Publications and Presentations
Book:
Trial by Fire: Science, Technology
and the Civil War, White Mane Publishing Co., January 2000.
Book:
Civil War Acoustic Shadows,
White Mane Publishing Co., White Mane Publishing Co., April 2001.
Book: Never for Want of Powder: The Confederate Powder Works, University of South Carolina Press, in press.
Invited Refereed Articles:
“Outdoor
Sound Propagation in the U.S. Civil War”, Applied
Acoustics,
Volume
59, Special Issue on Military Acoustics, January 2000.
“Civil
War Acoustics”, Echoes, winter 1998.
“Outdoor
Sound Propagation in the Civil War”, invited lay-language version of original
article,
Acoustical Society of America’s
World-Wide Press Room, October 1998.
Contributed Refereed Articles:
“Blending
History with Physics: Acoustic Refraction”, The
Physics Teacher, Volume 38,
Number
4, April 2000.
“The
Contributions of Confederate Chemists”, Columbiad,
Volume 4, Number 1, spring
2000
“Details
of the Confederacy’s Augusta Powder Works Come to Light ”, Columbiad,
Volume
2, Number 4, winter 1998.
“Outdoor
Sound Propagation in the Civil War”, Journal
of the Acoustical Society of
America, Volume 104, Number 3, Part 2, September 1998.
“Shh!
Battle in Progress”, Civil War Times
Illustrated, Volume 35, Number 6, December
1996.
“The
Physics of Motocross”, with Longwood student Jeff Giles, The
Physics Teacher,
Volume
34, No. 4, April 1996.
Conference
Proceedings:
“Dielectric
Properties to 3 GHz of Liquid Crystal Mixtures and Several Alcohols by Time
Domain Spectroscopy”, with R.E. Barker, Jr., and C.C. Huang, Proceedings of
the Conference of Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena, November 1992.
“A
Novel Crossed-Rods/Cylinders Apparatus for Studying the Behavior of Contact
Spots”, with D. Kuhlman-Wilsdorf, Y. Zhu, Proceedings of the International
Wear of Materials Conference, 1989.
Book Reviews:
Review
of Archaeological Perspectives on the
American Civil War, Civil War Book
Review, Vol. 3, Number 3, August 2001.
Review
of Confederate Engineer, Civil
War Book Review, Vol. 2,
Number
3, August 2000.
Publications about my research:
US News and World Report, “The Battle Was Lost in a Zone of Silence”,
October 26.
1998.
United Press International, “Study: Physics Helped Decide the Civil War”,
October 14,
1998.
Science, “Silence Deafened Civil War Generals”, on ScienceNow, web supplement to
Science, October 15, 1998.
Dallas Morning News, “Historical Reverberations”, November 2, 1998.
Science News, “Sound Was Secret Weapon in the Civil War”, October 31, 1998.
Farmville Herald, “Acoustic Shadows Enlighten Civil War”, November 27, 1998.
Richmond Times-Dispatch, “Sounds of Silence”, November 29, 1998.
Discover, “The Sound and the Fury”, February 1999.
Los Angeles Times, “The Case Against Sound Advice”, June 24, 1999.
Civil War Book Review, “Engineering Combat”, winter 2000.
Reveille, “All Quiet on the Front”, February 2000.
Baltimore Sun, “Civil War Book Surge Invokes America’s Defining Moment”,
February
27,
2000.
Richmond Times-Dispatch, “Longwood Scholar Traces Advances”, March 26,
2000.
Discover, “Trial By Fire: Science, Technology and the Civil War”, April
2000.
Alexander News, “Trial by Fire”, spring 2000.
Longwood, “Civil War Research with Professor Charles Ross”, spring 2000.
The Gray Line News, “Trial by Fire: Science, Technology and the Civil War”, November
2000.
Discover, “Civil War Acoustic Shadows”, September 2001.
Civil War Book Review, “Send in the Sounds”, Fall 2001.
Mid-West Book Review, “Civil War Acoustic Shadows”, Fall 2001.
Washington Times, “Hearing is Believing”, October 20, 2001.
Military Images, Civil War Acoustic Shadows, Fall 2001.
C’Ville, “Civil War Unplugged”, December 4, 2001.
Media discussion of my research:
Battlefield Detectives, The History Channel: I was featured in an episode of Battlefield Detectives that first aired on December 20, 2004.
National Public Radio, October 16, 1998.
My research was discussed on "Sounds Like
Science",
a nationally syndicated NPR show hosted by Ira Flatow.
"Acoustics in the Civil War", Virginia Museum of Science, April 17, 2005.
"Civil War Acoustics", Charlottesville Civil War Roundtable, June 16, 2002.
"Civil
War Acoustic Shadow", Charlottesville Sons of Confederate Veterans,
September 9, 2002.
“Science
and the Civil War”, University of Virginia, April 17, 2001.
“Civil
War Acoustic Shadows”, New York Military Affairs Symposium at City University
of New York in Manhattan, March 31, 2001. I
was one of four authors invited to discuss their work at this all-day meeting of
historians and folks in the publishing business.
