Physics instructor Paul Dixon named CSUSB 'Outstanding Professor'

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SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - Physics professor Paul Dixon has been named the 2006 Outstanding Professor at Cal State San Bernardino.

He learned of the choice at a surprise ambush by university President Albert Karnig and former winners during a class he was teaching on campus Thursday afternoon, Feb. 9.

"Paul Dixon is an outstanding teacher," said Karnig in announcing the honor. "That's important, especially in a complex subject like physics. He's also the kind of good guy who helps out in many areas of university life."

Dixon returned to the campus as professor of physics in 2003 after a two-year appointment as research professor at UCLA. Before that, he taught as assistant and associate professor at CSUSB from 1992 to 2003.

He teaches in all areas of physics, including statistical and thermal, electrodynamics, data acquisition and control, and solid state physics. A 1983 graduate (B.A.) of the University of Michigan, he holds the Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago.

Widely esteemed by colleagues and students, his student evaluations are uniformly high and written student comments routinely say things such as, "Best teacher I've had …"

Dixon holds two U.S. patents with fellow professor, Tim Usher. The first is for an integrated electronics design station, and another is for a universal laboratory computer-based machine that can do the same work and experiments as traditional, stand-alone electronics devices like oscilloscopes, digital multimeters and Bode analyzers, but in one space-saving convenient device called ELVIS, or Educational Laboratory Virtual Instruments Suite. Both are the first two patents Cal State San Bernardino professors have ever received.

Dixon has served on numerous university committees, including academic computing, chair review, professional awards and dean search. He advises freshman students and has conducted physics labs for visiting area elementary students.

In the early 1990s he served as a postdoctoral fellow at Exxon Research and Engineering, conducting research on complex fluids and the dynamics of polymer solutions. In 1998 he and Usher received CSUSB's Outstanding Instructional Related Activity Award in the College of Natural Sciences for development of the applied physics program.

Dixon will be honored along with the 2006 Golden Apple Teaching Award winner, biology professor Gerald Thrush and others at the San Bernardino Mayor's Golden Apple Awards at the National Orange Show on March 16.

For more information, contact the Cal State San Bernardino public affairs office at (909) 537-5007 and visit the university's news Web site at http://news.csusb.edu.

CSUSB President Albert Karnig introduces physics professor Paul Dixon as the 2006 Outstanding Professor during Dixon's class Thursday afternoon. Photo: Robert Whitehead/CSUSB