Prof. David O. Kashinski

David Kashinski is a physics professor in the Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering at the United States Military Academy. He graduated Suma Cum Laude from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania in May 2005 with a Bachelor of Science in physics and a mathematics minor. Kashinski immediately began his graduate studies in theoretical physics in August 2005 at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. 

In January 2007, Kashinski earned a Master of Science in physics. Kashinski completed and earned a Doctor of Philosophy in July 2010. Kashinski's dissertation research centered on conducting electronic structure calculations of both ground and excited molecular states required for dissociate recombination studies of electrons with N2H+. 

Kashinski began his appointment at West Point during the summer of 2010 teaching introductory physics. In early 2013, his appointment was transitioned to the "tenure track" and began teaching in the advanced physics program, as well as being appointed as a researcher in the Photonics Research Center. In 2016, Kashinski earned the rank of associate professor and tenure. In 2021, Kashinski earned the rank of professor. Kashinski has served in many leadership and governance roles in the Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, the Photonics Research Center, as well as at the academy level.

David is actively involved in collaborative theoretical and computational molecular physics research with the Weapons and Materials Research (WMR) Directorate at the Army Research Labs (ARL) in Aberdeen, as well as with the AMO group at Lehigh University and the Astro-Particle-Chemistry group at Montpellier, France. Current research initiatives include a continued understanding of the dissociative recombination of electrons with heavy molecular ions and using modern quantum chemistry techniques to calculate observable properties of gas-phase molecules. Research in the Photonics Research Center is in the Quantum Information Sciences (QIS) Laboratory as part of the Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics research group. 

All of the research initiatives discussed above are still ongoing and include cadet researchers at all levels.