| Faculty Feature
 Dean Eckhoff
Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences
Dean Eckhoff joined Webster’s biological sciences department in summer 2007 after teaching physics and biophysics at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. He earned his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla.
The St. Louis native is excited to return home and teach at Webster, where his students will range from freshman biology and computer science majors to graduate nurse anesthesia students.
How did you get interested in physics?
I think it is a combination of my love for nature and simplicity that ultimately led me to study physics, though it took me quite some time to figure that out. That may sound like a contradiction, given that physics is supposedly hard instead of simple, but really physics is all about describing something that is complex using the simplest possible ways we can imagine. Rather than focusing mainly on the results and their applications, which I was saturated with as an engineering student, I wanted to try to understand the fundamental mechanisms and the driving forces, the root causes of the situation. In the end, it’s just a different way of approaching the same problem.
What are you teaching at Webster?
This year, I am teaching the general physics course – lecture and lab – which gives me about 18 hours of contact time with the students. Next year, the plan is to add the nurse anesthesia course and hopefully in three or four years, I will have developed a class in fluorescence and biological physics. Before that, though, I need to sharpen up on my biology skills. I also hope, over time, to build a small research program, extending my doctoral studies further into the biological arena.
... Tell us a little about that background.
Plenty of research in optical spectroscopy and fluorescence, which has a lot of connections to biology – in particular, as a tool to learn more about biological systems. For example, fluorescence and microscopy have a lot of applications in cellular imaging. If I have a protein X and I have no idea what it does, I can attach a fluorescent molecule to the protein so I can see it. That allows me to observe what it does: how fast it is moving, where it is located, what it interacts with, how it behaves.
It’s kind of like a spotlight that you would set up for the grand opening of a new store. You stick it on the protein so you can figure out what’s going on from far away. It’s just a visualization tool based on light.
What’s this we hear about you running a “Physics Van”?
Well, not running it, I was just a volunteer having fun with the kids. We did that all across central Illinois. The whole idea was to go to scout troops, schools, even the state fair, and teach the kids about science, show them it could be a lot of fun. They loved it and so did we.
My favorite demonstration was the Magdeburg hemispheres, which is a classic experiment showing just how strong atmospheric pressure (the weight of the air pushing on us) is. We would use a vacuum pump to pull the air out of a hollow metal ball – about 9 inches across and made of two halves connected together – then call up some kids from the audience to try to pull the two halves apart in the classic tug-of-war style. Of course they have no chance – it would take about a half a ton of force – but man, do they have fun trying!
Is that something you’d like to do here?
Yes, I would like to try something along those lines, maybe call it the "Webster Science Van" and add some biological and chemical demonstrations. On the positive side, it makes people happy – kids, parents, and volunteers alike – and can attract some local interest, spreading the Webster name around the community. And it’s rather inexpensive in terms of financing.
Ultimately, it is driven by the students and volunteers. If I can recruit enough volunteers interested in putting on a science show for a bunch of knowledge-hungry kids, we’ll do it. By the way, if anybody is interested, send me an e-mail. Maybe I’ll find some time next summer to start putting something together.
How do you like Webster?
I love it. The students are great, and my colleagues have been quite welcoming and very helpful. It's a really good fit: My main focus is to be a better teacher – which is the emphasis here – but there is also the opportunity to start a small research program and I have a lot of common interests with the department faculty. I think Webster is a place where I can do a lot of good things, and I hope to be around for a very long time. With this interview, it seems I have quite a list of things to do here already!
What are your interests outside of science and teaching?
The most important is family, which is why I was so excited to find a good job here in St. Louis. I have a lot of family in the area – and up close to Jefferson City – and would rather not leave them again. I like pretty much any kind of sport or games; I’m especially a big Cardinals and Blues fan. I’m already talking to some people about getting a softball team together here in the spring, if I can get enough faculty and students interested.
I go camping and floating a couple of times each year with a big group of family and friends down at Montauk, where I never fail but to catch approximately zero trout because my fly-fishing skills are rather poor. I also like to play chess and am currently reading Shelby Foote’s narrative about the Civil War. And on a windy day, I like to go to the park and fly my stunt kite.
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