B.S., Northern Kentucky University(1977)
M.S., University of Cincinnati(1980)
M.A., University of Kentucky (1985)
Ph.D., University of Kentucky (2003)
Combinatorial Game Theory, Renormalization Group
Bob is a local boy, born in Covington. He attended St. Cecilia and All Saints grade schools and graduated from Erlanger Lloyd where his cousin is now the principal. He began college at the Conservatory of Music at UC and used to be a jazz musician; he even played drums in one of Bob Schaffer’s bands. Piano is his instrument of choice now. He started studying physics and mathematics after he learned that it was easier than loading trucks in Florence and that it paid better than music. At NKU, mathematics, physics and Bob got along so well that he became a National Science Foundation Undergraduate Fellow and did experimental research on superconductivity. He won outstanding student in physics and outstanding student in mathematics too. Studying quantum field theory in solid state physics, he got a Master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati but decided that mathematicians were smarter. He is sometimes playful and this ultimately resulted in a Ph.D. in combinatorial game theory at the University of Kentucky. Along the way, he taught physics at Berea College, the University of Texas at Austin, and mathematics at the University of Maryland at College Park and NKU. Once upon a time he had the pompous sounding title of Senior Technical Consultant for a multi-national corporation. Teaching seemed to be more fun. The strangest thing about his life is that his current students are always the smartest students that he has ever seen, except for his two daughters, Sophia and Johannah. He likes being old but wonders when wisdom will arrive.
| Departments | Positions | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| Mathematics & Physics | Faculty | Professor |