Andrew S.I.D. Lang

Andrew Lang

Andrew Lang – Fall 2010
Born 3 July 1970
Folkestone, Kent, England
Residence United States
Nationality United Kingdom
Fields Mathematical physics
Mathematics
Physics
Chemistry
Science Fiction
Philosophy of Science
Institutions Oral Roberts University
Alma mater University of Missouri
University of Tulsa
University of Kent
Thesis The Casimir Effect (1998)
Doctoral advisor Adam Helfer[1]
Other academic advisors Kevin O'Neil
Known for Chemical Data Visualization in Virtual Worlds
Open Science Advocacy
Open Notebook Science Contributor
The Spectral Game[2]
Influences Paul Davies
Robert A. Heinlein
Notable awards DaVinci Institute Prize (2010)
Project Next Fellow (2000)
Scholar of the Year, Oral Roberts University (2007)

Andrew Stuart Ian Donald Lang, PNF, FDI (born 3 July 1970) is a British mathematical physicist and Professor of Mathematics at Oral Roberts University.[3][4] He has received a number of awards, including a 2014 Blue Obelisk award for his work in the area of Open Notebook Science and was named a 2010 DaVinci Institute Fellow for his groundbreaking work in virtual worlds.[5] He is an open science advocate and has published in many academic fields, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, and virtual worlds.[6] He is also recognised for his expertise in the relationships between science and science fiction[7] and science and religion.

Lang is married to Kelly Jean Lang, with whom he has four children.

Early life and education

Andrew Lang was born in Folkestone, Kent, on 3 July 1970 to Andrew Taig Lang, a nuclear power station construction engineer and Ann Alice Louise Seale. Shortly after Lang was born, the family moved to Lydd, Kent, near to where his father worked at the Dungeness nuclear power station, where he lived with his three older siblings, Robert, Dawn, and Peter, from his mother's previous marriage.

Lang attended Lydd Primary School from 1976 to 1982. From the age of twelve, he attended John Southland's Community Comprehensive School (now named The Marsh Academy) where he received A-levels in mathematics, physics, and chemistry.

Lang earned his BSc in mathematical physics from the University of Kent, Canterbury in 1991, writing an undergraduate dissertation on "Stellar Evolution and Black Holes." It was at Canterbury, that he met his future wife Kelly, a student at the University of Tulsa, who was studying for a year at Canterbury.

Lang earned his M.S. degree in applied mathematics from the University of Tulsa in 1993, writing a thesis on "Black Holes and Singularities," under geometer Kevin O'Neil. Lang earned his PhD in mathematics from the University of Missouri in 1998, writing a dissertation on "The Casimir Effect," under mathematical physicist Adam Helfer.[1][8]

Career

In 1998, Lang joined Oral Roberts University as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics. While continuing research in quantum field theory he began collaborating with engineering professor Dominic Halsmer, deriving the optimal design for passive coning attenuators for spinning spacecraft under thrust.[9]

In 2003, he was promoted to Associate Professor. Around the same time he began working with Joerg Gablonsky, an engineer at Boeing, deriving the optimum angle to shoot a free throw.[10]

In 2007, he was promoted to Professor (having received tenure the previous year). He currently serves as chair of the Computing and Mathematics Department and his recent research has focused on the Open Notebook Science Challenge.

Lang is known for his ability to teach and do research and consulting[11] in several academic disciplines. In his first twelve years at Oral Roberts University, he taught sixteen different classes in disciplines ranging from mathematics[12] and physics to finance, history and English.

Open science advocacy

Lang is a judge for the Open Notebook Science Challenge and publishes his related research online in as near to real time as possible. He has participated in other open science projects including the Open Dinosaur Project. He promotes the use of Open Data, particularly in science,[13] is a member of the Blue Obelisk movement, and publishes in Open Access journals when possible.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1
  2. Bradley, J. C.; Lancashire, R. J.; Lang, A. S. D.; Williams, A. J. (2009). "The Spectral Game: Leveraging Open Data and crowdsourcing for education". Journal of Cheminformatics 1 (1): 9. doi:10.1186/1758-2946-1-9. PMC 3225864. PMID 20298527.
  3. "Andrew Lang – Oral Roberts University – A Christian College, based in Tulsa Oklahoma.". Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  4. Andrew S.I.D. Lang's publications indexed by Google Scholar, a free service provided by Google
  5. Andrew Lang named DaVinci Institute Fellow
  6. Andrew S I D Lang, David C Kobilnyk (2009) Visualizing Atomic Orbitals Using Second Life Journal of Virtual Worlds Research 1: 6. April
  7. Science and Science Fiction Conference Lang is the director of the 17–18 April 2015 ORU Conference on Science and Science Fiction
  8. Helfer, A. D.; Lang, A. S. I. D. (1999). "The electromagnetic field near a dielectric half-space". Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General 32 (10): 1937. doi:10.1088/0305-4470/32/10/011.
  9. Optimal Design of a Two-Dimensional Passive Coning Attenuator for a Spinning Spacecraft Under Thrust. Advances in the Astronautical Sciences 105: 2. 785
  10. Gablonsky, J. M.; Lang, A. S. I. D. (2005). "Modeling Basketball Free Throws". SIAM Review 47 (4): 775–798. doi:10.1137/S0036144598339555.
  11. ASID Analytics
  12. Dimiceli, V. E.; Lang, A. S. I. D.; Locke, L. (2010). "Teaching calculus with Wolfram|Alpha". International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology 41 (8): 1061. doi:10.1080/0020739X.2010.493241.
  13. Jean-Claude Bradley, Rajarshi Guha, Andrew Lang, Pierre Lindenbaum, Cameron Neylon, Antony Williams, Egon Willighagen (2009) Beautifying Data in the Real World. In: Jeff Hammerbacher; Toby Segaran (2009). Beautiful data. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly. ISBN 0-596-15711-8.

External links