On September 3, physics students and Department Chair Narendra Jaggi expressed their gratitude to physics alumni whose generosity has fueled the rapid growth of summer research by physics majors at Illinois Wesleyan University.
Special thanks went to Dr. Bill Murphy, Dr. Dana Deardorff, and Dr. Andy Nelson for their support and mentoring.
That growth was on full display in Summer 2025, when 22 returning physics majors held paid research internships.
The six students sponsored directly by the Physics Department as IWU Summer Research Scholars were Ben Heinz ‘27, Flora Zhou ‘26, Gianna Malabanan ‘27, Otis Buras ‘26, William Wisniewski ‘27 and Selina Dai ‘27.
Nate Nicolas ‘28 and Fabi Rangel ‘28 worked as IWU LSAMP Scholars, funded by a grant to Prof. Cozy of Biology and Prof. Jaggi of Physics and paid by UIUC.
Fourteen students, Angel Hearns ‘28, Ahnnika Hess ‘27, Chris Mueller ‘26, Dulcinea Cabreda ‘28, Eric Min Myat ‘26, Evan Kuroski ‘27, Giovanni Luparell ‘27, Jaclyn McMillan ‘28, Jacob Wissmiller ‘28, Kyle Correll ‘26, Laura Mahlum ‘26, Nathan Frank ‘27, Tiyala Holton ‘28 and Wanda Lindquist ‘26 held positions at national labs and organizations, including Argonne, CERL, Fermilab, Los Alamos and Northwestern University.
The department also celebrated national recognition: the American Physical Society named IWU Physics a 2023–2025 Department of Distinction and honored it with the Improving Undergraduate Physics Education Award.
The APS praised IWU as “a role model for other liberal arts colleges.” President Zenger presented the plaque to the faculty.
On Sunday, September 7, IWU Provost and Dean of the Faculty John Milles commended the students of the Physics Department for their work over the summer.
“The students here are amazing… Students from the Physics Department presented research that was baffling and interesting,” Miles said.
Join us in keeping up with the IWU Physics Department on their socials @iwuphysics.
