Vincent Coletta

Dr. Vincent Coletta received his B.S. in Physics in 1964 from Christian Brothers’ University in Memphis. In 1969 he received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of Notre Dame, and has been a faculty member in the LMU Physics Department ever since.
Like all members of the LMU Physics Faculty, Dr. Coletta’s main concern is teaching physics. Finding better ways to understand and explain principles of physics is important to him. This led to the publication in 1995 of his College Physics textbook, which has been used throughout the world, and was translated into Chinese. Since 1995 Dr. Coletta has been active in Physics Education Research – the scientific investigation of the learning and teaching of physics. He has introduced a variety of techniques, all having the common purpose of actively engaging students in the classroom. The objective is to encourage students to think during class, rather than passively taking notes. These methods have proven quite effective, as measured by student performance on standardized exams.
In addition to Physics Education Research, another area of research interest for Dr. Coletta is the foundations of quantum theory – which he incorporates into his teaching of the quantum mechanics course for physics majors.