TIMOTHY D. USHER

PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION

· Ph.D., Physics; 1989; University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C. Advisor: Prof. Charles P. Poole, Jr.

· B.S., Applied Physics, Physics, Math minor, Teaching certification; 1981; Appalachian State University, N.C.

APPOINTMENTS

· Professor (2000-present), Associate Professor, (1995-2000), Assistant Professor (1990-1995): California State University San Bernardino, Physics Department.

· Visiting Professor: 1999-2000, (sabbatical leave) North Carolina State University, Materials Research Center.

RESEARCH INTEREST: Condensed matter physics, materials physics, smart materials, ferroelectrics, piezoelectric materials, robotics, quantum computing, magnetic resonance, x-ray diffraction studies, finite element computer modeling, and electronics. Six students are currently conducting original research with me, which is funded by NSF, DOD and NASA.

Links:

Piezoelectrics (Basic animated tutorial):

Piezoelectric applications: http://www.morganelectroceramics.com/apps1.htm

Ferroelectrics: http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~ecerg/projects/ferroelectric.html

epr:http://www.bruker-biospin.com/brukerepr/whatiseprintroduction.html

TEACHING INTEREST: I have taught over 40 different preparations. Ranging from high school physical science to advanced quantum mechanics. I was the primary architect on the applied physics option at CSUSB. I am currently on the committee to create a new Computer Engineering degree at CSUSB. We have already been awarded a NSF planning grant. I was also one of the two co-inventors of the first intellectual properties commercially licensed by CSUSB. The system is called NI-ELVIS and is the first system of its kind for teaching electronics. More information can be found at http://physics.csusb.edu/~tusher/elvis/elvis_main.html.

COMMERCIAL INTERST: I am working through NASA with an industry leader to develop new morphable wing technologies. The details of this collaboration are still proprietary. In addition, I am exploring other commercial applications of smart material technology.

AWARDS AND GRANTS

· Awards from students, research peers, and business.

· Principal investigator on five active external grant awards.

1. California Space Grant Consortium - Foundation, “Fuel Cell research” PI, January, 2006.

2. Boeing NASA-Systems, Contract, PI, August, 2005.

3. Department of Defense (DoD), “Piezoelectrics”, PI, June, 2005.

4. Golden Apple Award nominee, CSUSB University wide teaching award, 2004.

5. Outstanding Professional Achievement award for the CSUSB College of Natural Sciences, May, 2004.

6. National Science Foundation (NSF) "Partnership for Computer Engineering Excellence (PACE³)", senior personnel, September, 2003.

7. Achievement in Technical Ingenuity award from the Inland Empire Economic Partnership “University Category Finalist” The Inland Empire is an area of Southern California with a population of over 3.3 million people. March 2003.

8. Coyote Athletics Faculty Appreciation Award, award from CSUSB student athletes, Feb. 2003.

9. Two Department of Defense grants for student scholarships. “Undergraduate Scholarships to Conduct Research in Magnetic Resonance”, sole investigator, July 2002.

10. NASA – Faculty Awards for Research; “High Displacement Actuator (HAD) Studies”, sole investigator. This was the first NASA grant to be awarded to CSUSB. A subsequent grant has already been awarded to another CSUSB faculty member. January 2002.

11. National Science Foundation – Major Research Instrumentation; “Acquisition of an electron paramagnetic resonance (epr) spectrometer for research in condensed matter, chemistry, and biology at a HIS-PUI. PI, July 2001.

12. California State University; Course Development Grant; Quantum Computing, principal investigator, April 2001.

13. Outstanding Instructionally Related Activity, School of Natural Sciences, California State University. 1997/98.

14. California State University; Instructional Development Project; Establishing a Self-Supported, Nationally Certified, Electronic Test and Measurement Site; co-director, June 1997.

15. National Science Foundation; "An Automated X-ray Diffraction System for Undergraduate Instruction", principal investigator, 1996.

16. California State University; Instructional Development Project; Expanding Career Opportunities for Science Students; director, June 1996.

17. National Science Foundation; "Instrumentation for an Introductory Electronics Course." principal investigator, 1994.

18. California State University; Instructional Development Project; "Prototype system for Introductory Electronics Course." co-investigator, 1993.

19. California State University; Faculty Professional Development Summer Fellowship; Effects of X-rays on Ferroelectrics; sole investigator, Summer 1993.

