How do you end up a college instructor?
Instructor Heather Hill answered this among many other questions for The Commuter. She completed both a bachelor of arts in physics and a bachelor of music from Ithaca College before getting a master’s in physics from Oregon State University. She’s been one of LBCC’s astronomy and physics instructors for seven years, teaching both STEM and humanities students alike.
Most will recognize her from their own classes or from the recent story in The Commuter about the Eclipse Chasers which she gave interviews for.
What’s the greatest influence you feel you're able to have on students here?
Bringing appreciation of science and astronomy to students' everyday lives to make science useful and practical and not just something in a textbook or that smart people do. Also to engage students in the deeper process of scientific exploration.
You have a dual degree in physics and music, how’s that different from dual majoring?
Dual major means that you complete all the requirements for each major, but because my two major were from very different schools, I needed a dual degree and that meant I needed to complete the requirement for both degrees. There was some overlap, like some of my music history credits counted as gen ed credits for my physics degree and some of my physics classes counted as gen ed for my music degree, but I had to be mindful to complete all of the necessary requirements between both degrees.
It sounds like you did them at the same time?
I did, in four years … (laughter).
Why did you decide to dual degree in music and physics?
I planned on going into acoustics to be an acoustician, to work with sound, because I left high school with a strong passion in music and for the sciences and particularly physics. That was my plan to combine them, I was planning to major in music and minor in physics. That was my original plan.
My freshmen year, when I was taking a physics class, my physics professor called me into his office and asked me why I was in his class as a music major and what I was planning to do. I told him, and he said, “If you want to do that, you’ve got to do a physics major, too.” I told him he was crazy, and … I did it anyway.
The reason why he told me to get a physics degree was because if you want to work in a technical field, you need to have the technical skills that come with the degree, and by majoring I would be able to develop those skills more effectively. I was unwilling to let go of my music degree because it meant so much to me. The way I look at it now, is that the music degree was for my personal growth and the physics degree was for my professional growth.
Is there a strong link between music and physics?
There is. I also will share when I was at Ithaca College, I was an undergraduate TA. At that school it’a all undergrads, there are no graduate programs, so I was an undergraduate TA for a physics of sound class. That is something that I would love to see come into fruition at this school, a physics of sounds class that could be utilized by our music department and other people that are interested to get a gen ed science class that isn’t our algebra-based or calculus-based sequence that is introductory and a little fun. Very much like astronomy but focused on sound instead of astronomy and there’s a lot of everyday uses.
It’s sort of like getting a technical understanding of how things in the world work but I doubt that you would use the specific equations later on. But that’s the same thing with astronomy. It’s really learning how to appreciate the natural world using equations and numbers and quantitative ways that you may not have before.
Did you always plan on becoming an instructor?
Well, yes and no. Both my parents were educators and my dad taught at a local college and taught chemistry and I spent a lot of time in the lab. I’ve known for a long time that I like working with other people and helping them learn and understand. I TA’d and tutored in undergrad and I started developing myself as a young teacher then, unknowingly. I think it was in my subconscious. I also thought about a technical job where I would design the acoustics of a space, whether it be a concert hall, a classroom, or a restaurant. To sort of apply the skills that I have learned within physics to a more practical job.
It sort of sounds like architecture.
It is architecture. That’s actually why I stepped away from it. Because I didn’t feel that I could continue to learn and grow because we already know so much about sound and architecture and how acoustics works in space, and I thought I would be able to do more good in helping students learn about those things and also allow myself to continue learning about those things. There's more opportunity for long- term growth and exploration.
When did you decide to become an instructor?
The summer between my sophomore and junior year I participated in an REU, which stands for “research experience for undergraduates,” in which I was able to participate in acoustics research. It was very hard to even find individuals doing research within acoustics and it was a challenging experience because there wasn’t very much structure since my faculty advisor was a high-energy physicist who liked to do acoustics on the side.
But regardless, I was able to engage in acoustics research and particularly I built a small pressure microphone that could sense the sound in three dimensions and I explored the acoustics of my marimba. I was wondering why some companies built the resonators with a trapezoidal shape where other companies have cylindrical tubes and if there’s an advantage. The cylindrical tubes are what we consider the “purest option,” since everything should be in cylindrical tubes. The brand that I had had the trapezoidal shape. It was a cheaper instrument still, these are not cheap. It was really cool to do research on my own instrument.
Nowadays for the most part, I don’t know that there’s any more research to be done in instrumentation. We have a really good sense of how instruments work and they’ve mostly been studied. That includes percussion. Percussion is very chaotic compared to other instruments that you can actually model very simply because they vibrate more chaotically. A flute is just a tube. Also there's a balance between craftsmanship and science and I don't know that the scientists and the craftsmen interact with each other because the craftsmen are just so good, that they just keep doing what they’re doing.
