I was so sorry to discover that Dr. Reid passed away last Christmas. He was truly one of a kind. When I entered the UCD grad program in the Fall of 1996, Dr. Reid was assigned as my advisor. He scared the pants off me, but also inspired me to work my hardest to prove that I was capable of earning a PhD. I am so glad that I got to take graduate level E&M from him - one of my most favorite physics courses ever.

Some specific memories:

Toward the end of my studies, I worked long hours and often late at night in my office on the fifth floor. I used to see him a lot and although I don't remember a lot of details of most of our interactions, I was comforted by his presence in the building. He always had a smile and some funny, random comment about whatever he was thinking at the time.

He told me once that he took every opportunity to attend the San Francisco Opera in the standing room only gallery. It was an inexpensive way to experience glorious music.

During E&M class one day, he was describing the size scale of a conductor and used the analogy of an ant on a table. He walked over to the window and said that all the cars outside on Highway 80 looked to be the size of ants from this distance. Then he turned around, sort of giggled in his amusing way and said something about joining the Flat Earth Society, whose motto was "Look out the window, stupid!"

He gave anonymous quizzes at the beginning of most E&M classes to gauge our progress and understanding of the material. He really wanted to help us learn.

His homework solutions were some of the best I've ever seen and I try to emulate his example for my students now.

I want to extend my condolences to his family and let them know how many people his life touched. I am grateful to him for all that he did for me and I think of him often. My husband, Tom Gutierrez, also a UCD physics alum, and I often talk fondly about our memories of Dr. Reid and aspire to give our students as much of ourselves as he did to us.

In fond memory,
Jennifer

Jennifer L. Klay
Assistant Professor
Department of Physics
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, California 93407
(805) 756-1250
jklay@calpoly.edu