Department News

Stepping down from his role as associate chair of the physics department, Duncan Lorimer has now been named Associate Dean for External Research and Development! He will take up this role from Spring 2019. You can read further about his appointment here:

Today West Virginia University wish to congratulate the winners of the 2018 Nobel Prize in physics. This award goes to Arthur Ashkin “for the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems” shared with Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland “for their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses”

The American Association of Physics Teachers will be holding its 2018 Appalachian Section Meeting at the department of Physics and Astronomy from 12-13 October this year.

WVU professor Duncan Lorimer, along with an international team of astronomers, have used a triple star system consisting of a neutron star and two white dwarfs to test Einstein's age-old theory of gravity, general relativity. Read the full article here:Yet again, Einstein's theory passes the test with flying colors

A dozen scientists gather each afternoon on Albuquerque’s Kirtland Air Force Base, in Sandia National Laboratories, awaiting the bright flash and unmistakable floor jolt that accompanies the daily lightning bolt known as a Z shot. WVU physics professor Mark Koepke, his postdoc, and his students take advantage of approximately twenty Z shots per year to feed their passion for studying the physical principles that govern extreme astrophysical environments through the laboratory study of high-energy-density physics. 

This year, Prof. Ned Flagg of the Physics department has been awarded with the Eberly College Outstanding Teachers Award. See the official announcement by following this link. 

This year, Dr. Amy Keesee and Prof. Paul Cassak of the Physics department have each been awarded with the Eberly College Public Service Award.

Professor Sean McWilliams of the Physics department has been awarded with the Eberly College Outstanding Researcher Award. See the official announcement by following this link.