20. Research Corporation (Partners Program) Award HS-163; 1992; co-investigator.

California State University; Faculty Professional Development Mini-Grant; Ferroelectric Polarization; sole investigator, 1992.

21. Research Corporation (Cottrell College Science Grant Program) Award C-13119; Effect of X-ray irradiation on ferroelectric polarization reversal in KH₂PO₄, sole investigator. This was the first grant to be awarded to CSUSB from this foundation. Subsequent grants from this foundation have been awarded to other CSUSB faculty, 1991.

PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

· Over fifty published professional works including publications in refereed science journals and invited talks at professional science conferences. A great deal of work is unpublished because of national security issues or intellectual property issues.

SELECTED PROFESSIONAL, REFEREED PUBLICATIONS

1. Timothy D. Usher, Kenneth R. Ulibarri, Jr., and Gilberto S. Camargo, “Piezoelectric Microfiber Composite Actuators for Inflatable Wings.” Submitted

2. Tim Usher and Alec Sim, “Nonlinear Dynamics of piezoelectric high displacement actuators in cantilever mode.” Journal of Applied Physics, 98, September 2005.

3. Tim Usher, Alec Sim, Gevale Ashford, Adalia Cabanyog, Ken Ulibarri, Jr., Gilbert Camargo, Eris Naco, “Modeling and applications of new piezoelectric actuator technologies”, SPIE, Smart Structures and Materials, 5383, pp31-38, March 2004.

4. J. A. Palmer, B. Dessent, J. F. Mulling, T. Usher, E. Grant, J. W. Eischen, A. I. Kingon, P. D. Franzon “The Design and Characterization of a Novel Piezoelectric Transducer-Based Linear Motor”, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 9, 392-398, June 2004.

5. Tim Usher, Alic Sim, Gevale Ashford, Adalia Cabanyog, Ken Ulibarri Jr., Gilbert Camargo, Eris Naco, “Modeling and applications of new piezoelectric actuator technologies”, Proceedings of the SPIE, Smart Structures and Materials, Vol. 5383, pp. 31-38, 2004.

6. T. D. Usher and Paul Dixon “”Physics goes practical”” American Journal of Physics, 70, January 2002.

7. James Mulling, Tim Usher, Brian Dessent, Jeremy Palmer, David Rooker, Paul Franzon, Eddie Grant, Angus Kingon "Load Characterization of High Displacement Piezoelectric Actuators with Various End Conditions" Sensors and Actuators A, 94, 2001.

8. T. D. Usher "Suppression of switchable polarization in KDP by ionizing radiation" Physical Review B, 58, August 1998.

9. T. D. Usher "Effects of x-ray irradiation upon switching in potassium dihydrogen phosphate" Ferroelectrics Letters 18 (7), Aug. 1994.

10. Deborah Schurr, T. D. Usher "High School Classroom Demonstration of Hysteresis Using Ferroelectric Materials." Physics Teacher September 1994.

11. T. D. Usher and Grant A. McAuley "High-voltage MOSFET bipolar square-wave generator" Review of Scientific Instruments, 64 (7), 1993.

12. T.D. Usher "Preliminary report on the effects of x-ray irradiation on switching in KH₂PO₄"; Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Integrated Ferroelectrics, 1992.

13. T. D. Usher, C.P. Poole, Jr. and H.A. Farach "Ferroelectric Polarization Reversal in Potassium Dideuterium Phosphate as Monitored by Switching Current" Ferroelectrics, Vol. 120, pp 201-209. 1991.

14. T. D. Usher, C.P. Poole, Jr. and H.A. Farach "Ferroelectric Polarization Reversal in Potassium Dihydrogen Phosphate as monitored by Switching Current" Ferroelectrics, Vol. 110, pp 67-75. 1990.

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS (Refereed presentations are not common in physics)

1. Francisco Rodriguez, Juan Fragoso, Paul Harris, Marisela Aparicio, Kenneth Ulibarri Jr., Monica Marcial-Armenta, Timothy Usher, “Ferroelectric switching of KDP (KH₂PO₄) and doped KDP:Cr simultaneously studied by the epr and Merz methods”. Poster, March meeting of the American Physical Society, March, 2006.

