COLLEGE OF IMAGING ARTS AND SCIENCES

School of Photographic Arts and Sciences

 

ANNUAL FACULTY REPORT AND EVALUATION OF PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

for the period of December 1, 2009 through November 30, 2010.

 
 

Name: ANDREW DAVIDHAZY

Department: School of Photo Arts and Sciences

Highest Degree & date: M.F.A., 1968

Date of first appointment to RIT : 07-01-66

Rank: PROFESSOR

Date present rank achieved: 1986

  

REVIEW of 2010-2011 PLAN of WORK and

Proposed PLAN of WORK for 2011-2012 and coming year(s).

 

1. Teaching/Advising

a. List courses taught (including credit hours, enrollment and any TA support)

ACCOUNTING  OF  TEACHING   ACTIVITIES

 
WINTER 2010-11 (102)

 course title                                                                   course number    credit hours   enrollment

  I was on sabbatical but nevertheless volunteered to help out by running the following course: 

1. HIGH SPEED PHOTOGRAPHY                                      2076 511 01               3                 17
 

SPRING 2010-11 (103)

course title                                                                    course number    credit hours   enrollment

  I was on sabbatical but nevertheless volunteered to help out by running the following course: 

1. SURVEY OF NON-CONVEN. IMAGING                          2076 503 01              3                 6

 

  FALL   2011-12 (111)

course title                                                                     course number    credit hours   enrollment

 
1. HIGH SPEED PHOTOGRAPHY                                        2076 511 70               3                20

2. PHOTOINSTRUMENTATION                                          2076 461 70               4                  4

 
1) As in past years I have never used a TA or GA in any of my classes.
 

b. Given your 2010-2011 plan of work, provide a thoughtful review of what you have achieved relative to what you planned to do in the area of teaching/advising. Be sure to include an analysis of student evaluations indicating areas of strength and weaknesses as well as actions taken to address concerns. Original documentation should not be submitted, but it should be available upon request. (Depending on what your plan of work called for, examples of such documentation could include one or more of the following: student performance data, student evaluations, curricula/syllabi for new or revised courses, advising logs/evaluations)

Even though I could technically been away from the Institute in the Winter and Spring quarters I volunteered to stay in town  instead and teach at least one course each of these quarters. The initial experience was quite disappointing. Many of the students who were enrolled (all from another major than the IPT major) were unprepared for the rigors of a technical course and complained about my teaching ÒstyleÓ to administration. I had never had such a thing happen in the past 30 years of teaching. Consequently I modified the technical content of the second course I offered in the Spring and also lowered the technical rigor and demands of my Fall 110-11 courses. In spite of this the grade distribution still indicates that the students overall are less technically proficient than in past years.

*To document my teaching "style" in case anyone would want to review how I run at least the lecture portion of my classes I video taped just about all my lectures in the High Speed Photography course this pastFall and put these on Youtube. This was actually done more in order to help students review concepts covered in the lectures in case some point was not clear or if for some reason they had to be absent during a particular lecture. This was received well by the class. These are a couple of candid photos from my Photoinstrumentation class and the High Speed Photography class.

*On reviewing the student feedback/evaluations using the RIT computerized teachaer evaluation system the response from students this Fall was about the same as it has been fo many years.  

On this point however, in my opinion evaluations that students might provide after they have been away from the school and are working in industry are a much better way to collect feedback and learn from than those filled out in class when the students don't really have a good idea of how the course contents impacts on-the-job. As in past years, in addition to the evaluations available through the RIT system, I have continued to encourage my students to use a web-based evaluation service at http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/. I donÕt know what my current ÒratingsÓ are there but I seem to be doing OK in terms of level of difficulty, helpfulness and overall quality.
 

My perception from these various methods of gathering feedback is that students generally find me knowledgeable, approachable and helpful but sometimes lacking in apparent organization. I am a strong believer in having students learn by Òfinding outÓ answers to problems rather then spoon feeding them with directions.

*On Halloween 2011 (Oct. 31) I took the team that prepared a proposal for NASA JSC's Undergraduate Microgravity Flight Opportunity out for dinner at Michelina's down West Henrietta Road. Several Italian selection entrees and salad and drink plus animated conversation.   