“Science
Technology and the Civil War”, City University of New York Graduate Center,
March 30, 2001.
“Acoustic
Shadows and Submarines”, Faculty Colloquium, Longwood College, November 15,
2000.
“Trial
by Fire: Science, Technology and the Civil War”, Third Thursday Book Club,
Farmville, Virginia, November 9, 2000.
“Science
and the Civil War”, North Shore Civil War Roundtable, Huntington, New York,
November 2, 2000. This is the most
influential Civil War group in the Northeast.
“The
Role of Scholarship at Longwood”, August 22, 2001. Selected by Longwood Academic Affairs office to discuss role
of scholarship with incoming faculty members.
“Acoustics
and the Civil War”, Williamsburg Civil War Roundtable, Williamsburg, Virginia,
August 14, 2000.
“Trial
by Fire: Science, Technology and the Civil War”, Barnes and Noble, Midlothian,
Virginia, August 9, 2000.
“Trial
by Fire: Science, Technology and the Civil War”, Barnes and Noble,
Charlottesville, Virginia, March 14, 2000.
“Civil
War Acoustics and Materials Science”, University of Virginia School of
Engineering and Applied Science Seminar Series on “Frontiers of Materials
Research”, February 28, 2000.
“Unusual
Acoustics in the U.S. Civil War”, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond,
Virginia, presented to Longwood College alumni and guests, February 8, 2000.
“The
Effect of Sound Propagation on the Outcome of the Civil War”, NASA Engine
Noise Workshop, Langley Air Force Base, Hampton, Virginia, November 17, 1999.
“Sound
and the Civil War”, Richmond Metropolitan Civil War Roundtable, Richmond,
Virginia, July 1999. This is the
nation’s most prestigious Civil War group.
“The
Effect of Sound on the Outcome of the U.S. Civil War”, North Carolina Chapter
of the Acoustical Society of America, Raleigh, North Carolina, April 23, 1999.
“Unusual
Acoustics in the U.S. Civil War”, Fall Meeting of the Longwood-Hampden-Sydney
Chapter of Sigma Xi, November 18, 1998.
“Outdoor
Sound Propagation in the U.S. Civil War”, Acoustical Society of America Press
Luncheon, October 14, 1998 (My paper was one of four (out of hundreds) chosen to
be presented to representatives of the national media).
“Acoustic Refraction in the U.S. Civil War”,
Centennial Meeting of the American Physical Society, Atlanta, Georgia, April
1999.
“Outdoor
Sound Propagation in the U.S. Civil War”, Fall Meeting of the Acoustical
Society of America, October 1998.
“Blending
History with Physics: Acoustic Shadows in the Civil War”, Joint Meeting of the
American Physical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers,
Columbus, Ohio, April 1998.
“Electric
Field Dependence of Nucleation Barriers in Ferroelectric Polyvinylidene
Fluoride”, Annual Meeting of the Virginia Academy of Science, May 1987
“A
Multi-State Model for the Nucleation and Growth of Polarization Domains in
Polyvinylidene Fluoride”, American Physical Society, New York, New York, 1987.
“Progress
on Nanoscale Bioprinting”, National Science Foundation advisory board meeting,
September 14, 2001.
“Nano-scale
Templating of Biological Molecules”, National Science Foundation review
meeting, July 16, 2001.
“Nanoprinting
of Biological Molecules”, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Molecular
Level Printing Review Meeting, Charlottesville, Va, March 13, 2001.
This talk was a review of my sabbatical research work for a review team
from the funding agency.
“Quantum-Dot
Cellular Automata”, presented at meeting of the University of Virginia
Materials Research Science and Engineering Center group, February 20, 2001.
Science
Update, National Public Radio,
October 10, 2000. I was recommended
to NPR as an expert in atmospheric acoustics by the American Physical Society
and by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
On this show I answered listener’s questions on the effects of wind on
sound.
Science
Update, National Public Radio,
October 23, 2000. This show was
devoted to my work on the effects of sound on Civil War battles.
With
Good Reason,
statewide public radio program, October 2000.
With Good Reason,
statewide public radio program, May 1999.
WHYY
(Philadelphia),
December 1998. I was guest for an
hour-long interview on this NPR station.
WGTY
(Gettysburg, Pennsylvania), November 1998.
WCNN
(Atlanta), October 1998.
Virginia
News Network,
October 1998. VNN is a consortium
of more than 40 statewide radio stations.
BookPage,
Huntington, New York, November 2, 2000.
Barnes
and Noble,
Midlothian, Virginia, August 9, 2000.
Gettysburg
Wax Museum,
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 3, 2000.
Eastern
National Park Service Headquarters, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 3, 2000.
Greystone’s,
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, July 3, 2000.
Barnes
and Noble,
Charlottesville, Virginia, March 14, 2000.
Richmond
Museum of Fine Arts,
Richmond of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, February 8, 2000.
Trial
by Fire is
now a required text at the University of Virginia for a class on the history of
technology.
Was
selected to advise new faculty on productive scholarship, Longwood College,
August 2000.
Was
only Longwood faculty member selected by Longwood Public Relations office as
“expert” for list distributed to national media, October 2001.