Professor Emeritus Michael J. Ruiz
Department of Physics and Astronomy
UNC Asheville, Asheville, North Carolina, USA
Michael J. Ruiz, originally from Camden, New Jersey, received his B.S. in Physics from St. Joseph's College (now University) in 1972, Philadelphia, PA. He then went to the University of Maryland to receive his M.S. (1975) and Ph.D. (1978) in theoretical physics. His first appointment was at the University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNCA) in 1978 and he taught at UNCA for his entire career of 43 academic years, retiring in June 2021. He chaired the department for 20 years from 1980 to 2000 and was cofounder of the UNCA Undergraduate Research Program, as well as cofounder of the National Conference of Undergraduate Research (NCUR). While at UNCA he taught courses for majors, physics and astronomy for the general student, and the third humanities course. His courses in sound and light with their eBooks were featured on CNN in 2002.
Education
Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD
M.S. in Theoretical Physics from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD
B.S. in Physics from St. Joseph's College (now University), Philadelphia, PA