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Dr. Preston Jones is an associate professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department and chair of the Faculty Research and Grants Committee.

Dr. Jones holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Nevada Reno, an M.S. in Physics from San Diego State University and a B.S. in Engineering from San Francisco State University. Before joining Embry-Riddle, he held academic positions at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the University of Louisiana Monroe, Fresno State University and Virginia Military Institute.

Prior to his academic career, he worked as an aircraft engineer for United Airlines, AirCal and the Department of the Navy. After leaving United Air Lines, he was cofounder of TDG Aerospace and designer of the company’s wing-root deicing system, which was incorporated into the type certificate for the MD 80. He also worked as an aircraft engineer for Saudi ARAMCO in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Jones is a theoretical physicist, specializing in gravity and quantum field theory. His research focuses on the theoretical foundations for developing criteria of non-classicality and searches for the graviton. He also works on astrophysical applications for electromagnetism in curved space-time backgrounds.

His research has appeared in top ranked peer reviewed journals, and he maintains an active research program that regularly includes undergraduate space physics majors.

Academic Experience

Associate Professor of Physics with Tenure (2021-present), Physics Department Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Prescott.            

Assistant Professor of Physics (2014-2021), Physics Department Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Prescott.          

Visiting Lecturer (2013-2014), Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. One year teaching position.

Assistant Professor (2007-2013), University of Louisiana Monroe. Physics professor and held the Capital One Endowed Research Professorship in Mathematics. The physics program was eliminated in 2012.

Lecturer (2004-2006), California State University, Fresno. Taught both lower division and upper division physics courses.

Visiting Lecturer (2003-2004), Virginia Military Institute, Lexington VA. One year teaching position.           

Professional Experience

Aircraft Engineer (1992-1994), Saudi Aramco. Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Aircraft structures engineer for the largest private aircraft fleet in the world.

Cofounder and Head of Research (1992), TDG Aerospace, Pleasanton, CA. Designed and developed an anti-icing system that is included in the type certificate for the MD 80.     

Engineering Supervisor (1986-1991), United Air Lines, San Francisco, CA.  Supervisor for engineering groups in aircraft structures and systems. Prior positions as aircraft engineer for DC-10 systems and fleet high strength steel components.

Aircraft Engineer (1984-1986), AirCal. Oakland, CA. Aircraft structures engineer for the regional airline.

Aircraft Engineer (1984), Department of the Navy, Alameda Naval Air Station. Aircraft structures engineer for the S-3 Viking fleet.  

United States Army (1976-1979 active and 1979-1982 inactive reserve).

Preston Jones, Quentin Bailey, Andri Gretersson, and Edward Poon, Measurement-induced entanglement entropy of gravitational wave detections,  Physics Letters B vol. 868, 139628 (2025).

Preston Jones, Pragati Pradhan, and Doug Singleton, Signatures of Electromagnetic and Sound Radiation Produced by Gravitational Waves in Core-collapse Supernovae, The Astrophysical Journal Vol. 989:18, 10pp (2025).

Preston Jones, Alexander Barrett, Justin Carpenter, Andri Gretarsson, Ellie Gretarsson, Brennan Hughey, Douglas Singleton, Darrel Smith and Michele Zanolin, Gravito-optics and intensity correlations for binary inspiral signal detections, IJMPA 38, 2330005 (2023).

A. Barrett and P. Jones, Second Order Glauber Correlation of Gravitational Waves Using the LIGO Observatories as Hanbury Brown and Twiss Detectors, Phys. Sci. Forum 2, 25 (2021).

P. Jones, D. Singleton, Interaction between gravitational radiation and electromagnetic radiation, IJMPD 28, 1930010 (2019).

A. Gretarsson, P. Jones, D. Singleton, Gravity’s light in the shadow of the Moon, IJMPD 27, 1847021 (2018).

P. Jones, P. McDougall (grad), M. Ragsdale (grad), D. Singleton, Scalar field vacuum expectation value induced by gravitational wave background, PLB 781, 621-625 (2018).

P. Jones, A. Gretarsson, D. Singleton, Low frequency electromagnetic radiation coming from gravitational waves generated by neutron stars, PRD 96, 124030 (2017).

P. Jones, P. McDougall (grad), D. Singleton, Particle production in a gravitational wave background, PRD 95, 065010 (2017).

D. Wulandari (grad), Triyanta, J. S. Kosasih, D. Singleton, and P. Jones, Localization of Interacting Fields in 5 Dimensional Braneworld Models, IJMPA 32, 1750191 (2017).

P. Jones, D. Singleton, Gravitons to photons - attenuation of gravitational waves, IJMPD 24, 1544017 (2015).