The Department of Physics at Hampton University was ranked as the best physics program in the United States in 2015 across all physics departments offered by the 34 Historically Black Colleges.
Hampton Physics was listed as having an excellent physics program evaluated with five stars for curriculum and five stars for teaching.
President Barack Obama hosted a legendary meeting in the White House China Room and celebrated an esteemed Hampton University professor, Dr. Paul Gueye, for his prolific contributions to diversifying the field of physics. Dr. Gueye, Assistant Professor of Physics in the HU School of Science, and President of the National Society of Black Physicists, traveled to Washington D.C. to attend the second White House Astronomy Night held on Oct. 19, 2015.
The HU Physics Department offers BS, MS and PhD degrees. Its faculty and students are conducting The Physics Department offers world-class research in the areas of nuclear physics, optical and material sciences, and medical physics. The HU physics faculty are playing critical roles in major national and international medical and research facilities such as the Hampton University Proton Therapy Institute, NASA, Jefferson Lab, The National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory/Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, The National Radio Astronomy Observatory, The Japan Research Center (JPARC) and various other facilities from the Department of Energy and Department of Defense. Since 2012, accelerator physics and astronomy have become two additional research areas. Over the past five years, the Department has been successful in securing around $2.5M of grant funding annually on average.
In partnership with the Department of Energy and Jefferson Lab, the Physics Department organizes annually the internationally renowned “Hampton University Graduate Summer program”, also known as HUGS.
Hampton University Graduate Summer
For more than 30 years, HUGS has been training the next generation of the nuclear workforce. It has been recognized by Secretary of Energy Moniz during his January 2014 visit of Hampton University, and has been featured in the 2015 Long Range Plan for Nuclear Science as a prime example of the novel approaches in graduate and postdoctoral education needed to meet the 21st century challenges.
