Patrick R. LeClair
Associate Professor, Physics & Astronomy, University of Alabama
In the fall 2005 semester, I joined the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Alabama.
My research focuses on electrical transport in novel magnetic heterostructures ("spin electronics"), superconductivity, and electron tunneling phenomena. I maintain a shared laboratory for electrical, magnetic, and optical characterization of novel materials and devices down to ultra-low temperatures (<350mK) and high magnetic fields (to 7T). For more details see the Research tab above. You might also find the Publications and People tabs useful.
For the most part, I have been teaching introductory physics courses of various sorts. Since 2006, I have been using blogs for most of my courses to help rapidly disseminate information to students (and anyone else who is interested). This includes a great deal of course notes, solved problems, and example course material you might find useful. It is all there for the taking; share and share alike. For more details, see the Teaching tab above.
What about me? Originally from New Effington, SD, I did my undergraduate work at MIT, finishing with a bachelors in Materials Science (course 3) in 1998. I received my Ph.D. in Physics (cum laude) from the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands in 2002 (supervisor: W.J.M. de Jonge). From 2002-2005 I was a post-doctoral researcher back at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory under Dr. J.S. Moodera. I joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy here at UA in Fall 2005.