Union College Physics Professor Displays Lifelong Commitment to Learning and Teaching

by Holly Burnside (Just realized I never posted this!)

Coloring outside the lines has never been a problem for Union College physics professor Jonathan Marr.

“I remember one of Jon’s classes, when he was writing some stuff on the white board, and he ran out of space, so he just continued onto the wall!” said Jessica LaVine, Union class of 2002 and current Ph.D. student in astronomy at University of Florida. Good thing it wasn’t permanent marker.

Another one of Marr’s specialties is sharing his interest in physics and astronomy with people of all ages.

“Jon’s classes are so much fun, you don’t even know you’re learning,” said Mark Kostuk, class of 2001. “He just makes it seem so easy.”

Marr’s experience, reflected by his curriculum vita, reveals a passion for education.

Marr received his B.S. in physics and astronomy from the University of Rochester in 1981. He graduated magna cum laude with distinction in physics and astronomy, stated Katie Kovar, secretary in the Registrar’s office at the University.

While at Rochester, Marr served as a teaching and research assistant in his senior year. Though this was probably not an “official appointment,” according to Shirley Brignall, assistant to the Department Chair, “most of our assistants are graduate students, and Jonathan was an undergraduate.”

It was a head start on a so far successful career.

After college, Marr left the Northeast and traveled to the other side of the country. He studied astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned his M.A. in 1985 and his Ph.D. in 1990.

While at Berkeley, Marr continued his teaching experience through various levels. Though exact dates could not be confirmed, Marr’s CV states that he served as a teaching assistant from 1982-83, and as a teaching associate from 1984-85. Additionally, he served as an instructor at nearby Sonoma State University in 1986 and then again in 1989, when he was an instructor at Berkeley as well. From 1983 to 1990, Marr was also a research assistant.

After successfully completing his Ph.D., Marr came back East. From 1990 to 1995, he served as visiting assistant professor at Haverford College in Haverford, Pa.

Marr’s next move brought him back to upstate New York, where he entered a tenure-track position at Union. In 1997, after two years at Union, Marr was promoted to assistant professor. Although according to department secretary Colleen Palleschi Marr had been promoted again to associate professor, he has not yet updated his CV to reflect the promotion.

Marr’s primary research interest is radio astronomy. “In ‘laymen’s terms,’” according to his web site, he uses “satellite-dish-like telescopes around the world to detect and map the invisible light emitted by sub-atomic particles that move at relativistic speeds in regions of space millions to billions of light-years away in which supermassive black holes, millions to billions times as massive as the Sun, reside. (Hoo boy!)”

Under Marr’s supervision, Union’s physics department opened its observatory in 1999. The observatory houses a 20-inch optical telescope and a 2.1-meter radio telescope.

“Working with Jon at the observatory was great,” said Jason Slaunwhite, class of 2004. “It gave me good preparation.” Slaunwhite is in the Ph.D. program in physics at Ohio State University.

Marr has received a number of awards and grants. Among them are an American Astronomical Society Small Research Grant in 1991, which funded a project titled “Molecular Study of the Broad Emission Line Regions of AGN,” according to Kevin Marvel, Deputy Executive Officer of the AAS.

Marr has also published a number of research reports in various peer-reviewed journals, mostly Astrophysics Journal, and in other science periodicals, including the January 1997 issue of The Physics Teacher titled “Measuring the Distance of an Outer Planet by Parallax with a Camera.”

“Jon is great to work with,” said Dr. Rebecca Koopmann, Marr’s colleague in the Union physics department. “He can handle students, other faculty, and administration. He’s really enthusiastic about his work, and I think that comes out in his teaching. Students really seem to respond to him.”