Rate My Professor Shawn Weatherford

Shawn Weatherford serves as Instructional Associate Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Physics at the University of Florida. He earned his PhD in Physics from North Carolina State University in 2011, with a dissertation entitled 'Student Use of Physics to Make Sense of Incomplete but Functional VPython Programs in a Lab Setting.' His academic background is rooted in physics education research, where during his graduate studies he explored student interactions with computational tools in physics labs. At the University of Florida, Weatherford's research specializations center on the development and evaluation of instructional computational physics exercises designed to support student learning in introductory physics courses. He emphasizes the design of technology that empowers students to create authentic artifacts demonstrating their understanding of physics concepts, including writing computer programs to model physical systems and collecting real data to analyze physical relationships through quantitative reasoning.

Weatherford's career at the University of Florida highlights his commitment to teaching excellence and departmental leadership. He contributed the Applied Physics Lab course to the Florida CourseShare initiative, making it available for PHY2048L, PHY2049L, PHY2053L, and PHY2045L, and was honored as a Florida CourseShare Honoree for this effort. In 2024, he received the UF Physics Teacher of the Year award from a selection committee led by Prof. Amlan Biswas. Additionally, he shares this recognition with colleagues like Director of Computing David Hansen in recent faculty and staff awards. Weatherford holds roles such as member of the Curriculum Committee for Natural and Mathematical Sciences (2024-2026), first-generation faculty representative, and participant in UF Online advisory activities. He has led efforts in preparing physics labs for online summer instruction, presented workshops at American Association of Physics Teachers meetings, including introductions to computational tools, and supported graduate student nominations for awards. A notable publication is 'Student predictions of functional but incomplete example programs in introductory calculus-based physics' by S.A. Weatherford and R.W. Chabay, published in AIP Conference Proceedings 1513, 42 (2013). Weatherford also engages in departmental service, such as recognizing custodial staff contributions and coordinating experiential advising in physics.