“If you have passion for something, students perhaps will unconsciously follow you there.”
Despite the rigid rules and principles of physics, Dr. Vladimir Lukic upholds a firm belief of how teaching passionately can truly impact the student.
Since his early days in Serbia, Lukic’s eagerness about the world kickstarted his studies in biology. After diving into biology and later computer science in high school, he became enamored with physics and astronomy. Ultimately, he completed his undergraduate degree in Serbia, following a Ph.D. in Computational Physics at the University of Illinois, and did research at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Guelph in Canada.
Through teaching at Stevens for seven years, Lukic has enriched the Physics department with his passion for astronomy. “I came to Stevens and noticed that there is simply a lack of astronomy classes; one half-baked course,” Lukic said.
Seeing this, Lukic created six astronomy courses for a variety of students, both freshmen and upperclassmen. The experience does not end on campus: Lukic brings his classes on trips to places like the Museum of Natural History for a more engaging course, exposing his students to his beloved city across the Hudson.
Living in New York, Lukic is baffled by how seldom visited the city is by many students and hopes that students also are able to admire its grandness now that they are a few steps away. He describes it as “staggeringly beautiful.” Truly, having the city at such close proximity is essential to the Stevens experience.
Outside of his teaching career, Lukic continues to observe and learn about the world around him through hobbies like mixing photography with biology that he is interested in. Lukic showed some of the pictures he took himself of fascinating insects around campus which proves that when you keep your eyes open to the beauty around you, there is a lot our radiant campus has a lot to offer in various forms.
Lukic advises freshmen to learn solid time management skills and believes that it is the single most important thing, as we all chose to go to Stevens so we have the potential to be extremely successful. If there is one thing to take away from Professor Lukic’s advice, it should definitely be to make the most of your freshman experience, embrace the city for its everlasting beauty, and manage your time wisely!
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