Ronald Kumon

Ronald Kumon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at Kettering University. Because students at Kettering alternate between school and co-op terms, he has served as chapter advisor for two separate “Kettering A” and “Kettering B” chapters since 2011. He is also currently the Zone 7 Councilor for the SPS National Council. He is a member of the Sigma Pi Sigma physics honor society and serves as its chapter advisor at Kettering.  

Prof. Kumon received his B.S. in physics and mathematics from Michigan State University and his Ph.D. in physics from The University of Texas at Austin. He subsequently worked as a research physicist at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, University of Windsor, Case Western Reserve University, and University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and as an adjunct professor at Lawrence Technological University. Prof. Kumon teaches introductory and upper-level physics courses, does research with undergraduates in physics and ultrasonics, supervises co-op and research theses, and coordinates the medical physics program and “STEM & Society” speaker series of College of Sciences and Liberal Arts. Prof. Kumon has published 25 peer-reviewed journal articles in acoustics and physics and recently received an NSF grant for a confocal laser scanning microscopy system that will serve a centerpiece for an advanced microscopy laboratory. He has been actively engaged in STEM outreach, including volunteering at the Flint Children’s Museum and Flint Regional Science Fair, serving as a coach and mentor for FIRST LEGO League and FIRST LEGO League Junior teams, coaching at a Math Pentathlon club, and making presentations at local schools about physics, acoustics, and medical physics.