Robert Engelhardt

I am currently a Lecturer in the Physics Department at Tennessee Tech. I have held various roles in the Physics and Math departments of the University on and off since 2004. I grew up on Eastern Long Island, New York. I first attended Lehigh University as a student in geological engineering but instead earned a B.S. degree in geological sciences. It was at Lehigh where I first started getting a taste for physics research while working as a work-study student under a high-energy physics professor. After a semester taking graduate history courses at Millersville University, I attended Eastern Kentucky University where I earned an M.S. degree in physics (nuclear). Next, I earned a Ph.D. in physics from Duke University where my research involved studying contrast mechanisms in high-field MR Microscopy. I subsequently held a post-doc for one year at Duke, then one and a half years at SAIC Frederick (National Cancer Institute) before taking a customer research support position in Japan for four years with GE Yokogawa Medical Systems. We returned to the US in 2002 where my wife (Dr. Paula Engelhardt) had taken a post-doc position at Kansas State University. While in Kansas, I taught physics as an adjunct instructor at both Washburn University and Kansas State University. In 2004, we finally moved to Cookeville when my wife accepted a tenure-track position with the Physics Department and I accepted a temporary position, as well. More recently, while between positions with the Physics Department at Tennessee Tech, I first taught in the Math Department as an adjunct, then as a graduate student, and next as an instructor for one year. Next, I taught physics and math at Motlow College for one year before returning in 2019 to the Physics Department at TN Tech where I have been since.

My current hobbies include playing tennis (I am also the faculty advisor to the Tennis Club at TN Tech) and gardening.