After that summer, I really enjoyed the research and I looked at graduate programs in acoustics. On my visits I did talk with folks. There are very few programs, there’s probably like three in the United States, and one of them’s at BYU. Didn’t want to do that. There’s one I wanted to go to, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, RPI, that one’s out on the East Coast. When I visited for their master’s program in acoustics, I expressed what I wanted to do and why I wanted to come there to one of the folks giving me a tour. They said, “I don’t think this is for you, I think you need to be a teacher.” He listened to my goals and what I wanted to do and he’s like, “I think you’re gonna get bored being an acoustician. I really think you’re gonna get bored.”
I was a little heartbroken, but I listened and I thought really hard about it, and he was right. I’m still a little lost. Since then I’ve had a hard time finding my research home, because there’s not a lot of research funding for acoustics. People want to create weapons with sound, and I don’t want to create weapons. You can hurt people with sound, and I didn’t want to do that. There’s no funding in acoustics other than weaponizing it.
So, during my master’s I did research in biophysics and looked at breast cancer cells. I know it seems strange that I got into astronomy, but it’s all related, I promise. I went to grad school to get a PhD to teach physics and to continue to do research in understanding more deeply. I connected the best with one of the faculty doing biophysics and it seemed very interesting to me. So for me it was about the connection between the student and advisor, and so I started doing biophysics. Biophysics involved looking through a microscope, and collecting digital data that I would analyze on a computer.
Here’s the connection: What do you do with astronomy? You collect data, instead of through a microscope through a telescope, and you analyze digital data. It’s the same thing, but looking at big things versus small things. Which I did not initially anticipate that connection. So there's a lot of computational work that occurs. It was asked of me to teach astronomy when I got here, and I never thought of myself as an astronomer, but I thought to myself, “I know the physics, and I just need to learn the stories or the history to share that information and I could do that.” And I did!
Has anything surprised you about being a instructor?
How much my students are willing to share their vulnerabilities and to try to work on them with me and how much I care about students and their wellbeing and academic growth. I can say I expected that but it’s still surprising in the depth of emotional connection in reality. It’s funny because sometimes students think I forget about them, and they’re like, “Do you remember my name”? And I’m like, “Yeah! Why would I not remember your name?” Like sometimes my brain can’t place things and it takes me a minute but I don't forget. Maybe I haven’t had enough students yet, I don’t know.
What's your experience balancing teaching and research?
Before the eclipse project, I wasn’t doing any research for myself or with students. It has been a challenge to be involved in both research and teaching. I would recommend to myself to oscillate between the focuses. I’m not saying take a year off, but I’m saying take a lull in the research.
It sounds like you can’t do both all the time.
You can’t do both all the time, that’s right.
I’ve heard that as a criticism for some professors, that they’re performance as teachers is poor but it's not because they’re bad teachers. It’s that they have this whole other job.
So, at OSU, their funding depends on their research, so their focus is on their research to make sure that that’s good. So they don’t have the energy to put into teaching as much. That is the ultimate dilemma. Here, the focus is always on the students, always on teaching as a community college, never on research. Research is a fun extra thing that you sometimes get to do, and I think it should be that way.
What do you recommend to students interested in STEM generally?
Apply for an REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program.
Can they do that at any point in their undergraduate career or should they wait for some point?
I believe they can do it at any point. I think there are some requirements that the applications are looking for but this is a paid opportunity for them. As I said, I did this between my sophomore and junior year, and it was the best summer of my education. I had a blast. I was housed with all the physicists and the computer scientists. We were so nerdy. It was great. It was fabulous.
What opportunities are available on campus for students who’re interested in STEM, physics, or astronomy?
The ROV team, which stands for remotely operated vehicle. The eclipse team, but it’s not super formal and I don’t know how long it will last. I would love to get an astronomy club going.
Can you expand on the ROV team?
ROV (remotely operated vehicle) team meets once a week, usually on Tuesdays, 4-5 p.m. They have a formal meeting at 4, Throughout the entire week I have students asking to get into the “fish bowl” to work on the ROV or on parts related to their project. They’re trying to meet specific goals that the ROV will meet during the competition. There are different sub-teams that’re working on specific things like cameras, controls, movement, completing specific tasks like building a grabber arm to pick kelp, for example.
They're an underwater robotics team as well. I have a lot of interest in learning more about something called lunar robotics. They put their ROV on the “moon” and try to solve problems related to moon travel. Which is a thing we really need to work on. By working on harsh conditions: underwater, moon, Mars, we are able to help industries solve problems slowly through student research. And it’s fun.
At a Glance: Heather Hill
Occupation: Instructor at LBCC
Education: Bachelor’s of arts in physics from Ithaca College; bachelor’s of music in percussion performance from Ithaca College; master’s in physics from Oregon State University
Years at LBCC: 7
Classes: Astronomy, physics
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