Sonoma State University

The B.S. in Physics Returns to Sonoma State University!

Sonoma State University is proud to re-launch its Bachelor of Science in Physics, featuring a redesigned, student-centered curriculum available beginning Fall 2026. The revised program offers a rigorous physics foundation, small class sizes, close faculty mentorship, and flexible pathways that support timely graduation. Please see our degree programs page for more information.

What Physicists Do - Archive

Date Speaker Speaker Affiliation Lecture Title
Dr. Rena Zieve University of California, Davis Vortices Large and Small: Studying Cyclones Through Superfluids
Dr. Daniel Palanker Stanford University Artificial Sight: An Optoelectronic Retinal Prosthesis
Dr. Hashem Akbari Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Cooling the Cities to Reduce Energy Use and Improve Urban Air Quality
Dr. Ramamoorthy Ramesh University of California at Berkeley Nano Y Mano: The Basics of Nanoscale Science
Dr. Chris McKay NASA Ames Research Center Titan Results From the Huygens Probe
Dr. Kurt Woschnagg University of California at Berkeley Extreme Neutrinos: Using a Cube of 50,000-Year-Old South Pole Ice to Peer Into Space
Dr. Katherine Rhode Wesleyan and Yale Universities Digging for the Fossils of Galaxy Formation
Dr. Lynn Cominsky Sonoma State University Catching Gamma Ray Bursts on the Fly
Dr. Laura Smoliar Lightwave Electronics New Developments in Fiber Lasers and Ultraviolet Lasers
Dr. Shirley Chiang University of California, Davis High Resolution Surface Microscopy of Chemical Reactions and Phase Transitions
Tom Ramos Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Physics and National Defense
Dr. Bruce Schumm University of California, Santa Cruz Deep Down Beauty: Particle Physics, Mathematics, and the World Around Us
Dr. Tilman Sauer Caltech Einstein and the Riddle of His Creativity
Dr. Natalie Roe Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory New Eyes on the Expanding Universe: The Snap Satellite
Dr. Keith Jackson Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Frontiers of Nanolithography: The Science of Making the Small Stuff
Dr. Stuart Parkin IBM Almaden Research Center the Spin on Electronics
Dr. Jeong Park Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Novel Friction Properties of Quasicrystals
Dr. Roger Blandford Stanford University Cosmic Tennis
Dr. Eric Becklin University of California, Los Angeles Sofia: Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
Dr. Gordon Spear Sonoma State University Robotic Telescopes at Sonoma State University