*I organized for the Technical Photography Student Association a club field trip to NASA Glenn Research Center located in Cleveland, Ohio. The visit took place on October 28 and the group was comprised of Tech and Biomed students. From all reports they had an enjoyable and informative experience. Their trip was listed in Club News, a publication of the SAU Clubs organization.

*I attended all but one meeting of the Technical PhotographyStudent Association last year. In the photo at left was a picnic at Charlotte Beach planned by the group.

For next year my plan of work vis-ˆ-vis teaching and advising is to: Offer the same courses as I did this past year. It is sad to see that technical content such as available in my Photoinstrumentation course sequences is not probably going to continue to be available to the students due to perceived Òlack of interestÓ. This course provides students who elect to participate in them a diverse and unique opportunity to experience content not available in any other photo program either at RIT or nationally. It is certinaly not for the faint hearted. But neither are the Marines. 

2. Scholarship/Creative Activity
 

Given your 2009-2010 plan of work, provide a thoughtful review of what you have achieved relative to what you planned to do in the area of scholarship/creative activity. Original documentation should not be submitted, but it should be available upon request. (Examples of such documentation could include summaries of one or more of the following: published articles, editor's response to unpublished material, exhibition reviews, reviewer's response to submitted grant proposals, consulting outcomes.)


*I had planned to become more engaged with time lapse photography and expand on my personal efforts to produce more polished results than what I had been able to produce in the past. To this end I volunteeeed to produce a time lape record of the Institute Hall being build on the west side of the IT campus. The project has been underway now for three months and in spite of several small glitches the process is going well with over 10,000 frames having been recorded so far. The camera system is shown installed in the photograph at left. Work started in September and I visit the set-up at least twice a week. 

I have maintained an acrtive presence with the OSA, the SPIE and OSA. I participated in several of their conferences and have been in the process of reorganizing the SPIE Student Chapter of which I am the advisor.
 

The SPIE Student Chapter membership is primarily from the Micro Electronics Engineering program and after consultation with SPIE officials in Bellngham we have come to the conclusion that it is probably best to transfer the Chapter to the MicroE department.
 

I look after a global Hispanic communications exchange group (Fotored) whose main topic of conversation in Spanish relates to photography but which often strays into such topics as cooking recipes, fine wines, seamanship, etc. Over the Spring  I organized an exhibition of 29 of the list's member's photographs. This exhibit is slated to travel the world. This is a link to the exhibition I organized for the members of the mail list (a spanish speaking list devoted mainly to photography The exhibition itself is comprised of 48 16x20 prints and they are destined to travel worldwide.

http://www.davidhazy.org/andpph/FotoredExpo2

I continued my activity in the area of exhibiting my photographic work and this resulted in a one person exhibition at NASA Glenn Research center.  

I was accepted and had a photograph entitled ÒString VibrationsÓ exhibited at the Bridges Joint Mathematical Meetings conference and Art in Mathematics exhibition that took place in New Orleans in January 2011.
 

My photographs have been published in several textbooks and been included in several doctoral thesis around the world.
 

I organizad an exhibition of photographs by Hispanic photographers from around the world and presented the exhibition in the RIT SPAS 2nd floor hallway display cases from June 10 -25, 2011.
 

Prepared and published several books/catalogues through Lulu Press:

         spas   fotored   shots

SHOTS
- a 2011 calendar of high speed ballistic photographs. 

FOTORED EXPO II
– the catalog of the Fotored memberÕs exhibition that took place in SPAS from June 10 -25, 2011 in the 2nd floor north display cases. 

ANNUAL SPAS FACULTY EXHIBITION
- this is a record of the annual SPAS exhibition by members of the faculty of the School of Photo Arts and Sciences. This was the third year that I prepared this catalogue and made sure that a copy was included in the RIT archives as a permanent record of the accomplishments of SPAS faculty. 

On an online gallery of WIRED MAGAZINE photographs by were included in a collection of The Weird and Beautiful World of Fluid Dynamics anddescribed as folows: The Weird and Beautiful World of Fluid Dynamics Fluids and gases can move in strange and mysterious ways that arenÕt always apparent to our unaided eyes. It's only with the use of tracers or dyes, photographic techniques and a bit of luck, that we can capture fluid dynamics in action. www.wired.com

*    *    *

 Got a request for a "string" photo for the cover of a book cover entitled ÒSenses of VibrationÓ and a schlieren photo of goblets with hot and cold water for a book called the "John Zink Combustion Handbook".

