BYU Department of Physics and Astronomy

Home
United States
Provo, UT
BYU Department of Physics and Astronomy

The Department of Physics and Astronomy at Brigham Young University

08/12/2026

Today, we celebrate the 94th birthday of our beloved Prophet and former BYU President, Dallin H. Oaks.

Dallin H. Oaks also served as the eighth president of Brigham Young University from 1971 to 1980. During his time as president, he gave many uplifting speeches that shared principles applicable to all disciplines.

One example is his 1979 talk titled "The Formula for Success at BYU," in which he outlines essential principles for success in adulthood and at BYU.

In this talk, he outlines four principles that form the foundation of a successful student at BYU: be worthy, seek learning, work hard, and help others.

As physicists, we understand the importance of keeping essential principles in mind as we work to explain this world. As we are worthy, seek learning, work hard, and help others, we can find success at BYU and across our profession.

As we celebrate President Oaks’ birthday, we can remember these four principles and the impact they can have on our lives and our work. We wish Dallin H. Oaks a happy 94th birthday!

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/dallin-h-oaks/formula-success-byu/

08/07/2026

Branton Campbell, Physics Professor with a specialty in structure property relationships, shares with us his unique take on helping students with their academic relationships

06/23/2026

The Department of Physics and Astronomy aims to assist individuals in developing their potential as scientific leaders, innovators, and disciples of Jesus Christ.

That assistance should help students become independent learners as they master physical laws, discover scientific and other knowledge of real consequence, and more deeply appreciate our Creator’s universe.

06/18/2026

This Father's Day, Levi Hancock shares with us how his dad Robert inspired him to become a laser and optics physicist.

12/08/2025

Our department had the pleasure of hosting Nobel Laureate Dr. Kip Thorne for a Q&A session, lecture, and dinner. He was a STELLAR guest. All of the events and interactions were inspiring! We appreciate all of those who made this possible. Thank you, Kip Thorne!

To learn more about Dr Kip Thorne watch this interview!
https://youtu.be/CVovLIjOsL4
BYU College of Physical & Mathematical Sciences Quentin L. Cook

05/09/2024

Meet Gabriel Fronk, a BYU Physics alum. Currently, he is a Flight Controller at NASA Johnson Space Center. He shared with us how the undergrad research in the Physics and Astronomy helped him in his career:

“My experience with undergraduate research was amazing. The mentors and research group were very approachable as a young freshman and made me feel comfortable getting into research. Doing research also gave me more varied experience compared to others that helped me stand out during interviews for graduate school and getting a job since then. More than anything my research experience gave me mentors to help with advice as I’ve grown my career!”

03/20/2024

Our Graduate student, Bethany Wu, did an undergraduate internship at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at the LCLS (Linac Coherent Light Source) matter in Extreme Conditions instrument, where scientists use lasers to create conditions similar to those found in planets and stars. She shared some pieces of advice for students looking for internships:

- Join a research group so you can build your network at BYU (with other students and professors).

- Become friends with your professors. Even though your relationship will be more professional at first, most of them are interested in your life and where you want to end up. Don’t be afraid to express your concerns/worries to them.

- Internships are a great way to figure out what you like. So, if you have no idea what you enjoy doing yet as far as research, you have nothing to lose! Apply for anything that seems interesting.

03/18/2024

Meet David Hutchison, a BYU Physics alum. Currently, he designs and builds new kinds of lidar. His company, Waymo, uses its lidar systems to make self-driving cars.

What advice would you give students?

1) Academia vs industry — I originally wanted to go into academia. I thought engineers in industry had kind of a boring job — that they just toiled away on nothing particularly novel, squeezing a few percent more efficiency out of something. However that hasn’t been my experience — I’ve really enjoyed many aspects of working in industry and I think it was always a better fit for me than academia. Maybe one day I’ll teach at a college or something, but for now, I’m enjoying the industry.

2) Don’t necessarily get too attached to any one field of physics. Turns out there is interesting physics all over, and you’d probably enjoy other parts of physics/engineering at some point. I had to change (from nanoscience/materials science, to optics/MEMS) in graduate school by necessity since the only professors in “my” original field were not accepting new students. I worried a bit about not really enjoying a new field but I did. Then for my first and second jobs I worried a bit about not enjoying it, but I did. Open your mind to the idea that you will probably enjoy whatever you end up doing even if it’s not what you originally thought.

3) Satisfaction is overrated. In retrospect, one thing that drew me to physics was the satisfaction of tackling something unknown and finally understanding it, or the satisfaction of tackling a homework problem and then conquering it and getting the right answer. I’m sorry to say, but in real-world physics and engineering you rarely have that sense of satisfaction. It’s messy and you never really get to the bottom of things.

03/11/2024

We want to acknowledge our faculty and staff who received who received Outstanding Performance Awards. We congratulate the following:

Eric Hirschmann - Quantity and quality of graduate-level teaching

Michael Ware - Remarkable vision in initiating a department expansion and remodel.

Karine Chesnel - Teaching excellence in challenging circumstances

Cheryl Davis - Innovative and effective teaching in service courses

John Ellsworth - Dedicated stewardship of the Underground Laboratory during construction

We again congratulate our amazing professors and staff! 👏 👏

03/07/2024

Our students and faculty attended the American Physical Society “March Meeting” in Minneapolis this week. This is the biggest annual meeting of the APS with over 10,000 participants and speakers presenting ground-breaking physics research! Such a great opportunity! 🤩

Address

N284 ESC
Provo, UT
84602

Website

http://physics.byu.edu/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when BYU Department of Physics and Astronomy posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want your university to be the top-listed university in Provo?