Marshall University Physics

Recently Dr. Sachiko McBride, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Physics at Marshall University provided an on-campus Optics and Crafting Kaleidoscope workshop for the middle school students of the Heart of Appalachia Talent Search (HATS) Middle School Camp. Students learned characteristics of light and how mirror works, then crafted two different type of Kaleidoscopes. Fun was had by all!

In total, over 90 kids, parents, family members, and accompanying members of the community participating in the Huntington Children’s Museum KidsFest had a fantastic experience at the Science Demo Shows on June 9th held in the Science Building on Marshall University’s Huntington campus. Participants got to ‘see’ sound with fire, walk on a non-Newtonian fluid, see Bernoulli’s principle in action, witness thunder and lightning in the classroom, launch see-through rockets in the dark, see smoke rings, and much more. The demo show was hosted by Drs. Sean and Sachiko McBride from the Department of Mathematics and Physics with assistance provided by a Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) student working with Dr. Sean McBride that is funded by the National Science Foundation (Aliyah Ferry – Seattle University, Washington) and Riley Zornes, Tyler Parsons, and Niko Faulcon, who are all members of MU’s award winning and nationally recognized Society of Physics Students. More information about the Huntington Children’s Museum is found here: https://hcmkids.org/

Dr. Sachiko McBride had a wonderful time running several Portable Planetarium shows during the Huntington Children’s Museum KidFest on June 8th! It was a joy to see so many young children, along with their parents and grandparents, enjoying the shows. Thank you to everyone who joined us and made the event such a fun and memorable experience!

Dr. Sachiko McBride, from the Department of Mathematics and Physics at Marshall University, recently visited WSAZ Studio 3 to share exciting physics demonstrations and help spread the word about the upcoming KidsFest hosted by the Huntington Children’s Museum! Join us on June 9 at Marshall University as Dr. Sachiko McBride and Dr. Sean McBride present fun science demo shows. Also, don’t miss the portable planetarium led by Dr. Sachiko McBride on June 8th!

Studio 3 - Explore the sciences at the Huntington Children's Museum Studio 3

Dr. Sachiko McBride recently visited Guyandotte Elementary School with the portable planetarium to share the wonders of space with K–4th grade students!

Congratulations to Niko Faulcon, Tyler Parsons, Diesel Bryant, Marshall Smith, Paul Varney, and Tanner Hey in the Physics program! They have either earned awards, scholarships, and/or presented at various venues throughout the semester such as Research Day at The Capitol, the College of Science Research Expo, the MU Student Research and Creativity Symposium, and within the program. You have all done a fantastic job!

The 2026 Marshall University High School Science Day on April 22nd was a large success! Thank you to all the teachers, chaperones, demonstrators from all backgrounds, and especially the students that attended. We were thrilled to have 6 returning high schools and welcomed 8 new high schools to the event! Over 430 high school students and their teachers attended along with over 2 dozen Talented and Gifted (TAG) elementary school students from nearly a dozen different local schools! This opportunity was made possible by the NASA West Virginia Space Grant Consortium, Grant # 80NSSC25M7079. This event was jam packed with STEM activities from piloting a flight simulator and seeing sound with fire to petting reptiles, experiencing smoke cannons, and participating in real organ dissection with a whole lot of variety of events in between. Many thanks to the faculty and undergraduate student groups within the College of Science, College of Engineering and Computer Sciences, Marshall Advanced Manufacturing Center, and Division of Aviation who provided demonstrations. We are also very thankful for a variety of other on and off campus groups who have come to celebrate and showcase STEM demonstrations in their fields! Students also got to see the College of Science Scanning Electron Microscope, the portable planetarium, and get a taste of liquid nitrogen ice cream. Thank you to the countless faculty, staff, student groups, off campus institutions, vendors, and undergraduate and graduate student volunteers that helped make it an awesome day for the students and teachers in attendance! Without such an army of support, events like this could not happen! Well done to all involved!

Hopefully everyone had fun at the 2026 High School Science Day at Marshall University! More pics to follow soon!

Many great discussions were held between future students and current faculty in the Department of Mathematics and Physics at today’s April 11th Green and White Day! For those interested in learning more about what a degree/career in Mathematics and/or Physics can provide, please reach out ([email protected]). More information about the Mathematics and Physics Department programs, MU admissions, and MU Green and White Days can be found in the below links:
https://www.marshall.edu/cos/math-physics/
https://www.marshall.edu/admissions/
https://www.marshall.edu/admissions/greenandwhiteday/
Please reach out to us if you have any questions. Let’s start discussing your future! Thank you to all the faculty involved that support this event!

Good job Bennett, Cooper, and David!