Charlotte Christensen looks over MAP work with Hollis Akins and Anna Engelhardt

Physics

A supportive community for the intellectually curious.

A rigorous curriculum coupled with expert faculty, advanced facilities, and research opportunities means you’ll develop expertise in classical and modern physics theory. You’ll also spend an extensive amount of time gaining knowledge of laboratory equipment, computational modeling, data acquisition, and mathematical techniques, while pursuing your own interests within the discipline. Through hands-on learning, faculty-student research, seminars, and internships, you’ll be well-prepared for graduate study or careers involving physics in academic, public, and private settings.

If your interest leans toward astronomy, Grinnell has exceptional opportunities and facilities--including our own observatory. If engineering is more your style, Grinnell supports a 3-2 program in engineering.

 

Why Study Physics?

  • Students conduct physics experiment

    Career Preparation

    A well-rounded curriculum will prepare you for postgraduate success.

    A rigorous curriculum, coupled with expert faculty, advanced facilities, and research opportunities, means you’ll develop expertise in classical and modern physics theory. Through hands-on learning, faculty-student research, seminars, and internships, you’ll be well-prepared for graduate study or careers involving physics in academic, public, and private settings.

  • 4 students conduct physics lab

    Individualized Curriculum

    Pursue your own interests.

    You’ll spend an extensive amount of time gaining knowledge of laboratory equipment, computational modeling, data acquisition, and mathematical techniques. You’ll do this while also pursuing your own interests within the discipline through the core curriculum, research opportunities, and upper-level elective courses in a variety of fields.

  • Student and professor in observatory

    Faculty and Facilities

    Conduct research alongside professors in top-notch labs.

    You’ll learn from faculty members who maintain active research programs in a variety of areas, including applied physics, astronomy/astrophysics, biophysics, non-linear dynamics, optics, and solid-state physics. You’ll hone your problem-solving skills and conduct research in several excellent lab facilities that support the physics program, including the Grant O. Gale Observatory, a solid-state physics lab, nuclear physics lab, laser lab, and biophysics lab.

Featured Courses

Paul Hutchison and student

A New Approach to Learning Physics

In the course How to Learn Physics (EDU/PHY 115), students identify an intriguing physical phenomenon to explore further. From there, they use everyday reasoning to make conjectures about what could be happening in the phenomenon and to test those conjectures.

Explore the course
Three students on bridge walkway

Bridges to New Understanding

Physics professor takes students in Bridges, Towers, And Skyscrapers course to United Kingdom.

Check it out
Gale Observatory

Student Research Takes a Path that Goes to Distant Galaxies

Mentored research is essential to the learning experience at Grinnell. It can lead students to a place where there is no net below them; they are out on the edge. For Assistant Professor Charlotte Christensen, this kind of mentorship translates to the difference between a follower and a leader.

Explore more

Alumni Stories

Joe Beggs ’19 wears a suit and stands in a field

Coming Full Circle

After watching a TED Talk in high school during which the speaker grows a kidney, Joe Beggs ’19 knew he wanted to go into biomedical engineering. However, he did not want to be just any engineer.

Raghav Malik in London

Thinking Laterally and Working Cross-Functionally

Raghav Malik ’13, a native of Delhi, India, wanted to attend a small liberal arts college after spending his secondary school years at a small, international baccalaureate boarding school. His multiple passions and ability to communicate well with people across disciplines have helped him discuss strategy and market needs as well as technology.

Jeev Prayaga ’22 and Gyan Prayaga ’21

A Scientific Way to Gauge Risk

When Gyan Prayaga ’21 and Jeev Prayaga ’22 learned about a data science competition designed to help their hometown, Los Angeles, reopen safely during the coronavirus pandemic, they eagerly signed up.

Department News

Professor Charlote Christensen in class with electrical current visible in the foreground during and experiment
Academics

Christensen named a Scialog® Fellow to study the Legacy Survey of Space and Time

Charlotte Christensen, associate professor of physics at Grinnell College, has been named a Scialog® Fellow.
Two blurred figures walk in front of the entirely glass facade of the Noyce Science Center.

Grinnell College collaborates with regional institutions to secure NSF grant supporting high-performance computing in Iowa

Grinnell’s Charlotte Christensen, Associate Professor of Physics, and Mike Conner, Linux Systems Administrator, are key members of the collaborative team awarded the grant titled "High-performance computing solutions for small Midwest institutions" (OAC- 2346616) through the NSF's Campus Cyberinfrastructure program.
Wall-to-wall windows in the Noyce Science Center's courtyard reflect a blue sky.
Academics

Burson, Hernandez Selected for DOE Visiting Faculty Program

Kristen Burson, Associate Professor of Physics, and Heriberto Hernandez, Professor of Chemistry, will spend the summer collaborating with scientists at DOE-funded national labs.

Physics Career Outcomes

First Destinations

  • 34% Employment
  • 52% Graduate School
  • 0% Post-Graduate Service
  • 2% Fellowships
  • 2% Continuing Education
  • 10% Other

Employment

100%
Positions related to Career Goals

Positions Related to Career Goals

This graph illustrates the extent to which our graduates' first job is aligned with their career goals. It's one thing to find a job; it's an entirely different thing to land the job you want!

Employer

  • Amazon
  • Department of Energy
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • United States Navy
  • Valiant Capital Partners

Graduate Schools

65%
65% Accepted to 1st- or 2nd- choice programs

Graduate School Acceptance Info

Of those who applied to and were accepted to at least one program, this chart illustrates the percentage of admitted students who were accepted to either their first or second choice program and institution.

Institutions

  • Cornell University
  • Ohio State University
  • Princeton University
  • University of Alberta
  • University of Illinois
  • University of Minnesota
  • University of Wisconsin
Explore More Graduate Outcomes

Department Chair

Keisuke Hasegawa

Contact Information

Phone
641-269-3172
Fax
641-269-4984

Noyce Science Center
1116 Eighth Ave
Grinnell, IA 50112
United States

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