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Department of Physics & Astronomy |  |
James W. HarrellProfessor Experimental condensed-matter physics Dr. Harrell's research interests include properties of magnetic recording materials, with an emphasis on magnetic media. He is a research participant in the Center for Materials for Information Technology (MINT) and is a member of the NSF-Materials Science and Engineering Center team that is studying the magnetic properties and phase transformation of chemically synthesized FePt and related magnetic nanoparticles. Other projects in which he is involved include laser annealing of FePt thin films and anisotropy graded media. He has also been involved in modeling and characterizing thermal effects and magnetic interactions in magnetic recording media. Previous work includes the use of NMR to study molecular motion in solids and electron beam curable binders for particulate magnetic media. Dr. Harrell has a strong interest in physics education and has been instrumental in the implementation and development of the Studio Physics approach to teaching introductory physics at UA. He was named an A&S Teaching Fellow for 2000-2003. He served as Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy from 1991-98. He is the author of more than 90 research papers. Dr. Harrell is also active in the IEEE Magnetics Society and is currently chair of the SocietyÕs Education Committee and a member of the Board of Editors of the IEEE Transactions on Magnetics. Professor Harrell received his doctoral degree from the University of North Carolina in 1969. He joined the faculty of The University of Alabama in 1979. |