Kenneth Heller

MORSE ALUMNI DISTINGUISHED TEACHING PROFESSOR 1997-, INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR 2007-; Director of Undergraduate Studies, 1992-1998; Assoc. Head, School of Physics and Astronomy, 1998-; APS Fellow, 1996, GEORGE TAYLOR OUTSTANDING RESEARCH AWARD, 1988, INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY OUTSTANDING PROFESSOR, 1999, PRESIDENT AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICS TEACHERS, 2006.

NRC Steering Committee, innovations in undergraduate STEM education, 2008, Advisory Committee APS/AAPT Graduate Education Conference, 2007-2008, APS Committee on Public Policy, 2006 -,APS Council, 2006-2008,AIP Governing Board Chair Selection Committee, 2008,AIP Nominating Committee, 2006 ,AIP Board of Governors 2005 -2008,Physical Review PRST Editorial Board, 2005-,APS Forum on Education, 2007,AAPT Past President, 2007,AAPT Awards Committee Chair, 2007,College Board Advanced Placement Physics Commission 2005-2006,AAPT President, 2006,Chair AAPT Executive Officer Search Committee 2005-2006,President Elect AAPT, 2005,Program Chair AAPT, 2004-2005,Vice President AAPT, 2004,NSF Committee of Visitors 2003,Szilard Award Committee APS, 2003- 2005

My research involves determining the characteristics of the fundamental interactions using both accelerator and non-accelerator techniques. In other words, High Energy Particle Physics. Currently my research focuses on neutrinos.(http://www.hep.umn.edu/)

Neutrinos are one tool to investigate the origin of mass and perhaps the origin of our universe. Recently some of the major puzzles in nature have been explained because neutrinos are not massless particles. Massive neutrinos oscillate from one type of neutrino to another while in flight. The MINOS project shoots a beam of neutrinos through the Earth from Fermilab to the Soudan Underground Laboratory in Minnesota and detects the identity of the neutrinos. This long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment is taking data to make a precision measurement of the mixing between muon neutrinos and tau neutrinos. We are currently designing the NOVA experiment to discover a rarer type of neutrino oscillation. This experiment will use the same neutrino beam MINOS but will be about 3 times larger and be located near International Falls.

My previous experiment discovered the last particle in the Standard Model, the tau neutrino. The first results were published in 2001 and we are now finishing the last analysis of tau neutrino properties.

Since I teach at a University, I am also interested in the most effective way to assist students in learning Physics. In particular we are investigating better ways to teach problem solving using cooperative group techniques to solve context rich problems using more expert strategies. (http://groups.physics.umn.edu/physed)