Purdue Physics and Astronomy

Purdue University has been named to Forbes’ New Ivies 2025: 20 Great Colleges Employers Love list. Based on a survey of more than 380 senior business leaders, the ranking reflects a shift in hiring trends toward universities producing career-ready graduates. Purdue is the only public university in Indiana on the list, one of four Big Ten institutions recognized, and the largest by undergraduate enrollment. https://purduesci.com/4u298pF

🎉 That’s a wrap on Physics Inside Out 2026!

For our final day, the Physics & Astronomy Demonstration Group showed students The Fun in Physics, using hands-on demonstrations and real-world experiences to bring physics concepts to life and show how science is all around us. Even a ended on a sweet note with a little bit of liquid nitrogen made ice cream!

A huge thank you to the graduate students who helped make Physics Inside Out such a success this week, and special thanks to our Demonstration Assistants in Physics & Astronomy, Austin Beidelman and Emma Burzynski, for their tremendous support and enthusiasm throughout the program.

🧗‍♀️ Physics Inside Out Day 4 brought science to new heights!

Professors Laimei Nie and Jukka Väyrynen helped our Physics Inside Out students explore the physics of climbing, using the bouldering wall to demonstrate how gravity, friction, force and torque influence every move. A great hands-on example of how physics is at work all around us, even on the climbing wall!

Purdue PhysAstro’s Francis Robicheaux is part of new research highlighted by APS Physics that takes a sharper look at one of the universe’s biggest questions: Do matter and antimatter follow the same rules?

The ALPHA Collaboration’s antihydrogen measurement marks a 100-fold improvement in precision, strengthening tests of matter-antimatter symmetry.

Read more here: https://physics.aps.org/articles/v19/79

Antihydrogen Measurement Sharpens Antimatter Symmetry Test A 100-fold improvement in a key antihydrogen measurement strengthens tests of matter–antimatter symmetry, entering a regime sensitive to the antiproton’s internal structure.

Purdue’s Advancing Space Exploration Symposium brought together researchers, industry leaders and space experts to explore the future of robotic and human spaceflight. Thanks to everyone who helped make this year’s event such a success! 🚀🌎
Check it out: https://purduesci.com/3MVKozg

Collaboration, innovation and quantum education are helping inspire the next generation of the STEM workforce.

Purdue Physics and Astronomy professor Dr. Erica Carlson, along with collaborator Muhsin Menekse, is featured in a U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Discovery Files video highlighting their NSF-supported work to make quantum science more accessible and engaging for students.

Carlson, a Purdue Quantum Science and Engineering Institute - PQSEI-affiliated faculty member, also hosts The Quantum Age YouTube channel, where she breaks down quantum concepts for students in middle school and beyond.
Watch the video to learn how Purdue researchers are helping open the door to the quantum future!

🎧 Listen to the podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUlkyFnjoz4
📺 Explore The Quantum Age: https://www.youtube.com/

Bringing Quantum Concepts into Classrooms | Podcast Science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related fields emp...

⚛️🔦 Physics Inside Out: Day 1!

PhysAstro’s annual Physics Inside Out program kicked off today on Purdue University’s West Lafayette campus!

Offered each summer for current seventh and eighth grade students, this weeklong program gives students the chance to explore physics through interactive, hands-on lessons and activities that connect fundamental principles to real-world applications.

Today, Professor Andrew Mugler led “What’s Hot? What’s Not?” where students explored heat flow, temperature, thermodynamics and calorimetry using nuts.
Professor Chen-Lung Hung also led “Water Optics and Jello Lenses,” giving students a closer look at light, lenses, reflection, refraction and fiber optics.
Check out the photos from Day 1 below!
Many thanks to David Sederberg, Ph.D., our director of Physics & Astronomy Outreach, for helping make programs like Physics Inside Out possible.

Purdue researchers have created a tiny "optical window" that lets scientists see inside opaque battery materials, a promising step toward better understanding battery health and performance through quantum sensing.
Learn more about how this new device could help study what is happening inside lithium-ion batteries: https://purduesci.com/4sJro5T

Purdue researchers create tiny “optical window” to see inside opaque battery materials: Department of Physics and Astronomy: Purdue University A Purdue University research team has developed a new quantum sensing device designed to look inside materials that usually block light, a step that could help scientists better understand what is happening inside lithium-ion batteries. The work addresses a central challenge in battery sensing. Many...

Congratulations to the Purdue College of Science Class of 2026!
These graduates are officially the newest Boilermaker Science alumni and can now proudly add “scientist” to their titles. We can’t wait to see where their discoveries, innovations and impact lead next.
Check out our graduation galleries here: https://purduesci.com/4ftf0nl