About
Physics and the Pinewood Derby is the brainchild of Dr. Scott Acton -- he wrote the script, acted as the producer, director, and main actor. The film was the direct result of his experiences teaching science to his own son through the Pinewood Derby, as well as presentations he gave to his local Cub Scout pack on what they learned. Dr. Acton is currently employed by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation, Inc. in Boulder, Colorado. He recently completed his James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) World Bike Tour, in which he rode almost 15,000 miles on his bicycle around the world, stopping to give talks about his work on the telescope.
John Swensen acted as the camera-man, co-director, and editor. He contributed several of the non-filmed components of the video and lent his opinion and hand wherever possible. John is currently employed as an assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. His research is in the area of medical robotics and tunably compliant materials as Director of the Modeling, Motion, and Medical Robotics Laboratory.