2. Tim Usher, Alec Sim, Ken Ulibarri Jr. “Experimental results on pre-stressed piezoelectric cantilevers near resonance”, talk, March meeting of the American Physical Society, March, 2004.

3. Gilberto Camargo, Gevale Ashford, Eris Naco, Tim Usher, “Experimental measurements and finite element models of High Displacement Piezoelectric Actuators”, poster, March meeting of the American Physical Society, March, 2004.

4. Kenneth Ulibarri, Francisco Rodriguez, Marisela Aparicio, Tim Usher, “EPR vs. Electrical Methods of Monitoring Ferroelectric Switching Properties of Potassium Di-hydrogen Phosphate, a Comparative Study”, poster, March meeting of the American Physical Society, March, 2004.

5. Tim Usher, “Piezoelectric/Ferroelectric systems and ESR”, invited talk, SPIN 2003 conference, University of South Carolina, March, 2003.

6. Monica Marcial-Armenta, Kenneth Ulibarri, and Tim Usher, “Ferroelectric Domain Wall Dynamics Simultaneously Monitored by Switching Current and EPR Measurements”, poster, March meeting of the American Physical Society, March, 2003.

7. Tim Usher, Gevale Ashford, Adalia Cabanyog, Alec Sim, Kenneth Ulibarri Jr. “Piezoelectric high displacement actuators”, American Physical Society (APS) Meeting, March 2003.

8. Tim Usher, “ELVIS has entered the Laboratory”, contributed talk, March meeting of the American Physical Society, March, 2003.

9. Tim Usher and Paul Dixon, “Electronics curriculum for the modern experimentalist“ invited talk, 125^th National Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers, August, 2002.

10. Timothy Usher, Gevale Ashford, Adalia Cabanyog, Ken Ulibarri Jr. “ NASA funded research at CSUSB”, CSU-NASA Education Collaborative Symposium, CSU-Long Beach, June, 2002.

11. Timothy Usher, Angus Kingon, James Mulling, Brain Dessent, Jeremy Palmer, Paul Franzon, Eddie Grant. “Piezoelectric actuator applications in microrobotics” contributed talk, American Physical Society, March 2001.

12. T. D. Usher “Small Robots”, department seminar Whittier College, March 2001.

13. C. Kennedy, T. Usher, J. Mulling and A. Kingon. “Modeling and Simulation of THUNDER actuators using ANSYS Finite Element Analysis” Fourth International Conference on Modeling and Simulation of microsystems, March 2001.

14. Angus Kingon, Tim Usher, James Mulling, Brian Dessent, Jeremy Palmer, David Rooker, Paul Franzon, Eddie Grant. “Volume- and energy-efficient linear piezoelectric actuators” invited talk, ElectroCeramics 2000, Portoroz, Slovenia, September 2000.

15. James Mulling, Brian Dessent, Paul Franzon, Eddie Grant, Jeremy Palmer, David Rooker, Tim Usher and Angus Kingon. “Characterization of strained unimorph-type piezoelectric actuators” poster presentation, International Symposium on Integrated Ferroelectrics (ISIF), March 2000.

16. Brian Dessent, Paul Franzon, Eddie Grant, Angus Kingon, James Mulling, Jeremy Palmer, David Rooker, Tim Usher. (Tim Usher presenting). “Characterization of high displacement actuators with various boundary conditions”: Minisymposium speaker, Third SIAM Conference on Mathematical Aspects of Materials Science, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania May 21-24, 2000.

17. Paul Franzon (presenting), Eddie Grant, Angus Kingon, Brian Dessent, James Mulling, Jeremy Palmer, David Rooker, Darin Thomas, and Tim Usher. “Planar Processed Robots” Talk presented to the Robotics Principal Investigators Meeting held in Quantico Virginia, September 1999.

18. Numerous unpublished DARPA reports. July 1999 – September 2000.

19. T. D. Usher "A simple model for the suppression of ferroelectric switching in KDP." March meeting of the American Physical Society, March 1998.

20. T. D. Usher "Effects of ionizing radiation upon ferroelectric switching in KDP." March meeting of the American Physical Society, March 1995.

21. Kim Cousins, Klaus Brasch, and Tim Usher "Undergraduate Research strengthened by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Instructional Laboratory Improvement (ILI) program." Poster presented at the Project Kaleidoscope workshop. September 1995.

