Marian Aanerud, M.M. M.S.

Faculty, CLI
Specialty: Physics
Phone: 507-258-8220
Fax: 507-258-8066
Office: 318 Commons
Email: maanerud@umn.edu

Just ASK Hours

Education

M.M. Computer Music and New Media,
Northern Illinois University, 2003
M.S. Applied Physics,
Northern Illinois University, 2002
B.S. Physics (Music and Mathematics),
Minnesota State University – Moorhead, 1999

Background

I studied at Moorhead State University (now Minnesota State University – Moorhead) as an undergraduate. I traveled to Tianjin and Beijing, China in the summer of 1993 as a bassoonist in the Wind Ensemble. I presented my work on the acoustics of harpsichord plectra at the 100th Anniversary of the American Physical Society in Atlanta, Georgia in 1999.

I worked with Dr. Carol Thompson at Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, IL as a graduate student at Northern Illinois University. My main activity was atomic force microscopy of epitaxial thin films for use in ferroelectric switching experiments performed at the Advanced Photon Source. I presented my work at the Department of Energy Nanoscale Science Centers Workshop in Washington, DC in 2003. My presentation included computer music compositions created from the data.

Also at Northern Illinois University, I worked with Dr. James Phelps as a graduate student in the Computer Music and New Media program. I presented my installation titled “In partial fulfillment…” locally as well as selected works at the Indianapolis’ Festival of Experimental Music, Noise, and Performance Art “Indytron” in 2003.

Teaching

I have been teaching since my undergraduate career, first as a teaching assistant. After receiving my graduate degrees, I was offered a position at the University of Michigan – Flint as a lecturer. There I developed and taught two Science Inquiry courses designed primarily for Education Majors, as well as taught various physics laboratories and created a Science of Sound course. I accepted a position at UMR in 2011.

As a student, my freshman physics class was taught in a workshop style, which was unusual at the time. This experience showed me the value of helping students develop independent learning skills by guiding them through problem solving and first-hand discovery. When I first began tutoring and teaching, I immediately noticed that giving explanations to others, and attempting to help them understand, improves the depth of one’s own knowledge tremendously. Because of these realizations, my approach to assisting students in their learning is to attempt to break complex ideas into core principles and allow students to build their own knowledge as they work with one another and with the instructional staff.