Richard Lee Ponting

After getting a BS and MS in Physics at Miami, I completed a doctorate in Low Energy Nuclear Spectroscopy from the Florida State University in 1975.  I did not feel that I was well suited to research, so I shifted careers to education.  I did some additional study at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, which eventually led to the position at Bennett College for Women.  After 28 years in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, I retired in 2009. 

Over the years, I received commendation fro Project Kaleidoscope, Washington, DC in 1984, and developed modules in MathCAD, PYTHON and other educational computing languages.  I visited Delhi, India from from Oct 1 - Dec one year to work with the EDUCO Educational Software, Inc to develop physics materials.  I was able to travel throughout the city in the areas up through Uttar Pradesh.

Hobbies of note include the amateur orchestra Philharmonic of Greensboro, where I am principal percussionist.  We give three or four concerts a year and on alternate years play for the July 4^th celebrations in Greensboro (I have almost memorized Tchaikovsky's "1812"! )  I play tennis with some regularity.  Lastly I am married to the former Suzanne Lee Wood and we reside at 6009 Bush Road, Browns Summit, NC 27214.

"I am tempted to quote Charles Dickens in the opening of Tale of Two Cities.  I would only add that we were told a great deal that was good and useful, but there were also several essentials which, for better or worse, we were left to discover for ourselves." Richard Lee Ponting, BS Physics 1966, MS Physics 1968