Temple Burling

Professor Temple Burling is a biophysicist who studies the physics and chemistry of living systems. He teaches courses in both the Physics and Biology departments. His teaching and research focus on the structure and function of protein molecules and on how physics impacts biological and biochemical processes. His teaching interests include helping students to see how physics provides both a deeper understanding of life processes and a greater sense of amazement at how life works.

In addition, Prof. Burling does work in the history of science, studying topics at the interface of the sciences and the humanities. He teaches a Museum Studies course each J-Term during which students visit a variety of museums and participate in discussions and workshops with museum curators in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Kenosha.

Prof. Burling’s current research includes collaborations with museum professionals in Milwaukee and Chicago. He has been a visiting scholar at the Chipstone Foundation museum in Milwaukee studying the historic, scientific, aesthetic, and cultural significance of porcelain production and transfer printed ceramics in 18th century Europe and North America.

Prof. Burling earned a B.A. in physics from Grinnell College, an M.S. in physics from Iowa State University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in biophysics from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, where he used computational quantum chemistry and X-ray crystallography to study the structure and function of a class of thiazole and selenazole nucleoside anti-tumor drug molecules. He later worked as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute post-doctoral fellow at Yale University in the department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, where he studied problems in computational crystallography, protein dynamics, and high-resolution macromolecular structure determination by multi-wavelength anomalous diffraction.

Prior to coming to Carthage, Prof. Burling was an assistant professor in the Biochemistry Department at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City, where he taught biochemistry and structural biology to medical students, performed research in protein structure determination, and served as the director of the school’s X-ray crystallography core facility. Prof. Burling came to Carthage in 2002.