Donald Walter
As a multi-faceted academic, Dr. Donald Walter is actively involved in teaching, conducting research, directing programs, and undertaking administrative responsibilities. He has been instrumental in securing significant grant resources for the university, collaborating with colleagues in physics, the Department of Biological and Physical Sciences, and other STEM and Education faculty to achieve remarkable success in education, research, and outreach.
He teaches lecture and laboratory courses in physics, astronomy, physical science and earth/space science. This includes the full range of courses from the introductory level 100 courses to the advanced, senior-level 400 courses.
Education
- Ph.D., 1993,Rice University
- M.S., 1991 , Rice University
- M.S., 1976 , Louisiana State University
- B.S., 1974, University of Illinois
Background
Dr. Walter has been an integral part of SC State since the fall of 2022, contributing his expertise and dedication in Physics for an impressive 36 years. His journey at the university began as an instructor of Physics, followed by a six-year tenure as Director of the I.P. Stanback Planetarium. He holds the Professor of Physics and Academic Program Coordinator in Physics positions within the Department of Biological and Physical Sciences (BAPS).
More About Dr. Donald Walter
Driven by his passion for astronomy, Dr. Walter is gearing up for the next significant leap in the field, training to use data from the Rubin Observatory in Chile, which will witness the first light in 2024. This 8.4-meter telescope is expected to generate an astounding 20 terabytes of data every night as it observes a vast portion of the visible sky from Earth.
He is an observational astrophysicist who engages in ground and space-based research. His current interests are variable stars and spectroscopically peculiar stars as well as transient objects, which are objects that appear for a short period of time and then disappear.