About Your instructor...

Mira A. Franke, Ph.D 

mfranke@kean.edu

Welcome...

I’m excited to be your instructor for this course!

A little bit about me:

Since childhood I have been interested in both nature and mathematics, and I always knew I wanted to be a scientist.  Every summer my parents took me on trips all over the country, and I had the amazing opportunity to experience nature while camping, hiking and swimming. In school, I loved all my science classes, and so it took me until my sophomore year in college to decide which particular science to major in.  I decided to combine my love of math and science into physics, and that started my journey as a physics major at Vassar College.  Later, I combined environmental science, physics and computational methods to analyze relationships between solar and climate data sets for my PhD thesis, which I completed in 2004 at the University of Michigan.

I am a seasoned teacher, both in-person and online, and I have worked with a very diverse range of students – each individual having his/her own strengths and challenges, whether academic, organizational or otherwise.  My personal motivation for teaching is to bring out the best in your current knowledge and abilities, and to provide you with challenge and inspiration to enhance your background and skills.  After all, learning continues well beyond this (or any) class, and this is your opportunity – and mine – to explore both the subject matter and the learning process.  I welcome the opportunity to share my experience, enthusiasm and dedication with you.

My other interests include yoga, reading, playing (very amateur) violin, guitar and ukulele, and listening to music.  I also love watching and reading mysteries (I usually don’t solve them before the end! ;-)).