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, April 2007.
Media discussion of my research:
The Ground War, Public
Broadcasting System: I was featured in the
episode Command and Control discussing the tunnel and mine at Petersburg
battlefield.
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.
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.
"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.