Assistant Professor of Physics and Applied Optics, Rose-Hulman 9/84 - 9/89
Associate Professor of Physics and Applied Optics, Rose-Hulman 9/89 - 9/96
Professor of Physics and Applied Optics, Rose-Hulman 9/96 - present
Taught introductory Physics with Calculus. Supervised introductory Physics labs. Taught undergraduate courses in Astronomy, Geometrical Optics, Physical Optics and Celestial Mechanics. Taught graduate courses in Optical System Design (using CODE V) and Infrared Optics. Supervised undergraduate research in Astronomy, Physics and Applied Optics and MS thesis research in Applied Optics.
Director of the Oakley Observatory, Rose-Hulman 9/92 - present
Raised money to equip the original Rose-Hulman observatory. Raised money to build and equip the Oakley Observatory. Adviser to the Rose-Hulman Astronomical Society. Supervised astronomy research. Host public observatory visits.
Director of Operation Catapult, Rose-Hulman, Rose-Hulman 9/94 - present
Planned, organized and directed Operation Catapult, two, three week long, summer, residential, academic programs for talented high school students. Hired faculty and student staff. Planned and implemented budget.
The Aerospace Corporation 7/81 - 9/84
Member of the Technical Staff. Analyzed data returned from infrared instruments. Designed and analyzed infrared electro-optical senor systems. Modeled and characterized detector and post-detection electronics response to infrared targets and backgrounds. Secret level security clearance.
California State University, Dominguez Hills 9/83-6/84
Part-time lecturer. Taught upper division courses in Microcomputers.
Three times elected faculty representative to the Rose-Hulman Board of Managers. Elected faculty teller. Twice elected to Faculty Affairs Committee. Chairman of the President's Commission to Review the Promotion, Tenure and Retention Process. Secretary of the President's Commission to Integrate Computers into the Curriculum. Chairman of the Student Affairs Committee. Member of numerous other faculty commissions and committees. President of the Pi Kappa Alpha (Iota Delta Chapter) Housing Corporation. Pi Kappa Alpha, Iota Delta Chapter Alumnus of the year. United Way co-chairman. Selected as outstanding Faculty Member of the week numerous times. President of the Rose-Hulman Investment Club. Member of the American Geophysical Union, the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, the Optical Society of America, the American Society for Engineering Education, American Association of Variable Star Observers, and International Amateur-Professional Photoelectric Photometry. University of California Regent's Fellow.
University of California, Los Angeles 9/76- 6/81
Research Assistant. Designed experiment and instrumentation to measure infrared optical properties of solid carbon dioxide. Organized and analyzed Viking Infrared Thermal Mapper data. Mapped and characterized anomalous afternoon cooling on Mars.
Ph.D. Geophysics and Space Physic June 1981
Dissertation: Daily Temperature Variations on Mars
University of Illinois, Urbana 8/74 - 8/76
Teaching Assistant. Supervised upper division optics lab. Designed and built student experiments using infrared lasers, photo-multipliers, and solid state detectors.
M.S. Physics January 1976
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
B.S. Physics - Math Minor May 1974
Ditteon, R., Introduction to Modern Geometrical Optics, John Wiley and Sons, 1998.
Ditteon, R., "Solving the Aberration and Power Equations for the Cooke Triplet Lens," Maple Technical Journal, Vol.3, No. 2, 1996.
Ditteon, R., "Using Maple in the Selection of Glasses for Telescope Objectives," Maple Technical Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2, Fall 1994.
Ditteon, R., "A New Sign Convention for Geometrical Optics," The Physics Teacher, Vol. 31, pp 38-40, January, 1993.
Ditteon, R., "Interactive y - ybar diagrams on a personal computer," Recent Trends in Optical Systems Design; Computer Lens Design Workshop II. Fischer and Juergens, editors, Proc. SPIE 1049, pp. 47-54, 1989.