Ph.D. in Physics, The University of Texas at Austin, 1992
BA in Physics, Rice University, 1985

email: pwill@austincc.edu
url: http://www.austincc.edu/nrgpsc

Brief  Biographical Statement
I was born in Tucson Arizona where I lived until age 7.  I then  lived for seven years in California - first in Stockton and then Visalia - until I moved to El Paso,Texas in 1976.  I graduated from El Paso High School in 1980, and then attended Rice University.  While at Rice, I worked in the research labs of first Ronald Stebbings and afterwards Rick Smalley.    I moved to Austin in 1985 to attend graduate school at UT.  I worked in Mike Downer's Femtosecond Spectroscopy group for a while until switching into condensed matter theory.  I received my Ph.D. in 1992 with a dissertation concerning critical dynamics in liquid crystal phase transitions.  My dissertation adviser was Jack Swift.  Following my dissertation, I worked for a year as a postdoc with Mark Raizen's Quantum Optics group.

I was first hired at ACC in 1987 as an adjunct faculty member in Math.  I was hired as a full time instructor in Math in September, 1993.  I began establishing the Physics Department at the Northridge campus beginning in the summer of 1994, and became the Department Head in January, 1996 remaining in that post until Department Head positions were eliminated by the college. I served as college-wide Physical Science Chair for the 98-99 school year.  In 2001 I decided that I needed some time away from ACC. I worked for year for Prentice Hall and then took on a teaching job at Aims Community College in Greeley, Co. I missed Austin and was rehired at ACC in Fall, 2004. I am currently Professor of Physics.

When not working, I like to read, cook, hike, ski, and watch movies and football.  My brother and I are currently trying to hike state high points.  So far I've highpointed Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Kansas.