Physics
Delve into the theoretical and practical aspects of physics — a field fundamental to the science, engineering and technology industries.
Benefit from innovative teaching methods with an emphasis on active classroom experiences. Learn in cutting-edge environments, guided by the best ideas from leading physics education researchers.
Enjoy a learn-by-doing approach that begins with a first-year introductory class taught without formal lectures and continues in upper-division courses where students work on sophisticated, open-ended projects.
Work in teams to make a wide range of computer-aided measurements to study physics principles and collect and analyze real data (the way a professional scientist would) to discover how physics works in the real world.
Work with a diverse group of peers: 30 percent of our physics students are women and 30 percent are from Hawai'i.
Next Steps
Headlines
Pacific University cosmologist and assistant physics professor Todd Duncan was awarded $8,000 by the Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium to develop a model that illustrates the optimal orbital pattern for a spacecraft working above the lunar surface.
Pacific students have a new place to make their ideas take shape — the Boxer Makerspace. It’s an inviting new area on the second floor of the Tim & Cathy Tran Library where students can use 3D printers, a laser engraver, a vacuum formbox and other tools to create prototypes of their own design.
Andrewa Noble was mathematics pioneer, attending Pacific in the 1920s and earning a PhD in mathematics in 1936. She was a a professor and chair of the Pacific University Math Department before her retirement in 1965. She was also chair of the chemistry, physics and math section of the Northwest Scientific Association.