University of St. Thomas

Brief Personal Biography, September 2005

Gregory S. Mowry was raised in Davenport , Iowa and initially educated in metallurgical engineering at Iowa State University . Capitalizing on continuing education opportunities supported by both Hewlett-Packard and Seagate Technology, while working, he attended Stanford and worked on a non-thesis electrical engineering masters program. Then at the University of Minnesota he received his doctorate in electrical engineering with a laser and optics emphasis plus a minor in physics. He has spent almost all of his corporate and academic career as an applied research scientist and engineer. Recently, he joined the academic world where he taught physics at St. Cloud State University prior to joining the electrical engineering faculty in the School of engineering at the University of St. Thomas.

Interests and expertise

Optics: Lasers and laser systems, laser processing, optical system design and sensors, medical optics, optical metrology, fiber, ...

Alternative energy: Wind turbine design, active and passive solar systems, solar cell design.

Thin films: Thin-film materials, processing, and manufacturing; device physics; magnetics and magnetic materials; optical thin-films.

Other: Pedagogy of successful technical teaching, electromagnetic phenomena and devices,  e.g. motors, antennas, lightning.

Career

Dr. Greg Mowry comes to the University of St. Thomas after 25 years in industry and academia. His experiences cover several engineering disciplines. Dr. Mowry has performed both fundamental and applied research as well as turning research concepts into successful products. His work has included fundamental research on thin-film materials and deposition techniques for materials that are used in optics and recording systems, magnetic recording head design, design and development of optical metrology equipment, designing laser systems with tailored spatial mode profiles, plus research on medical device and medical imaging. He also has over a decade of experience as an expert witness in several technology fields and is named on 36 patents. He has worked for Hewlett-Packard, Control Data, Seagate Technology, Boston Scientific and has also been involved as a founder in several technical startup ventures. His current research include laser processing of material, optical system design, and alternative energy applications such as small, non-grid wind turbine design in cooperation with colleagues at the Technical University of Moldova. He is driven by the love of discovery, helping others, and turning research concepts into useful products. He has taught a variety of physics, optics and communications courses and currently teaches various electrical engineering courses including analog electronics, electromagnetic machines, and electromagnetic field theory.

 

Education

B.S. Metallurgical Engineering, 1976, Iowa State University.
M.S. Metallurgy, 1978, Iowa State University.
M.S. Electrical Engineering Program, 1980 - 1982, Stanford.
Ph.D. Electrical Engineering - laser optics, 1995, University of Minnesota.

Selected Patents and Publications

US 4,803,580; 7 Feb 89, "Double-gap magnetoresistive head having an elongated central write-shield pole completely shielding the magnetoresistive sensor strip in the read gap."

US 4,891,725;  2 Jan 90, "Magnetoresistive sensor having antiferromagnetic exchange-biased ends."

US 5,825,593;  20 Oct 98, "Electric field modulated MR sensor."

US 6,324,319;  27 Nov 2001, "Spliced optical fiber coupler."

Mowry, Leger, "Large-area, single transverse mode semiconductor laser with diffraction limited super-Gaussian output," APL 66 (13), 1614 (1995). Also presented at 1994 CLEO conference.

Kief, Al-Jumaily, Mowry, "Optical Metrology for Magnetoresitive Heads," IEEE Tran. Mag. 33 (5), 2926 (1997).

D. K. Thome, G. S. Mowry, et.al., "Influence of Hydrogen on the low temperature heat capacity of Lutetium-rich Lutetium Hydrogen alloys," Solid State Commun., 25 (5), 297 (1978).

G. S. Mowry et.al., "Thin-Film Magnetoresitive heads for narrow-track Winchester applications," IEEE Tran. Mag. 22 (5), 671 (1986). Invited.

 G. S. Mowry, "Boundary Control Stabilization (BCS) of single domain MR sensors," IEEE Tran. Mag. 24 (6), (1988).