Tim LaFave Jr

Postdoctoral Research Associate
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Texas at Dallas
800 W. Campbell Rd EC33
Richardson, TX 75080

Personal Research

I am engaged in many extensions of research stemming from my doctoral work on the electrostatic features of point charges in the presence of dielectric media. A few of these extensions are outlined.

Academic Philosophy

With an honest desire to convey practical knowledge and skills to others, particularly in the broad study of physics, I have attempted to outline my academic philosophy.

Primary Research at UT-Dallas

As a research associate at the University of Texas at Dallas I am excited about the research we pursue that incorporates a variety of interdisplinary ideas, skills, and personnel. Here is a brief description of the two largest projects to which I've contributed.

Education

Though I contribute my undergraduate work at IIT, Chicago, for the bulk of my formal academic training, my doctoral research adventure shaped my professional outlook in science. After much undo struggle during my masters degree program, it was by personal choice that I came to work with Dr. Raphael Tsu, a Distinguished Professor at UNC-Charlotte. After he and his wife read a copy of one of my short volumes of poetry Ray began to consider me a "very deep thinker". I continued to earn this moniker by discovering the classical electrostatic fingerprint of the periodic table of elements in February 2006. Soon thereafter—over the course of one weekend—I derived a new expression for the capacitance of nanoscale materials in the presence of few electrons that differs from the conventional expression found in standard textbooks, but is in agreement with the so-called quantum capacitance. One's education is the sum of one's experiences. Such experiences are best expressed when they coalesce in the form of new discoveries.

Publications (with abstracts)