OREST GEORGE SYMKO portrait
  • Professor, Physics And Astronomy
801-581-6132

Current Courses

Spring 2025

  • PHYS 101-001
    The Way Things Work
  • PHYS 1010-001
    The Way Things Work
  • PHYS 3150-001
    Energy & Sustainability
  • PHYS 5150-001
    Energy & Sustainability
  • PHYS 7810-017
    Graduate Seminar: Phd
  • PHYS 7910-004
    Special Reading Topics:

Fall 2024

Summer 2024

Professional Organizations

  • IEEE. 12/2011 - present. Position : Member.
  • Acoustical Society of America. 12/2005 - present. Position : Member.
  • American Physical Society. 07/01/1990 - present. Position : Fellow.

Teaching Philosophy

My teaching approach is to first introduce a topic by giving a brief historical overview and its status. Quite often the topic was discovered or initiated by chance and in many cases by individuals who are not experts but who persisted in exploring it. Once students interest  has been captured the topic is slowly developed, usually by means of a blackboard but at the same time following the students' response. As the students are absorbing the material, lecture demonstrations are then presented with explanation of what is going on. That raises student response, it triggers their imagination, and it generates many questions, showing that the learning process is active and proceeding.That component is an important part of my teaching approach.  From my experience I have foundthat students learn best when they are presented with interesting material. And, to make it interesting is challenging.