The sneeze photo was requested for a book as follows: Dear Professor Davidhazy, I am writing an article to be published online for the American Academy for Oral Systemic Health. Would you grant permission for me to use your high speed "sneeze" photo to accompany the article? It would be for a one-time use, and credit would be given to you? Thanks for considering this. Paul J., DDS 

This photograph of the sneeze was also included in an independent webpage "6 Things Your Body Does Every Day (That Can Destroy You)" at www.cracked.com
 

An organization devoted to clean water requested permission to use one of my ripple photographs and in exchange they sent me a box of chocolates.
ttp://people.rit.edu/andpph/photofile-c/prism-DSCN5003.jpgPermission letter from England says: Dear Prof Davidhazy - I am writing to ask permission to use one or two of your spectrum images at http://people.rit.edu/andpph/exhibit-spectrum.html on a university website (yet to be published) relating to a non-commercial research study with the usual corny acronym (PRISM) - I would be very grateful - With many thanks - Rob Forsyth <rforsyth@newcastle.ac.uk> REPLY went like this: Rob, no problem ... thank you for asking! this often does not happen. I am glad to hear that some of those photographs will have a useful application. take care, Andy

Other events and publications by Andrew Davidhazy in 2010-11

*I presented at the Seminar on High Speed Photography organized by the Visual Instrumentation Corporation in Lancaster, CA in November 2011 on the topic of Applied Streak and Strip Analog and Digital Imaging. This was to a group of about 20 government technical  photographers.


badgetphsI was the Internet liaison and a member of the Program Committee for the 2011 Symposium on the History of Photography organized by The Photographic Historical Society of Rochester, NY and held at the George Eastman House in October 2011

My photographs have been published worldwide in various textbooks and specialty publications. A more complete record will be available when the RIT publication on faculty scholarship becomes available to the general public. My photographs are included on the website for the outreach website Physics To Go (www.physicstogo.org) and is produced at the American Physical Society.  The requests come on a regular (for now) basis from Edward Lee, lee@aps.org
 

The number of instances where my photographs have been included (invariably with mention of my association with RIT) is just too large to list in detail. I should keep better track of these but I must admit I am not very good at record keeping of such matters.


I wrote several articles that I made available online on my webpage of articles about my experiments and personal "investigations" in a variety of areas related mostly to technical photography. Link to http://people.rit.edu/andpph/articles.html
 

PROVING ISAAC NEWTON RIGHT OR WRONG WITH BLURRY PHOTOGRAPHS

It is generally known that the acceleration due to gravity has some value and velocity from rest depends on it but how to prove it? Here is a relatively simple photographic way to do it. Added in September 2011.

 

FINDING F NUMBERS THAT LET IN MORE LIGHT THAN ANOTHER
This is a "by the numbers" set of instructions on how to determine not only whole f numbers but also "in between" ones to allow a desired increase in light level at the image plane. Added in January 2011.

 

SAMPLE EXAM ON TIME LAPSE AND HIGH SPEED PHOTOGRAPHY
This is a sample exam that anyone may copy and use at their discretion covering introductory topics in shutter calibration, velocity and rotation rate measurements, electronic flash concepts and introductory time lapse and high speed imaging matters. Added in January 2011.

 

BRIEF NOTES ON TIME LAPSE AND HIGH SPEED PHOTOGRAPHY
Written as a lecture note review this is an overview of certain aspects of setting up for time lapse and high speed recording situations. Mostly on Time Magnification, use of intervalometers and determination of framing rate and related issues. Added in December 2010.

PERIPHERAL PHOTOGRAPHY
This is a "reprint" of a vintage article that was published in the February 1986 Ceramics Monthly issue of the magazine. It deals with improvised peripheral or "rollout" photography of pottery and similar objects. This was pre-digital imaging and linear array solutions but you may still find something of interest in it. Especially if you are a gadgeteer or experimenter! Added here in November 2010.

http://www.davidhazy.org/andpph/text-edgerton-piddler.html

 
In addition the article on Proving Newton right or wrong was accepted for publication by Tech Directions magazine This was accepted in October but has not yet been published.
 

For next year I hope I can come uo with more ÒnovelÓ ideas and applciations to present online or in print.
 

So what are some of my other plans for next year?
 

