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Lecturer is an adventurer at heart

by REBECCA M. MARTINEZ
C&J 271

Whether it be climbing mountains, finding long-lost relatives or making his students laugh, all of John Caffo's interests are adventures.

Caffo is a lecturer in the physics and astronomy department at the University of New Mexico, where he has taught for the past 13 years.  He enjoys his job.

"I like standing up there and teaching," Caffo said.

Caffo taught high school classes before he decided to investigate an opportunity to teach at UNM.

"I was in a position where I had flexibility to do something like that," Caffo said.

Caffo said he takes pleasure in teaching and being able to share his knowledge with students.

"It's fun to explain to other people," he said.  

Caffo said he likes to make his lectures interesting, so that students will enjoy class and pay attention to the material.   Caffo's lectures are filled with analogies relating physics and astronomy to everyday life.  

When describing the process of learning about electricity, Caffo compared the experience to slowly climbing a mountain.  He said that the tip of the mountain is where students stood once they finished learning about the subject.

Analogies like these, as well as his demonstrations, are what keep students interested in the class.

UNM student Isaac Ortiz said that he considered Caffo to be a good teacher because of his teaching method.

"He seems to know the material and comes well-prepared for every class," Ortiz said.  

Ortiz is a student in Caffo's astronomy 101 class at UNM. He said that Caffo's use of demonstrations makes it easier to learn about the subject.

"He knows the material and tries to get us to understand it," Ortiz said.

Jenae Maestas, who is also a student at UNM, said that Caffo's use of demonstrations are what make him unique.  

Maestas is not enrolled in any of Caffo's classes, but attends his astronomy 101 class because she thinks it is interesting, she said.

Caffo makes his lectures interesting by using humor to help students learn. On Monday mornings, in his physics 161 class, laughter is always a part of the lecture.  

When explaining how people lose energy by radiating heat, Caffo tapped the skin on the top of his head, while telling the class that is where he loses most of his heat.

Caffo said that he and his wife Maggie were the subjects of his jokes because these jokes don't get him in trouble.

Most of Caffo's students know about his adventures with his wife because he is open in sharing experiences that relate to the class.

These experiences include everything from climbing mountains to looking for long-lost relatives.

He said that he and his wife climbed mountains in Colorado because it gave them an escape from the world.

"When you're doing it, it separates you from everything else in the world," Caffo said.

He likes the distraction of climbing and being outdoors.  

Although Caffo and his wife love climbing, they have recently found another type of adventure that has consumed much of their time.

Caffo and his wife spent the last few years on adventures in Europe, searching for distant relatives.

With the help of a few letters that belonged to his grandmother, Caffo was reunited with a cousin who lives in Europe where his great-aunt once lived.

Caffo said he was lucky to find a member of his family that he never knew, and it has inspired him to search for and reunite other members of his family.

It is an adventure that keeps him busy, but also brings him great joy, as he is able to bring together a family that he never knew.

Although Caffo said he has had a tremendous amount luck on most of his adventures, not all adventures turned out the way he planned them.

"It's like backpacking and mountain climbing," Caffo said. "The ones we remember are the disasters."

The disasters don't stop Caffo. Every day is a new adventure.

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