Physics
Douglas Petkie

Douglas Todd Petkie

Professor and Department Head
Physics
Office: Olin Hall 120
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5420
It is my pleasure to work with students and colleagues to elevate the impact WPI has on the world. WPI has a dynamic and energetic environment with a strong focus on experiential learning and interdisciplinary research. The balance between theory and practice and the passion everyone shares for the WPI Plan and the Project Based Curriculum makes this a truly unique place, where you get degrees for project accomplishments rather than courses completed. ... View Profile
Padmanabhan Aravind

Padmanabhan K. Aravind

Professor
Physics
Office: Olin Hall 212B
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5559
In my 25 plus years at WPI, I have been actively engaged in teaching and research at a variety of levels. Our Projects Program is the place where these two activities naturally come together, and the Major Qualifying Projects (or senior theses) I have guided over the years have been among my most rewarding experiences. In the mid 1990s, I became interested in the field of Quantum Information Science, whose goal is to store information in quantum objects, such as single atoms or photons, and explore ways in which it can be harnessed to perform tasks beyond the scope of today’s computers. ... View Profile
Nancy Burnham

Nancy A. Burnham

Professor-Physics
Physics
Office: Olin Hall 219
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5365
Nancy Burnham graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1987 with a Ph.D. in Physics. Her dissertation concerned the surface analysis of photovoltaic materials. As a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the Naval Research Laboratory, she became interested in scanning probe microscopy, in particular its application to detecting material properties at the nanoscale. ... View Profile
Germano Iannacchione

Germano S. Iannacchione

Professor
Physics
Office: Olin Hall 212A
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5631
Germano Iannacchione is a Professor in the Physics Department at WPI, joining the faculty in August 1998, with an area of expertise in thermo-physical property experimental research on order-disorder phenomena in condensed matter, with a focus on soft-matter materials, colloids/composites, and emergence far-from-equilibrium.  To date, there have been 11 Ph.D., 14 M.Sc., and 121 B.Sc. ... View Profile
Snehalata Kadam

Snehalata V. Kadam

Assistant Teaching Professor
Physics
Office: Olin Hall 303
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5302
My goal as teacher is to bridge diverse disciplines such as Physical and Biological Sciences. Learning and teaching bears no geographical obstacle and my academic career has taken me across three different continents, from Asia through Europe to United States of America. This experience has taught me the virtues of adaptability, which I encourage my students to learn. I embrace the reward of being a teacher as I get to oversee how learning happens. It gives me immense pleasure that I bring a positive change in student’s lives. ... View Profile
Rudra Kafle

Rudra Prasad Kafle

Associate Teaching Professor-Physics
Physics
Office: Olin Hall 215
Hektor Kashuri

Hektor Kashuri

Assistant Teaching Professor
Physics
Office: Olin Hall 105
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5419
One rewarding and exciting aspect of an academic position is the opportunity to teach and mentor students. My teaching experience started in my native country, Albania; although the two countries and systems are different, my interaction with the students is very much the same. I want to teach my students how to use physics in analyzing facts. The emphasis is on the understanding of the underlying ideas and concepts rather than the memorization and usage of formulas. At WPI, I have also been actively involved in research. ... View Profile
David Medich

David Christopher Medich

Associate Professor
Physics
Office: Olin Hall 127
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x6569
I perform experimental and computational (Monte Carlo) research in the field of applied nuclear physics with a focus on Medical and Health Physics. ... View Profile
Ben Pollard

Ben Pollard

Assistant Teaching Professor
Physics
Office: Olin 217
Dr. Pollard's research focuses on teaching and learning in physics laboratory courses. He is also involved in community building and organization to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice in STEM, including as a core organizer in The Access Network . Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Heather Lewandowski and the Physics Education Research group at the University of Colorado Boulder. View Profile
Marko Popovic

Marko B. Popovic

Assistant Teaching Professor
Robotics Engineering
Office: 85 Prescott 213
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5378
In the spirit of a multidisciplinary researcher also referred to as a polymath or renaissance man, Prof. Marko B. Popovic's research interest ranges across numerous fields including engineering robotics systems that assist and augment humans, biomechatronics, biomechanics, neuroscience and sensorimotor control, space and planetary robotics, bio-inspired engineering, as well as fundamental physics, specifically theoretical particle physics. Prof. ... View Profile
Richard Quimby

Richard S. Quimby

Associate Professor
Physics
Office: Olin Hall 128
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5490
Professor Quimby teaches courses and engages in research in the area of photonics, specializing in lasers, fiber optics, and the optical properties of materials. He particularly enjoys developing and teaching interdisciplinary courses that are relevant and interesting to both science and engineering students. Examples of courses he has developed at WPI include PH2501 Photonics, PH2502 Lasers, and PH2601 Photonics Laboratory. ... View Profile
L. Ramdas Ram-Mohan

L. Ramdas Ram-Mohan

Professor
Physics
Office: Olin Hall 224
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5339
Izabela Stroe

Izabela RC Stroe

Associate Teaching Professor
Physics
Office: Olin Hall Office: Room 222 Lab: Room 015/014R
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5249
For me, Physics is like a sandbox. It gives me the opportunity to play and discover, test, be creative, learn something new. At the same time, I am passionate about passing the thrill of discovery to my students. Teaching is a two-way street in which both parties get enriched from each other. I welcome and embrace the partnership. I also believe that college is the biggest and best opportunity in one's life to discover one's calling and do something about it and I invite students to take full advantage of it. ... View Profile
Lyubov Titova

