In January, the College of Science welcomed Astrophysicist Keith Davis as the director of the Digital Visualization Theater in the Jordan Hall of Science. Davis plans to expand the use of the DVT and enhance our faculty’s ability to interact with students during presentations. “The immersive qualities of the DVT can then be combined with the flexibility of traditional teaching aids to make the DVT a truly amazing teaching tool,” Davis explained.
In addition to developing content for courses across the College of Science, Davis will also be forming collaborations with departments across the University. He plans to work with faculty in disciplines such asengineering, architecture, film and economics in much the same way he works with science faculty to find the areas of the curriculum where an immersive experience is vital to understanding and to create content for the DVT which provides that experience. He also hopes to collaborate with other directors of full-dome theaters to share and create new content with a long-term goal of hosting a digital content library and making non-commercial content more readily available.
Davis’ broad scientific knowledge and interest will be a tremendous asset to the college. He received his doctorate in physics from Clemson University in South Carolina where he was the planetarium manager and an astronomy instructor. He earned a master’s degree in physics also from Clemson University and a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics with an emphasis in environmental science from the University of Tulsa.