Exploring Future Possibilities

"Our department is diverse and welcoming, and our stellar faculty leads different areas of physics that include astrophysics, gravity and cosmology, condensed matter, particle physics, biological physics, and atomic, molecular and optical physics. We strive to make the department the best working place for our faculty, staff, students and postdocs; a place promoting values that include creativity, inclusion, passion, innovation, teamwork, transparency, perseverance, honesty, and humility, and where everyone is valued, supported, included, and trusted."
—Mauricio Terrones, Department Head

Physics Undergrad student conducting an experiment on a 2DCC machine
Physics undergraduate program

Develop a broad, deep, and rigorous knowledge of the quantitative problems that govern the natural world.

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Physics graduate researching looking at an experiment

Intellectually challenging and exciting graduate research alongside leading physics faculty full of talent, enthusiasm, and imagination.

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Physics graduate program
Penn State physicists are at the frontiers
of knowledge about the natural world

According to a multi-year study released by the National Research Council (NRC) in 2010, we are in the top echelon (10-15) of physics departments in the United States.

The physics department is also committed to fostering an inclusive community where people of all backgrounds feel safe and supported.

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Physics Department

The physics faculty is a community of innovative and inspiring research and instructional physicists at the frontier of science.

Featured Faculty

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Ribhu Kaul portrait

Ribhu Kaul

Professor of Physics

I am interested in the theory of quantum mechanics and its consequences to systems of many particles, in particular how topology, entanglement and strong interactions lead to fundamentally new phenomena in condensed matter systems.
Stephanie Wissel for the featured staff tout.

Stephanie Wissel

Assistant Professor of Physics

My group focuses on detecting the highest energy neutrinos through radio detection experiments like PUEO, BEACON, ARA, and RNO-G.
Zoltan Fodor.

Zoltan Fodor

Professor

The main goal is to solve quantum field theory in the non-perturbative, strongly interacting regime. To that end, analytic and numerical techniques are applied on space-time lattices.
Davey Lab

Physics Spotlight

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Q&A: Meet the Graduate Student Newsletter's Editors

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory has produced an image of the Milky Way using neutrinos

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Our galaxy seen through a new lens

Mauricio Terrones has been named the new George A. and Margaret M. Downsbrough Head of the Department of Physics at Penn State

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Mauricio Terrones named head of the Department of Physics
Poster describing CUWiP conference at Penn State

Penn State hosts CUWiP 2023!

We are excited to host one of the sites of the 2023 APS Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics!

CUWiP 2023