I plan on devoting myself to teaching my traditional courses and developing more experiments suitable for incorporation into the curriculum, especially in the area of special effects. This course was designed primarily as an "analog" or at least Òin cameraÓ based course since special effects can often be easily accomplished in the "digital" realm.
 

My publishing output through Lulu.com was a bit less than in past years and I am planning to complete two or three new titles over the coming year.
 

I will continue to promote and send my traveling exhibits of technical photographs to more schools nationwide. This will the fourth year of this activity and the response from the host schools has always been quite positive. As far as I know this is the only example of photographic work produced in SPAS that is being exhibited in high schools and colleges in the US and Canada.
 

This past year these schools hosted the collection (there were two more but I lost their email communications):
 

We have thoroughly enjoyed the photographs at Hill School, and they have sparked a lot of interesting conversations.  Thanks for sharing them with us!  Where should I send them next? Debbie Cockerham, Fine Arts Director, Hill School of Fort Worth, 4817 Odessa, Fort Worth, TX  76133
 

They were also exhibited at the College of DuPage where the host was Jeff Curto, Professor/Coordinator, Photography, College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Boulevard, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137-6599
 

And they were also requested by Karen Bray who said: I love these images & would enjoy playing the game of display & forward the exhibition for the cost of postage to forward. I greatly admire and appreciate your work at Rochester Institute of Technology and for the field of photography advancement. Please put me on a "list" and we will forward the photos after our turn. If you develop a schedule I'd appreciate knowing the date so I can alert our warehouse receiving dept.Thank you Andrew. Karen Bray Photo Instructor, Wenatchee High School, 1001 Circle St, Wenatchee WA 98801
 

I also plan on revisiting the Visual Instrumentation Seminar in California next November and will continue to assist a faculty member at Arizona State University where she is implementing an Imaging Technology program to service the military ranges in that neighborhood.
 

I will participate in several exhibitions including the WPPD worldwide exhibition to take place in late April and the Bridges JMM Art in Math exhibition in January 2012.
 

Who knows what else but if the past is anything to go by, opportunities for scholarship often are unpredictable but they do come around. I will try to continue to make the most of them as they come my way.
 

3. Service
 

Given your 2003-2004 plan of work, provide a thoughtful review of what you have achieved relative to what you planned to do in the area of service. Original documentation should not be submitted, but it should be available upon request.(Examples of such documentation could include summaries of one or more of the following: committee chair statements, recruitment calls made, high schools visited, alumni contacts, development efforts, portfolio days.)
 

Well, in the past I simply stated the following: For next year I plan on continuing to participate in high school visits, Science Exploration Days, presentations at teacher seminars and high school photo conferences, committees, etc.

**There is a art community center in Seattle by the name of Coyote. They have an annual auction style fundraiser. I have been a contributor for the last 4 years (with "distinction" of being the author sending prints from the farthest location!) and these are photographs that left for them this year.


*  *  *   *

On the left is an announcement I posted on a teachers mail list offering my photographs for exhibition – free. The second photo shows the exhibits being shipped out. The third set of 12 photographs was returned from Dallas and the teacher there sent me these "environmental" photos (third composite image) as proof of their use in her class. She asked the students to identify the photographs from the set of captions that I provided. Another set came back from Pennsylvania and the teacher there said: Hi Andy! I sent back the photos... I'm hoping you got them. Just a couple days after I took them down, two of the science teachers asked where they were... They were using them as references to curriculum. Very Neat that they had a teaching aspect and an effect on the school.

I wondered of you might have a different set to send... Different tech photos. I said I would ask and hoping we could once again borrow some of your great photos. I made no promises... Thanks Andy
Scott Bohlen
 

If the opportunity again presents itself I will give a lecture/demonstration in the High Speed Photography Lab to a group of about visiting Cleveland Community College students and their faculty.
 

I organized the return of the Nikon Small World exhibition back to the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences for the 20th year. This collection of photographs is generously sent to us by the Nikon Corporation and is available to us for a whole year and displayed on the walls of the Dr. Ron Francis Photographic Chemistry lab.
 

During the course of last year, acting on the basis that I was on sabbatical and thus not a full-time faculty member, TPSA, which I founded along with Don McClenny and Howard Slater (students) in 1987 unbeknownst to me came under the leadership of a second advisor. The club also decided to separate from the SPIE Student Chapter which I also founded in late 1990s. All this created a situation that was quite stressful to the students. At this time I do not know if I have any role to play with the TPSA club but I assume not.
 

