Dr. Charles Vaughan was first introduced to a life in education when he was a student in graduate school. After teaching labs and having a private tutoring business, he participated in the INSPIRE program at Mississippi State University that paired student scientists with teachers in local classrooms. He was exposed to teaching at various schools including Columbus Middle School and Columbus High School; he even interned at MSMS. 

“I did not start pursuing a degree with education in my mind,” he says, “But all of my experiences were pointing towards it, so I decided to interview for a teaching position at MSMS.” Vaughan has been a member of the school’s faculty since 2015.

Vaughan is originally from Brookhaven, Mississippi. After attending Millsaps College, he pursued graduate studies at Mississippi State University, majoring in physics at both institutions. He also received a PhD from MSU in engineering and applied physics.

His passion for physics was instilled as a teenager. “I had a fantastic high school physics teacher, and her passion for teaching along with the application of mathematics that physics involved really sparked my interest in the subject.”

While pursuing his PhD, Vaughan specialized in comet science. He didn’t have an interest in the topic until he worked alongside one of his college professors with comet research. He said, “I was amazed at how things fall into place even when you don’t plan to do something.” For his dissertation, Vaughan studied a small active comet named Hartley 2, and he primarily explored its outgassing behavior and rotational dynamics.

Dr. Vaughan has known about MSMS for a long time, but he truly gained insight during his internship at the school. “Before then I had no idea what the school was like or what level of caliber I was dealing with,” he says. “Seeing how different it was from traditional high school is what attracted me so much to the position.”

Vaughan says he loves the students and faculty at MSMS the most. “Everyone I work with is fantastic, and you can have such interesting and intellectual conversations with the students. There’s never a moment where I am bored.”

As a member of the MSMS physics faculty, Vaughan teaches classes including AP Physics I, Advanced Problems in first year physics, AP Physics C: Mechanics and AP Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism; he has also previously taught Astronomy/Astrophysics, the subject he specialized in. Vaughan is heavily involved as the sponsor of both astronomy club and physics club at MSMS, both being highly popular among students.

In addition to the classes and activities that he is involved in, Vaughan hopes to teach a class focused on electronics in the future. He took interest to the topic a few years ago when he built circuits for a startup company.

“I had to research and teach myself the mechanisms behind engineering circuitry. Exploring these concepts of electrical engineering I think could be engaging for students.”

Outside of the classroom, Vaughan enjoys hanging out with his family, eating spicy food, and playing video games, among other things. His favorite color is indigo and his favorite game to play at the moment is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (as evidenced in the April Fool’s edition of The Vision).

Vaughan, who is a coffee person, also enjoys experimenting with different coffee flavors and roasts. He even brews coffee in his own beaker. “It’s like my morning science experiment,” he says. Students can often find Dr. Vaughan and his wife in spots of downtown Columbus such as the Coffeehouse on 5th and Thai by Thai.

His advice to students is to not worry about college and career plans. “A lot can happen within four to ten years so your current plan isn’t what you will follow for years.” He recommends doing internships, work studies, and co-ops while in college to better explore one’s future pursuits. He says, “There’s a world of value that comes with networking and building experience.”