Angie Triplett watches Jeremy Hohertz demonstrate that an orthogonal torque can rotate an angular momentum
Highlights
- In 1994, our department obtained its first site grant for Research Experience for Undergraduates from the National Science Foundation. Through this and other grants, we typically employ eight to ten undergraduates each summer to conduct original research under the supervision of our faculty.
- In a recent ten-year period, members of the department received individual research and instrumentation grants totalling more than half a million dollars from sources including the National Science Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Navy, the Petroleum Research Fund, and Research Corporation.
- In a recent ten year period, forty Wooster physics majors and student researchers co-authored papers in refereed journals; thirteen of these student co-authors were women. These journals includee American Journal of Physics, Scientific American, Journal of Statistical Physics, Journal of Chemical Physics, Physics Letters A, Physical Review E, International Journal of Thermophysics, and Physical Review Letters. This recognition is not uncommon at Wooster where every senior in every department completes a yearlong senior thesis project.
- In a recent decade, our majors have had summer research experiences at colleges and universities like Cornell, Georgia Tech, and Rennsselaer, and spent academic semesters at Oak Ridge National Lab, Argonne National Lab, and Caltech's Jet Propulsion Lab. Recently, one of our majors spent a summer at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, while another of our majors spent a summer at Fermilab.
- Most of our majors continue in graduate programs, and Wooster's Physics Department ranks highly in the number of its graduates who obtain the PhD One study of 867 undergraduate institutions nationwide ranked our natural science department graduates 6th in the number of PhD's annually, with Physics in the top 3% nationally.
- Our recent majors have succeeded in graduate school at places like Duke, Case Western, Georgia Tech, Kent State, Cornell, The University of Michigan, The University of Oregon, The University of Maryland at College Park, The University of Southern California, and the University of California at Berkeley.
- We have taught the hardware and software of computer interfacing since they first appeared in the 1970s. Today, Macintosh computers are commonly used to control experiments, to acquire and analyze data, and to perform simulations.
- Taylor Hall, the renovated home of Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science, contains a state-of-the-art, computer-based laboratory for introductory physics.
- A collegial atmosphere encourages frequent, informal discussion between students and faculty members outside of the classroom.
Honors and Awards
- In 2003, 2007, & 2009, our Physics Club's Outreach Program won the Marsh White Award from the Society of Physics Students of the American Institute of Physics. Of the more than 700 SPS chapters, in 2007, 2009, 2013, 2014 our Outreach Program won national Blake Lilly Prizes. In 2008, 2009, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, we were named an Outstanding SPS Chapter.
- In 1996, 1998, 2003, & 2006, four of our physics majors received Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships, the premier undergraduate awards of their type in the fields of mathematics, science and engineering.
- From the classes of 2001, 2003, 2007, & 2008, five other of our physics majors received National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships.
- In 2001, 2003, 2004, 2008, & 2018, a physics major was awarded Wooster's Notestein Prize for highest scholarship and was selected as commencement speaker for the graduating class.
- In 2003, 2007, & 2016, three of our seniors were finalists for the national Apker Award for outstanding undergraduate achievement in physics.
- In 2000, one of our faculty was the recipient of the American Physical Society's prize for Research in an Undergraduate Institution.
- In 1927, one of our graduates - Arthur Holly Compton - was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Faculty
- Sarah Bolton, Professor of Physics and President of The College of Wooster. BS at Brown University in 1988; MS, PhD at University of California (Berkeley) in 1991, 1995. Nonlinear optics.
- Laura DeGroot, Assistant Professor of Physcs, BS at Michigan State University in 2009; MS, PhD at University of California in 2011, 2015. Galaxy morphology.
- Cody Leary, Associate Professor of Physics. BS at University of Puget Sound in 2003; MS, PhD at University of Oregon in 2004, 2010. Experimental quantum optics.
- Susan Lehman, Victor J. Andrew Professor of Physics. BA at Goshen College in 1993; MS, PhD at University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) in 1996, 1999. Experimental condensed matter, nanostructures, and optoelectronics.
- John Lindner, Professor of Physics, The Moore Professor of Astronomy. BS at University of Vermont 1978-1982; PhD at California Institute of Technology 1982-1988. Nonlinear dynamics, celestial mechanics.
- Niklas Manz, Assistant Professor of Physics. BS, MS at Technical University Carolo-Wilhelmina at Braunschweig, Germany, 1991, 1997; PhD at Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany, 2002. Pattern formation and nonlinear phenomena.
Emeritus Faculty
- Shila Garg, The William F. Harn Professor of Physics, Emeritus. BS at University of Madras (India) in 1970; MS at University of Sussex (Great Britain) in 1972; PhD at University of Kent at Canterbury (Great Britain) in 1975. Static and dynamic instabilities in liquid crystals, nonlinear flow effects in liquid crystals.
- Donald Jacobs, Victor J. Andrew Professor of Physics, Emeritus. BA, MA at University of South Florida in 1971, 1972; PhD at University of Colorado in 1976. Experimental investigations into critical solution points in binary liquid mixtures, polymer-solvent systems, and self-organized criticality.