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Week of 11 June 1999 Vol. II, No. 35 Feature Article Metcalf Cup and Prize Kevin Smith: turning abstract physics theory into living, breathing reality By Brian Fitzgerald Kevin Smith's expertise in the laboratory is well-known in the CAS physics department: he conducts research on the electronic properties of novel materials that are of scientific and technological importance. However, Smith received the 1999 Metcalf Cup and Prize for his excellence not in the lab, but in the classroom. The accolade and its $10,000 prize is Boston University's highest teaching honor. Smith, an associate professor of physics, is the "magician with the light Irish brogue" who can turn what could have been "esoteric nonsense" about invisible particles, says one student, into "living, breathing reality." "I always knew that I would like to teach, but when I started I found it surprisingly gratifying," says Smith, a graduate of Dublin's Trinity College. He also holds master's and doctoral degrees in applied physics from Yale University. He came to BU in 1991. Kevin Smith (left) and graduate student James Downes (CAS'01) use the X-ray emission spectrometer in the Metcalf Science Building. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky Make no mistake, Smith also gets excited by his scientific research -- he recently received a five-year National Science Foundation career award that recognizes distinction in both research and teaching. But he says no feeling compares with his excitement during the moments when students successfully grasp difficult ideas. "The rewards in science, in terms of research, are delayed," he says. "You do the experiment, and then spend a month or more analyzing the data, and then another couple of months writing the paper. After the paper goes out to peer review, two or three months later, maybe it gets accepted in a high-profile publication. So, a year after a discovery, you might get a grant. It's a very long, spread-out process." Teaching, on the other hand, produces an immediate reward. "It's a nice contrast to the research: to be able to go into a classroom and know instantly whether students are getting it or not," he says. "At one point during the lecture, when you're trying to get across the essence of the concept for that day, you can look into the eyes of the students and just see it click. You can almost hear the clutch sound of their brains shifting into gear. It's a rush." "His aptitude for teaching was evident from the start," says Lawrence Sulak, department chairman. "He excels in all aspects of teaching, has a profound mastery of the subject, possesses a dynamic and clear oratorical style, and has almost continuous interaction with his students both in his office hours and in his research endeavors." That's not to say, however, that getting his point across in class is always easy -- especially for students who are taking Smith's physics courses merely as a requirement. "Most of them are engineering students, and they tend not to like physics at first," he says. "My first goal is to get them to realize that engineering is applied science, and in order to apply the science, you need to know the science. I try to point out, on a lecture-by-lecture basis, real-world applications for the abstract theory that they're learning -- and it is very abstract." Smith typically teaches third-semester physics for engineers (quantum mechanics), which is their third and final physics course. "The subject matter is not easy," he admits. "And it's not intuitive. We're dealing with a world that is very small: electrons, protons, and neutrons. Classical intuition does not apply. The students' experience in the everyday word is of virtually no use in trying to understand how electrons behave." Smith describes the challenge in teaching physics as taking an intrinsically mathematical subject and presenting it in such a fashion that students see its logic, its beauty, and universality. As for engineering students who are enthusiastic about physics from day one, "I try to convince them to take on a dual major," he says. What does he plan to do with the $10,000 prize? To start, he paid for his parents' airfare from Ireland so they could attend the Commencement ceremony and celebrate the 10-year anniversary of his Ph.D. The prize will also help cover closing costs for a house he and his wife bought in Brookline. Does he ever get homesick for the old sod? "Sometimes," he says. "But I get news from home on the Internet." In addition, after Commencement he and his wife went on a two-week hiking vacation in Mayo and Donegal. "And Boston has such a vibrant Irish community," he adds. A proud part of that community is a BU physics professor whose classes, in the words of another of his students, are "a journey not just of mathematics and science, but of the history and development of ideas; how humanity moved from the cold world of Newton and Maxwell into the mysteries of Einstein and beyond."