Christopher Baird, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Physics
Office: Natural Sciences Building, Room 114-C
Email: cbaird@wtamu.edu
Phone: 806-651-4264
Professional Profile
Dr. Baird joined the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences in 2016. He received a B.S. in physics from Brigham Young University in 2001 and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Massachusetts Lowell in 2007.
Teaching and Related Service
Dr. Baird teaches general physics and more advanced courses in physics, specializing in electromagnetics. Before coming to West Texas A&M University, he taught several graduate electromagnetics courses at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Dr. Baird is the author of dozens of peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, and technical reports. Over the years, he has supervised the original research of thirteen students, ranging from high school seniors to doctoral candidates.
Research and Creative Activity
Dr. Baird’s field of research is computational electromagnetics with a special emphasis on terahertz imaging. He is researching the development of the quantum cascade laser, which has proved itself to be the first compact source of coherent terahertz waves. He has developed computational methods that accurately predict the electron and photon behavior in quantum cascade lasers and has used these methods to improve the design of various lasers. Dr. Baird also studies the application of terahertz waves to the detection of subsurface defects in wind turbine blades. He has demonstrated that polarimetric terahertz imaging can indeed be used to detect these hidden defects.