William Thacker, Ph.D.

Chair; Professor
Physics

Education

B. S., Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1978

M. S., Physics, University of Illinois Urbana, 1980

Ph. D., Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, 1984

Publications and Media Placements

Amy Warnke Lang and William D. Thacker, “On the Interaction of Water Waves with a Surface-Parallel Vortex”, Journal of Fluids Engineering -- May 2008 -- Volume 130, Issue 5, 051302

W. D. Thacker, S. Sarkar, and T. B. Gatski, "Analyzing the Influence of Compressibility on the Rapid Pressure-Strain Rate Correlation in Turbulent Shear Flows", Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics Vol. 21, pp. 171-199 (2007)

C. D. Pruett, T. B. Gatski, C. E. Grosch, and W. D. Thacker, " The temporally filtered Navier-Stokes equations: Properties of the residual stress", Physics of Fluids, Vol. 15, pp. 2127-2140 (2003).

W. D. Thacker, T. Gatski, and C. Grosch, "Modeling the dynamics of ensemble-averaged linear disturbances in homogeneous shear flow", Flow, Turbulence and Combustion, Vol. 63, pp. 39-58 (2000).

W. D. Thacker, T. Gatski, and C. Grosch, "Analyzing mean transport equations of turbulence and linear disturbances in decaying flows", Physics of Fluids, Vol. 11, pp. 2626-2631 (1999).

Honors and Awards

Outstanding Faculty of the Year, awarded by the Association of Parks College Students of Saint Louis University, 2006
NASA Grants issued by NASA Langley Research Center each year 1998 – 2004 for joint research on turbulence modeling
NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship for research at NASA Langley Research Center, 1997
Awards from Beaumont Faculty Development Fund of Saint Louis University 1991, 1994
Fulbright Grant for Research at the Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics, 1985-1987

Professional Organizations and Associations

American Physical Society, since 1990

Attended ABET Faculty Workshop on Sustainable Assessment Processes, Louisville KY, June 2010

Attended American Physical Society Meetings of Physics Department Chairs, 2004, 2006

Started Research Group on Quantum Entangled States with Dr. Dixit and Dr. Santhanam, paper in progress.

Community Work and Service

External Reviewer for application for promotion to the rank of Professor at Illinois State University 2012, and at Cleveland State University 2016
Referee for Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General, Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics, Journal of Physics C, Condensed Matter, Physics Letters A, Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics
Pre-professional Health Evaluations Committee, Saint Louis University (SLU), 2007-2013
Search Committee Chair for Oliver L. Parks Endowed Chair and Director of Graduate Studies, Parks College, 2009-2010
Search Committee Chair for the Civil Engineering Department Chair, 2009
Search Committee Chair for the Biomedical Engineering Chair, 2013-2014
Rank and Tenure Committee, Parks College, 2002, 2003 and as ad hoc member in 2010
Taught Roller Coaster Physics class for gifted fifth grade pupils, 2002