positively on the format

• "...interactive learning such as role playing is a great way to team..."
• "...the effort to make students work together was very important..."
• "...open forum which generated more interest than if it had been all lectures..."
• "...Projects, role playing, and seminar are important skills that will help in any job situation..."
• "...a good prep course for the `real world'..."
• "...Group work was great and opened me up to so many people..."
• "...role playing exercises fun and challenging..."
• "...lectures... are sometimes needed when operating such a complicated and distant subject..."
• "...Dr. Münchows...teaching methods in class...really forced students to work together..."

There were very strongly expressed negative views also, however, i.e.,

• "...Overall I did not like this class b/c everything including grades was up in the air..."
• "...stupidest class I ever took..."
• "...this was the worse class that I've had at Rutgers..."
• "...I can't believe the people in this class, feeling that salmon is more important than education, people having electricity, etc. Yes, they actually said this. This class was absolute torture..."

I started off with workshops on web-based research to carefully prepare for a first role-playing exercise after only 2 weeks of class time on the then current issue of the "salmon war" between Canadian and U.S. fishermen, politicians, and the general public in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. The detailed assignment for this first of several role-playing exercises is included in A2.3. It outlines my and the student's preparations for an initial debate were each group of students had to represent the interest of a particular interest group. The large majority of the class (about 12 out of 16 students) responded enthusiastically to both the class format, the topic. In summary, the class and its students constituted the most enjoyable teaching and learning experience that I have had at Rutgers.

After the first role playing exercise I used videos of the Oregon Sea Grant program (a non-profit) as well as videos of the local power utilities and asked students to review them in writing before discussing them in-class. I gave only three introductory lectures on "The salmon problem", "Research, ethics, and sources", and "Ocean-climate-fishery dynamics," but invited a fishery biologist (Prof. Kils) and a Human Ecologist (Prof. McCay) for guest lectures. I pitched these guest lectures as "expert witness" before Congress and asked the students to individually report as Aides on the "testimony" back to their Congresswoman in writing (see enclosed assignment on Prof. McCay). In yet another mode of teaching group-of-two interactions I guided 8 seminar presentations by pairs of students on selected topics related to biological, hydrographic, oceanographic, economic, and policy aspects of the salmon issues. The class received reading assignments from me along with study guide questions to be handed in writing prior to the seminar by their peers (a small sample is enclosed in A2.3). They were also asked to evaluate their peers giving the seminar in writing and grading and giving comments back to the presenters. This peer-review constitutes 50% of the grade for the presentation as a group which constituted 20% of the total grade. I removed the names from the student's comments and evaluations and gave a detailed critique of each talk in writing (two samples are enclosed in A2.3). These mechanism, I believe, ensure active participation in class.

All these activities prepared for the final in-class role-playing exercises. For a majority of the students these proved a fun-filled vehicle to analyze complex political, economical, and international situations with a scientific twist (see comments above, assignments, and student evaluations, all in A2.3). The role-playing enabled the students to discuss and present facts, opinions, and values all of which are frequently complex, diverse, and contradictory if viewed from different disciplinary perspectives. Most importantly, however, it "...really forced students to work together..." as one student noted in the course evaluations. That indeed was the main goal of this Cook College mission class that I will teach again.

Supplemental material included in appendix A3.0

• Recommendation of student Hank Statscewich by Canadian collaborator Dr. Welch
• Recommendation of David Huntley (BS97) by Canadian collaborator Dr. Carmack
• Letter of acceptance of David Huntley's George H. Cook Honors thesis
• Present job description of David Huntley
• Acceptance letter Penny Cohen (BS99) George H. Cook Honors thesis
• Fullbright project and letter of recommendation for Penny Cohen
• George H. Cook Honors thesis of penny Cohen

Supplemental material included in appendix A4.0

• Newspaper article of the Atlantic City Press as evidence for outreach
• Transcript of interview with Alaska Public Radio