Brief Biographical Sketch
of
Dr. Alex. F. Burr
Alex. F. Burr graduated from Jamestown College in 1953 with a BS degree in physics. He is now professor of physics (emeritus) at New Mexico Sate University in Las Cruces, NM. In between a number of interesting things have happened. He married Marjorie McKinstry, who is now retired from the Dona Ana Community College. They have three daughters, one of whom works as a landscape designer for Las Cruces, and another of whom works as an environmentalist in Hawaii.
After service in the US Army, Alex obtained additional degrees from the University of Edinburgh and the Johns Hopkins University. He has worked for the Ballistics Research Laboratory, the Naval Research Laboratory, and Duntech Industries. He has taught at Mars Hill College, Drexel University, Towson State College, University of Strathclyde, and Harvey Mudd College, but has spent most of his time at New Mexico State University.
From time to time he has worked for the International Atomic Energy Agency as a short term expert. This work has involved instruction, troubleshooting, and the setting up of instrumentation repair facilities. The work has brought him into contact with physicists in Africa, Asia, and Central America.
His research work has been connected with the physics of x-rays and the application of computers to undergraduate physics education. Major projects include developing low cost undergraduate physics laboratory exercises for the National Science Foundation and self-paced instructional materials for the International Atomic Energy Agency. He has been involved with the writing of several books, over 20 research papers, about 100 abstracts and book reviews, and over 40 semi-technical articles in various popular magazines.