Lyubov Titova

Associate Professor-Physics
Physics
Office: Olin Hall 125
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5418
  Research efforts of the Ultrafast THz and Optical Spectroscopy Lab at WPI (PI- Lyubov Titova) are focused on three themes: (i) Application of terahertz (THz) spectroscopy to probe dynamics of photo-excited charge carriers in nanomaterials with applications in photovoltaics and solar fuel production; (ii) Using THz pulses and ultrafast optical techniques to study intermolecular dynamics in liquids; (iii) Investigating interactions of intense THz pulses with cells, tissues and their constituents, with a goal of development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Prof. ... View Profile
Raisa Trubko

Raisa Trubko

Assistant Professor
Physics
Office: Olin Hall 213C
Professor Trubko is an experimental quantum physicist who leads the WPI Quantum Sensing group. Her group uses ensembles of Nitrogen-vacancy quantum defects in diamond to image magnetic fields with high spatial resolution. We work both to develop state-of-the-art quantum instruments and to use them to study biomagnetism and magnetic properties of novel materials. Before joining WPI, Raisa was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. She earned her Ph.D. ... View Profile
Qi Wen

Qi Wen

Associate Professor
Physics
Office: Gateway Park 3006
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x6057
Professor Wen is an experimental biophysicist who is interested in applying physical methods to understand biological phenomena. By measuring the mechanical properties of living cells and the mechanical interaction between cells and ECM, he aims to understand how cells convert external mechanical signals to internal biochemical signals that govern cellular function, including cell morphology, migration, and differentiation. His research will help to design novel materials for wound healing, tissue engineering, and tumor treatment. ... View Profile
Kun-Ta Wu

Kun-Ta Wu

Assistant Professor
Physics
Office: OH 213A
Phone: +1 (508) 8316057
Kun-Ta Wu is an assistant professor of physics. Before joining WPI, he was a physics lecturer at Brandeis University, where he had previously been a postdoctoral associate. In his research, he investigates interactions among miscellaneous DNA and proteins. He uses proteins such as molecular motors to generate dynamics, as well as DNA to create specific, thermal-reversible interactions. With DNA and proteins, his goal is to advance our understanding of self-organization of active matter as well as to create new bio-inspired materials. He earned a PhD in physics at New York University. View Profile
Seyed Zekavat

Seyed A. Zekavat

Professor
Physics
Office: Olin Hall 130
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5391
Seyed A. (Reza) Zekavat received his PhD from Colorado State University in 2002. He is the Author of the textbook "Electrical Engineering: Concepts and Applications" published by Pearson, and the editor of the book “Handbook of Position Location: Theory, Practice and Advances,” published by Wiley/IEEE. He holds a patent on an active Wireless Remote Positioning System. ... View Profile
Alex Zozulya

Alex A. Zozulya

Professor
Physics
Office: Olin Hall 213B
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5254

Collaborative Faculty

Cosme Furlong-Vazquez

Cosme Furlong-Vazquez

Professor
Mechanical & Materials Engineering
Office: Higgins Labs
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5126
Yuxiang Liu

Yuxiang Liu

Associate Professor
Mechanical & Materials Engineering
Office: Rm 4912, Gateway II (50 Prescott St)
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x4829
The overarching theme of my research is light-matter interactions and their applications in microscale and nanoscale. Particularly, my research interests include optical trapping, optofluidics, nanophotonics, cavity optomechanics, and fiber optic sensing systems, with an emphasis on optical actuation, damping, and sensing of mechanics in micro-/nano-scale structures and biological specimens. The potential applications of my research include on-chip disease diagnosis, in vivo disease treatments, motion detection in consumer electronics, health monitoring, and biomechanics. ... View Profile

Staff

L Dana

L Dana

Lab/Research II-Engineering
Physics
Dana manages the introductory teaching laboratories for the physics department. Previously she worked in the Helena Foundation Teaching Lab at MIT, otherwise known as Junior Lab. Before that she worked in several engineering and physical oceanography labs at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Woods Hole, MA. ... View Profile

Carol Ann Gregoire

Administrative Assistant V
Physics
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5313
Doug Leonardi alt
Doug Leonardi

Doug Leonardi

Operations Manager-Technical Paraprofessional
Physics
Payton Wilkins

Payton L. Wilkins

Administrative Assistant VI
Mechanical & Materials Engineering
Office: Higgins Labs 130
Phone: +1 (508) 8315000 x5236

Affiliate Professors

First Name Last Name Title Email
Gene Cardarelli Affiliate Assistant Professor - Medical Physics

Gene.Cardarelli@hhchealth.org
David DeSantis Affiliate Assistant Professor - Medical Physics

DeSantisDave@yahoo.com
Georgi Georgiev Affiliate Associate Professor

ggeorgiev@wpi.edu
Marco Kaltofen Associate Research Engineer - NSE kaltofen@wpi.edu
Andrew Karellas Affiliate Professor - Medical Physics

Andrew.Karellas@umassmed.edu
Don-Soo Kim Affiliate Assistant Professor - Medical Physics don-soo.kim@childrens.harvard.edu
Mi-Ae Park Affiliate Assistant Professor - Medical Physics

miae@bwh.harvard.edu

Professor Emeriti

First Name Last Name Title Email Phone Extension Office Location
Harold W. Hilsinger Professor Emeritus hwh 6057 Olin Hall 213A
Michael W. Klein Professor Emeritus mwklein 6057 Olin Hall 213A
George Phillies Professor Emeritus phillies 6057 Olin Hall 213A
Adriaan Walther Professor Emeritus awalther 6057 Olin Hall 213A
Jerald A. Weiss Professor Emeritus   6057 Olin Hall 213A
John F. Wild Professor Emeritus   6057 Olin Hall 213A