I was selected to be one of three judges for an issue of Photographers Forum magazine and made selections from over 500 photographs entered in their contest.
 

Development efforts:
 

I am a member and Fellow of the International Society for Optical Engineering's Edgerton Award Committee as well as the overall Awards Committee. I am the Internet liaison for The Photographic Historical Society and maintain for them an Internet presence off my website. I will be helping them transition (move) this website that has been provided to them as a community service for  a number of years to an external site.
 

Alumni Contacts: I plan to curtail my activities in regard to communications with alumni of the IPT program as there are more informed and capable faculty to handle such things.
 

My plan of work for next year: For next year I plan on continuing to participate in presentations at meetings of professional organizations but probably not at the level I was able to reach this past year.
 

4. Other
 

If your 2009-2010 plan of work, called for any special activity outside of the above three categories, please provide an appropriate review of the evidence that such plans have been achieved.
 

Well, I am not sure if this falls under "other" or what ... these items are simply additional activities accomplished or in which I was significantly involved. Most of these activities contribute, I hope, to overall school recruitment and to keeping the image of the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences as a center for top-notch photographic education in the minds of the local and the larger photo/imaging community. (I used the preceding paragraph verbatim from an older report - FYI)
 

In the past I stated: For next year my plan is continue to continue to stay active on the web with the PhotoForum and Fotored mail lists and to devote less time to the PhotoHist list. I will be active again next year as the Internet Liaison of The Photographic Historical Society. In terms of the other communications initiatives I plan on remaining active in terms of presentations and visitations to local and regional high school and colleges.
 

I plan on discontinuing the Photographic History (PhotoHist) mail list which I started in the late 1990s as the competition from the Yahoo! PhotoHistory group is just too overwhelming to keep this small list alive.
*
For next year my plan is continue to continue to stay active on the web with the PhotoForum and Fotored mail lists
 

I offered to send sets of my Phoenix Process figure postcards to anyone who asked for them. This is a record of the latest mailing to people requesting these. I could not photograph the envelopes going out this time because I had already handed them to the PO clerk and she would not return them for a photo! So this is the PO receipt! Destination to 27 recipients including New Zealand and Ireland plus many US states!  And there were two additional mailings albeit smaller in number before and after this set was sent out.
*
I have a couple of small exhibitions of my technical photographs on exhibit around RIT, one in a conference room in the College of Science and the other one in the B&L building. I plan to continue to install new images there during the coming year.
 

I will continue my long-term association with Prof. William Allen, working with him on a collaborative project that is an INTERNATIONAL DIRECTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY HISTORIANS associated with the History of Photography Group.
 

I plan on giving a lecture/demo at Lafayette University in Lafayette, PA during the Spring quarter of 2011-21  at the invitation of Jenn Stroud Rossmann, Ph.D., professor of fluid mechanics. Tis was scheduled for this past Fall but scheduling conflicts interfered.
 

I will continue to manage the PhotoForum mail list on the Internet (going on the 18th year for the list and the 16th for the gallery) and besides dealing with day to day issues related to smooth operation of the list itself, This list serves over 500 photographers worldwide. I am "proud" to say that I have for one more year installed a brand new gallery of list member's images on the web every Saturday morning of the year. I have been doing this actually since 1996 without anyone here in SPAS really knowing anything about it.
 

I also have continued to look after the Fotored mail list. On Fotored the language used is Spanish and it serves about 350 Hispanic individuals worldwide.

I entered several exhibition and contest opportunities that came along during the past year. Notably the Royal Photo SocietyÕs scientific photography exhibition and the Optical Society of America photography contest. I did not fare well in either event. But I will keep trying.

  I will continue to engage in professional consulting activities, public presentation, etc. as in the past. 

Again, I want to acknowledge that the list of contributions mentioned above would not have been possible without the support of the BFA side of SPAS and in particular that of Dr. Therese Mulligan. I appreciate the opportunity to be of service in other ways that is made available to me by my colleagues near and far. Thank you.


This self evaluation and your proposed plan of work for December 1, 2010 to November 30, 2011 is due to the SPAS Administrative Chair on January 10, 2012