W. Scott McCullough
Associate Professor
Designations
Ph.D. M.Sc
Contact
765-677-1925
OHSN 170-H
Department
Math and Computer Information Sciences
Department
Programs
Resources
"Every teacher needs subject competence and a firm general pedagogical foundation. But every teacher also needs specialized knowledge specific to teaching their subject area. Hardly any teacher education program devotes anything like enough time to this “in between” area – and this is where all the fun is." — Dr. Scott McCullough
Biography
W. Scott McCullough, prior to coming to IWU, lived in the Republic of Yemen where he taught physics and worked in educational development. He is married to Anna, his wife of 35 years, and they have 4 mostly adult children. He enjoys reading and speaking Arabic, running and playing Ultimate, which he hopes to play professionally when he grows up.
Research
My research is in computational biophysics. I use the method of molecular dynamics to simulate the behavior of large collections of biomolecules. My current focus is the structure of pure lipid membranes. I work with Joe Hoffert of the Computer Science department and regularly communicate with biologists and biophysicists at IWU and other universities.
To carry out these simulations, the department has a Linux workstation with dual 8-core Intel v3 Haswell processors, two Nvidia GTX-980 graphical processing units and 128 GBytes of RAM.
Physics and Math Education Interests
I am interested in using technology to enhance student achievement and developing hands-on real-life projects for teachers to use in their classroom. Specifically, I am passionate about using GeoGebra to create teaching and learning resources.
Degrees
-
Ph.D. - Theoretical Physics
1988, Purdue University -
M.Sc.
1985, Purdue University -
B.A. - Mathematics; Physics
1981, Emporia State University