22. Deborah Schurr and Tim Usher (mentor) "Ferroelectric Demonstrations for the Classroom.” Talk presented at the 1994 Science Partnerships in Action Conference in Tucson Arizona.

23. Deborah Schurr and Tim Usher "The Properties of Ferroelectrics." Poster presented at the 1993 Science Partnerships in Action Conference in Tucson Arizona.

24. Tim Usher "Ferroelectrics." Talk presented at the fall 1992 CSUSB Faculty Research Symposium.

25. T. D. Usher "Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (epr) Saturation Transfer Measurement of Spin-labeled Proteins." Presented to the Physics Department of the University of South Carolina, March 1984.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL WORKS

1. Tim Usher “The machine that would be King”, The San Bernardino Sun newspaper, February 2003.

2. Numerous unpublished Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARA) reports for the Distributed Robotics program. (1999/2000)

3. Paul Dixon and Tim Usher, United States patent, An Integrated Electronics Design Station (IEDS) Serial number 60/225288, Filing Date 8/15/2000.

4. Numerous grant progress and final reports.

SELECTED REFEREED STUDENT PUBLICATIONS (student coauthors on professional publications and presentations are included above, and not recounted here)

1. Joseph J. Vandiver, “A Study of the Vaccine Effect in TGS using Polarization Switching Curves.” The Journal of Undergraduate Research In Physics Vol. 15 (1) 1996.

2. Danny LaFuze (undergraduate), T.D. Usher "Ising study of Ferroelectrics" Proceedings - CUR VIII 1994.

3. Abdallah Tabbara (undergraduate), T. D. Usher "High-Voltage Push-Pull Amplifier" Proceedings - CUR VI 1992.

4. Ming Nhiatou Vang (undergraduate), T. D. Usher "Ferroelectric (KH₂PO₄) Sample Preparation" Proceedings - CUR VI 1992.

SELECTED STUDENT PRESENTATIONS

1. Francisco Rodriguez, Ken Ulibarri, Monica Armenta, Juan Fragoso, Tim Usher (mentor), “A Cool, Closed Cycle Cryogenic System For EPR” Talk presented at the Southern Conference on Undergraduate Research, November, 2005.

2. Juan C. Fragoso, and Francisco Rodriguez, Tim Usher (mentor), “CaMoO4 studied via Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy”, Poster presented at the Southern Conference on Undergraduate Research, November, 2005.

3. Francisco Rodriguez, Marisela Aparicio, Kenneth Ulibarri Jr. and Monica Marcila-Armenta, Tim Usher (mentor). “Ferroelectric switching simultaneously studied by the

epr and Mertz methods”, Student poster at the March meeting of the American Physical Society, March 2005.

4. Jacob Salazar, Gevale Ashford, Gilberto Camargo, Eris Naco, Tim Usher "Finite Element Modeling of High Displacement Actuators" NASA-Aerospace Technology Working Group (ATWG) meeting, Long Beach. CA, September 13-16, 2004.

5. Eris Naco, Gevale Ashford, Gilberto Camargo, Kenneth Ulibarri, Tim Usher (mentor), “Piezoelectric Actuators: Experiment and Computer Modeling” Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research (SCCUR), November 2003.

6. Francisco P. Rodriguez, Marisela Aparicio, Ken Ulibarri, Monica Armenta, Tim Usher (mentor) “Ferroelectric properties of KDP concurrently monitored by EPR and Mertz techniques”, Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research (SCCUR), November, 2003.

7. Gilberto Camargo, Gevale Ashford, Eris Naco, Tim Usher (advisor), “High Displacement Actuators: Computer Model and Experiment. Sigma Xi Student Research Conference, November 2003.

8. Marisela Aparicio, Francisco Rodriguez, Monica Marcial-Armenta, Ken Ulibarri, Tim Usher (advisor), “ A Comparison Study of the Switching versus Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Methods to Examine The Ferroelectric Properties of Potassium Dihydrogen Phosphate. Sigma Xi Student Research Conference, November 2003.

9. Eris Naco, Tim Usher (mentor), “Piezoelectric Research”,13^th Annual CSUSB Student Research Conference. May, 2003.

10. Francisco Rodriguez, Tim Usher (mentor), “Ferroelectric Domain Wall Dynamics Simultaneously Monitored by Switching Current and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Measurements”, 13^th Annual CSUSB Student Research Conference. May, 2003.

