Keung Luke

Full time, 1966 – 1998, Assistant > Associate > full professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy
FERP 1998-2003

I totally appreciate the teacher-scholar combination at LBSC. This environment allowed me (1) teach large GE classes like Astronomy 100 to thousands of students over the course of my career, (2) to develop a new senior/graduate course (“Interfacing in Experimental Physics, unique in the CSU system) with my first MS student and later colleague Richard Whitely and (3) to do cutting-edge corroborative research at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL).

I had a number of memorable experiences. (1) With the students – Through VP Dr. Doug Robinson’s MENTORING FOR SUCCESS program, I mentored Huong Q. Nguyen, a nursing student, and she went on to great success, currently serving as Research Scientist III with Kaiser Permanente, heading up or part of the leadership team of four different multi-million research grants on finding new ways to help the more critically sick patients.

I was attracted by Physics-Astronomy Chair Dr. Charles A. Roberts’s description: “At the California State College at Long Beach we wish to foster the teacher-scholar combination and so our efforts to this end allow us to give merit to those with good teaching ability as well as those who do well in research. That is to say, promotion depends on both. On the other hand, we are not a publish or perish institution.” March 1, 1966.

Dr. Bruce A Scott, Dr. K Y Shen, Dr. Sue Hu, Dr. Lowell Eliason, Irene Howard (staff), all from the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

I am in the planning stage of setting up an endowed scholarship with the CSULB 49er Foundation for students in the Department of Physics & Astronomy.

Turbulent – Due to Vietnam War protests during the late 1960’s

Calm – By the time I completed my early retirement program (2003), the students were more focused in their education and career.