Alumni & Giving
Our alumni discover exoplanets, build Intel’s chips, lead university departments and care for patients. Stay connected – and help the next generation of physicists find their path.
Why Your Support Matters
When a professor has a profound impact on a student’s career, that student becomes a lifelong friend of the department – and many of our alumni give back to help the department grow. Tuition scholarships help students from low-income families finish their degrees with less debt. Travel scholarships send students to scientific conferences, where they learn about cutting-edge research and build the networks that open doors to careers. And book and equipment scholarships put laptops and learning materials in students’ hands. Every gift directly supports a student’s path from curiosity to discovery.
Ways to Give
Physics Department Gift Fund — supports the department’s students and programs, including the scholarships described above.
Physics Dept. Scholarship Fund — supports scholarships for physics and astronomy students.
How to give online
- Click Give Now.
- Choose one-time, monthly or yearly.
- Under Departments, select Physics.
- Choose the Physics Department Gift Fund or the Physics Dept. Scholarship Fund and complete your gift.
Where Physics Alumni Lead
- Blakesley Burkhart (BS Physics & BS Mathematics 2008; PhD Wisconsin–Madison) – Associate Professor, Rutgers University; 2019 Annie Jump Cannon Award (American Astronomical Society), 2022 Maria Goeppert Mayer Award (American Physical Society), Packard Fellow and Sloan Fellow
- Karen Collins (MS, PhD) – Astronomer, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
- Katie Davis (BS; PhD Purdue) – Tenured Associate Professor, Emory University
- Ryan Sanders (BS; PhD UCLA) – Faculty, University of Kentucky
- Paul Tandy (BS, MS, PhD) – Science and Technology Manager, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, U.S. Department of Defense
- Jeffrey Hay (BS, MS, PhD) – Entrepreneur and CEO, RDI Technologies
- Elijah Jensen (MS, PhD) – Assistant Professor of Space Systems Engineering, Morehead State University
- George Anderson (MS, PhD) and Manthila Rajapakse (PhD) – Process Engineers, Intel
- Paul Davis (BS, MS, MD) – Primary Care Physician, Norton Healthcare
- Jeremy Huber (BS, MS; PhD UofL/UK) – Physics Department Chair, Cincinnati State
- Lori Porter (BS) – Graduate student, Columbia University
Stay Connected
Follow the department on Facebook and Instagram, and join us each fall for the Bullitt Public Lecture in Astronomy and throughout the year for the department colloquium series.
Our Alumni
2023
- Alharbi, Safia Abdullah R - PhD in Physics "First-Principles Study of Two-Dimensional Polar Heterostructures"
- Milinda Bhratha, Kalutara Koralalage - PhD in Physics "Super-Sulfur Cathodes for Quasi-Solid-State Lithium-Sulfur Batteries"
- Camella-Rosa Nasr - PhD in Physics "Mach and Froude Numbers on Mars"
- Kazi J. Tasnim - PhD in Physics "Ab initio Study Of The Aspects Of AsxP1−x Alloys And SiC/GeC Bilayer Heterostructure"
- Dinushika Vithanage - PhD in Physics "Intercalation and High-Pressure Investigations of Black Arsenic Phosphorus: Unraveling Material Transformations"
2023
- Saif Almutairi - MS in Physics
- Fatimah Abdulrahman M Alqarni - MS in Physics
- Stanford Broadwater - MS in Physics
- Kyle Cook - MS in Physics
- Ali Al Radhwan - MS in Physics
- Zane Ronau - MS in Physics
- Hansaka Weerahennedig - MS in Physics
2023
- Thomas Hulse - BS in Physics
- Ian Kostyo - BS in Physics
- Lori Porter - BS in Physics
Upcoming Events in Physics and Astronomy
Physics and Astronomy Departmental Colloquium (Prof. Alakabha Datta)
From Quantum Particles to Career Success
Ready to turn your passion for problem-solving and analytical thinking into professional impact? Explore Physics and Astronomy at the University of Louisville — where undergraduate research, NASA-funded faculty projects, and rigorous scientific training launch careers in research, engineering, data science, medicine, and beyond.