Stephen Wong's Public Home Site

Hi!   I'm a computer scientist and physicist who is passionate about participating in a journey with students to discover the wonders and beauty of the world around us and to learn how we can use computing to both achieve our goals as well as to create greater understanding. 

Please feel free to browse around and learn a little more about me!

• Born and raised in Oberlin, Ohio (no kidding).
• Swarthmore College, B.A. with Honors, majored in Physics with minors in Physical Chemistry and Digital Electronics, 1981.
• Bell Telephone Laboratories (Lucent) (Murray Hill), Senior Technical Assistant, 1981-1982.  Worked on linear pulse propagation in absorbing media, exciton diffusion in semiconductors, and 1^S-2^S transitions in positronium with the not-yet Nobel laureate and Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu.
• M.I.T., Ph.D. in Physics, 1989. Thesis: "Magnetotransport Studies of the Magnetic Field Induced, Metal-Insulator Transition in Hg_1-xMn_xTe." under Prof. Peter A. Wolff.   Howard Hughes Doctoral Fellow .
• Hughes Research Laboratories, Member of Technical Staff, 1989-1992.   Researched high temperature superconductors and multi-quantum well infrared detector materials.
• California Lutheran University, Assistant Professor of Physics, 1992-1996.  Taught all levels of physics, plus mathematics and computer science.
• Kodak Research Laboratories, Consultant, Scientific Computing Team, 1995-2001.  Developed software for chemical kinetics simulation and parameter estimating, and quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) modeling.
• Oberlin College, Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics, 1996-1998.  Teaching all levels of physics.
• Oberlin College, Visiting Assistant Professor of Computer Science, 1998-1999.  Teaching Internet and programming courses.
• Oberlin College, Assistant Professor of Computer Science/Computer Science Program Systems Administrator, 1999-2001.  Teaching programming courses and administering the program's Alpha mainframe, NT servers and dual-boot NT/Linux PC labs.
• Innovatech Consulting Group, Co-Director, 1998-2002. Internet web server management, site authoring, electronic commerce, and training.
• Rice University, Lecturer in Computer Science , 2001-present.   Teaching all levels computer science classes and laboratories. 

Research:  Please click here to see some of my published papers.

Professional:

• Virtual machine architectures
• Software design patterns, especially as they relate to computer science pedagogy. 
• Recursive data structures and algorithms
• Scientific computing.
• Distributed computing using Jini and JavaSpaces technologies 
• Computer networking and client-server databases. 
• Object-oriented programming. 
• Electro-optical processes in semiconductors. 
• High Temperature superconductors. 
• Solid solution semiconductor materials. 
• Quantum heterostructures in semiconductors. 
• Science and Mathematics education. 

Personal:

• My children Rachel and Calvin. 
• Fishing, esp. fly fishing and fly tying. 
• Keeping native fish in my aquariums .
• Camping. 
• Canoeing, esp. wilderness tripping. 
• Playing the piano. 
• Photography. 
• Playing squash. 
• Cooking.
• Writing poetry.
• Gardening. 

• COMP 100: Introduction to Computing and Information Systems (Syllabus and class information)
• COMP 130: Elements of Algorithms and Computation (Syllabus and class information)
• COMP 140: Computational Thinking (Syllabus and class information)
• Comp 200: Elements of Computer Science (Current syllabus and class information)
• COMP 201: Principles of Object-Oriented Programming I (Syllabus and class information)
• COMP 202: Principles of Object-Oriented Programming II (Syllabus and class information)
• COMP 210: Principles of Computing and Programming (Syllabus and class information)
• Comp 211: Principles of Program Design (Syllabus and class information)
• COMP 212: Intermediate Programming (Syllabus and class information)
• Comp 310: Advanced Object-Oriented Programming (Syllabus and class information)
• COMP 410: Software Construction Methodology (Syllabus and class information)  
• COMP 415: Real World Software Development (Syllabus and class information)
• COMP 490: Independent Projects (Project sites) 

• CS100, "The Internet and Beyond"
• CS150, "Principles of Computer Science I"
• CS151, "Principles of Computer Science II"
• CS235, "Computer Applications Development"
• CS275 (lab), "Algorithms, Structures and Abstractions"
• Physics 60, "How the World Works":  See the Oberlin Alumni Magazine article on this course (including a picture available only on-line)!
• Physics 104: Elementary Physics II
• Physics 240: Computational Physics
• Physics 242: Electronics
• Physics 314, "Intermediate Laboratory"

Stephen Wong, Ph.D.
Lecturer, Rice Computer Science Department

Office: Duncan Hall, Room 3102

Phone: 713-348-3814
e-mail: swong at rice.edu (replace the "at" with "@")
fax: 713-348-5930

Office hours: Please check my current schedule below for official times or contact me to make an appointment.

Address:
Computer Science Dept.
MS 132, Rice University
6100 Main St.
Houston, TX 77005-1892

• Modulated Trapping Effects in Photovoltaic Transport in Semiconductors (Optoelectronic Modulation Spectroscopy).
• Automation of Quantative Structure-Activity Relationships (QSAR) modeling processes.

My Erdös number is 8 (via Steven Chu)