11. Adalia Cabanyog, Gevale Ashford, Kenneth Ulibarri Jr., Alec Sim “Data Acquisition of THUNDER Actuators”, Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research (SCCUR) California Institute of Technology, November 23, 2002.

12. Alec M. Sim, Kenneth Ulibarri, Jr., Adalia Cabanyong, Gevale Ashford, “Characterization of THUNDER actuators in cantilever mode”, Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research (SCCUR), California Institute of Technology, November 23, 2002.

13. Gevale R. Ashford, Kenneth Ulibarri Jr., Adalia Cabanyog, Alec Sim, “Analysis of Cantilever Actuator Via Finite Element Modeling Program Ansys6.0”, Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research (SCCUR), California Institute of Technology, November 23, 2002.

14. Gevale Ashford, Kenneth Ulibarri Jr., Adalia Cabanyog, Alec Sim, “Finite Element Modeling of Cantilever Actuators”, Second Annual Scholarly Technical Assistance Workshop for NASA-FAR PIs and their students, Sponsored by QEM, Albuquerque, NM October 18-19, 2002.

15. Adalia Cabonyog , Kenneth Ulibarri Jr, Alec Sim, Gevale Ashford “Data acquisition methods for dynamic modes of THUNDER type actuators”, Second Annual Scholarly Technical Assistance Workshop for NASA-FAR PIs and their students, Sponsored by QEM, Albuquerque, NM, October 18-19, 2002.

16. Alec Sim, Kenneth Ulibarri Jr. Adalia Cabanyog, Gevale Ashford “Theoretical Characterization of THUNDER actuators in dynamic operation mode” Second Annual Scholarly Technical Assistance Workshop for NASA-FAR PIs and their students, Sponsored by QEM, Albuquerque, NM, October 18-19, 2002.

17. Kenneth Ulibarri Jr., Gevale Ashford, Adalia Cabanyog, “Characterization of THUNDER Type Actuators”, 2002 Western McNair Symposium, UC Berkeley, CA, August 8-11, 2002.

18. Gevale Ashford, Kenneth Ulibarri, Jr., Adalia Cabanyog, “Finite Element Modeling of THUNDER Actuators” 2002 Western McNair Symposium, UC Berkeley, August 8-11, 2002.

19. Linh Phan, Trevor Hickey, Brian Sullivan, “NMR Quantum Computing”,12^th Annual CSUSB Student Research Conference. May, 2002.

20. Eric Theriault (undergraduate) and Tim Usher (mentor). “Cleaving and KDP”, Poster presented at the March 1998 meeting of the American Physical Society.

21. Joe Vandiver (undergraduate) and Tim Usher (mentor) "Ferroelectric Switching Curves in Tri-Glycine Sulfate Crystals." Talk presented at the 1994 Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research.

21. Danny LaFuze(undergraduate) and Tim Usher (mentor) "An Augmented Small Matrix Ising Study." Talk presented at the 1994 Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research.

22. Ming Vang (undergraduate) and Tim Usher (mentor) "Ferroelectric Sample Preparation." Talk presented at CSUSB student research competition. (91/92) Ming Vang went on to represent CSUSB at the system wide competitions.

23. Abdallah Tabbara (undergraduate) and Tim Usher (mentor) "High-Voltage Push-Pull Amplifier." Talk presented at CSUSB student research competition. (91/92) Abdallah finished second in his area. He also went on to represent CSUSB at the system wide competitions.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

· I recently became the CSUSB campus administrator for the California Space Grant Consortium, 2004.

· I served on the panel reviewer for the CSUSB Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization (OTTC), 2003.

· I organized a conference sponsored by the late U.S. Representative George Brown and The American Physical Society, “Shaping Science and education to meet the industrial needs of the twenty-first century”. Conference attendees included Dr. Walter Massey (former director of NSF), Dr. Martha Krebs, (then director of the Office of Energy Research), and Becky Morgan (then president and CEO of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network) 1995.

· Journal Reviewer for the American Journal of Physics, Journal for Intelligent Material Systems and Structures and The Physics Teacher.

· Internship advisor for CSUSB Applied Physics program.

· National Science Foundation (NSF) Review Panels: Instructional Laboratory Improvement (ILI) Program, 1994 and 1995. Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program 2003 and 2004.

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS