Department of Physics

Physics Faculty

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Teaching

  I have several years of teaching experience in Physics and Astronomy both at the graduate and undergraduate level. I started my teaching career in 1995 at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. There I had been awarded the Habilitation, a degree beyond the Ph.D. within the German academic system. The Habilitation includes a teaching certificate for Physics and Astronomy that is recognized in Germany as well as several other European countries. Thereafter, I gained teaching experience at the University of Alabama in Huntsville where I taught various classes in mathematical methods and astrophysics to graduate students of science and engineering. Here at UTA I often teach very large classes of Introductory Astronomy I and II, as well as other classes including Astrophysics and Introductory Physics. In Fall 2003, I started to teach a class in Astrobiology, which is offered within a 3 semester cycle, and is cross-listed between the Department of Physics, Department of Biology, and Department of Geology. This class has an interdisciplinary focus, as it discusses the possibility of life in the Universe considering new findings from terrestrial microbiology as well as stellar and planetary astrophysics, including results from former and ongoing NASA missions. I also taught graduate courses, especially Mathematical Methods. I am furthermore very interested in public outreach programs, science education, and contributions to the new UTA planetarium.
  My philosophy of teaching is quite simple: I would like to inspire students and transfer knowledge at the same time! I would like to make students comfortable asking question and making the "classroom experience" fun, fun, fun. I like to use hands-on examples and also incorporate knowledge the students already possess in the teaching endeavor. I like to take away math anxiety in classes offered to non-science majors, and always commit ample time for helping students to prepare for tests and the final. This is being done through question and answer sessions, quizzes and practice tests. Last but not least, I like to keep an open door for students with questions and concerns to help them to be or to become successful.

Courses

Courses Taught:

PHYS 1441 General College Physics I
PHYS 1442 General College Physics II
PHYS 1445 Introductory Astronomy I
PHYS 1446 Introductory Astronomy II
PHYS 2315 Introductory Astrophysics
PHYS 3315 Astrophysics and Cosmology
PHYS 3316 Astrobiology
PHYS 5312 Mathematical Methods II
PHYS 5391 Astrophysics (graduate level)
PHYS 5391 Astrobiology (graduate level)

Courses Developed:

PHYS 2315 Introductory Astrophysics
PHYS 3316 Astrobiology
PHYS 5391 Astrophysics (graduate level)
PHYS 5391 Astrobiology (graduate level)

 

Selected Recent Publications

"The Instability Transition for the Restricted 3-Body Problem. I. Theoretical Approach", Eberle, J., Cuntz, M., and Musielak, Z.E., Astron. and Astrophys., 489, 1329-1335 (2008)

"The Habitability of Super-Earths in Gliese 581", von Bloh, W., Bounama, C., Cuntz, M., and Franck, S., Astron. and Astrophys., 476, 1365-1371 (2007)

"Stringent Criteria for Stable and Unstable Planetary Orbits in Stellar Binary Systems", Cuntz, M., Eberle, J., and Musielak, Z.E., Astrophys. J. Lett., 669, L105-L108 (2007)

"Solar Rossby Wave 'Hills' Identified as Supergranules", Williams, P.E., Hathaway, D.H., and Cuntz, M., Astrophys. J. Lett., 662, L135-L138 (2007)

"A Critical Test of Empirical Mass Loss Formulas Applied to Individual Giants and Supergiants", Schröder, K.-P. and Cuntz, M., Astron. and Astrophys., 465, 593-601 (2007)

"Acoustic Heating of the Solar Chromosphere: Present Indeed and Locally Dominant", Cuntz, M., Rammacher, W., and Musielak, Z. E., Astrophys. J. Lett., 657, L57-L60 (2007)

"Supergranule Superrotation Identified as a Projection Effect", Hathaway, D. H., Williams, P. E., and Cuntz, M., Astrophys. J., 644, 598-602 (2006)

"A New Version of Reimers' Law of Mass Loss Based on a Physical Approach", Schröder, K.-P. and Cuntz, M., Astrophys. J. Lett., 630, L73-L76 (2005)

"Definition and Significance of Average Temperatures in Time-dependent Solar Chromosphere Models", Rammacher, W. and Cuntz, M., Astron. and Astrophys., 438, 721-726 (2005)

"Stability of Planetary Orbits in Binary Systems", Musielak, Z. E., Cuntz, M., Marshall, E. A., and Stuit, T. D., Astron. and Astrophys., 434, 355-364 (2005)
 

Previous Publications of Special Significance

"On the Possibility of Earth-Type Habitable Planets in the 55 Cancri System", Von Bloh, W., Cuntz, M., Franck, S., and Bounama, C., Astrobiology, 3, 681-688 (2003)

"The Habitable Zone of Earth-Mass Planets Around 47 UMa: Results for Land and Water Worlds", Franck, S., Cuntz, M., von Bloh, W., and Bounama, C., Intern. J. Astrobiology, 2, 35-39 (2003)

"On the Possibility of Earth-Type Habitable Planets Around 47 UMa", Cuntz, M., von Bloh, W., Bounama, C., and Franck, S., Icarus, 162, 214-221 (2003)

"Orbital Stability of Terrestrial Planets inside the Habitable Zones of Extrasolar Planetary Systems", Noble, M., Musielak, Z. E., and Cuntz, M., Astrophys. J., 572, 1024-1030 (2002)

"On Stellar Activity Enhancement due to Interactions with Extrasolar Giant Planets", Cuntz, M., Saar, S. H., and Musielak, Z. E., Astrophys. J. Lett., 533, L151-L154 (2000)

"Basal Heating in Main-Sequence Stars and Giants: Results from Monochromatic Acoustic Wave Models", Buchholz, B., Ulmschneider, P., and Cuntz, M., Astrophys. J., 494, 700-714 (1998)
 

For complete list click here (Last Update: October 20, 2008)