Dr. David Hutchinson, Ph.D.

Dr. David Hutchinson is in his fifth year as an assistant professor in the Department of Physics & Nuclear Engineering at the United States Military Academy. He currently serves as the Core Physics deputy program director. Past duties have included serving as the course director for the core physics lab program and the PH206 course.

Dr. Hutchinson graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science in physics. He earned his Master of Science in physics from RPI in 2011 and his Doctor of Philosophy in physics from RPI in 2014.

Dr. Hutchinson’s thesis research was in experimental photonics, with a specialization in novel semiconductor characterization. His primary focus was on determining the optical and electronic properties of silicon photocells doped to supersaturated levels using pulsed laser melting techniques. He co-authored several publications on this topic in journals including Applied Physics Letters, Applied Physics Express and Nature Communications.

From 2009 to 2011, he was a National Science Foundation GK-12 Fellow. He partnered with a local high school to serve as a classroom outreach presence while conducting full-time research. In the spring of 2015, he was an adjunct instructor for the Physics I program at RPI.