Curriculum Vitae & Bio
Download a copy of Tarr's latest C.V. here: Last updated October 8, 2026
Steven W. Tarr (he/his) is a Graduate Instructor of Record and Research Assistant in the School of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), where he develops innovative university-level physics curricula that emphasize science communication skills vital for modern postgraduate careers. He earned a Bachelor of Science cum laude with Highest Honors in Physics from Brandeis University, where he worked under Dr. Bulbul Chakraborty studying the dynamics of simulated active lattice particles. He conducted his initial graduate research under Dr. Daniel I. Goldman at Georgia Tech, focusing on surface-wave dynamics generated by aquatic robots and analogues for general relativity found in classical tabletop systems. Midway through his Ph.D. journey at Georgia Tech, he transitioned into physics education research under Dr. Emily Alicea-Muñoz, specializing in undergraduate development of technical science communication skills including the delivery of multimedia presentations and the translation between numeric and symbolic representations.
At Georgia Tech, Steven teaches and assists with courses spanning undergraduate and early-graduate physics curricula, from introductory lab courses to skill-focused senior and graduate seminars, while mentoring student researchers and leading data acquisition and analysis protocols centered on the classroom. Beyond incorporating education research into his course designs, he trained his instructional skills through the Tech-to-Teaching Program, a three-semester certificate program offered by the Georgia Tech Center for Teaching and Learning and designed to prepare graduate students and postdocs for university teaching positions. He also integrates his prior experiences performing classical experimental physics research in fluid dynamics and robotics and maintaining makerspaces both in and out of universities to help modernize physics lab courses and bring experiential learning to upper-division physics courses through custom tabletop experiments. His successes with teaching and mentorship have been recognized by both the Georgia Tech School of Physics and Center for Teaching and Learning with two 2025 Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year awards at the departmental and institute-wide levels, respectively. His research acumen has similarly been recognized by the Georgia Tech School of Physics with the 2026 Charles K. Rice Jr. Fellowship Award. Outside of teaching and research, Steven has demonstrated his leadership prowess in his roles as the Communications Manager and emcee for the 2026 ComSciCon-Atlanta conference.