Peter Sheldon

Peter Sheldon is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Physics & Engineering, the Chair of the Physics & Engineering Department, and the Director of the SUPER Program at Randolph College. He has a PhD and an MS in Physics from the University of Massachusetts, and has a BA in Physics and a BA in Mathematics from Amherst College. Dr. Sheldon has received nearly $5M in grants for research and programming, currently holding a $1M S-STEM grant from the National Science Foundation to run the SUPER program (Step Up to Physics and Engineering at Randolph) which prepares Randolph College students to be the nation's future scientists. His research net includes a number of fields: he is by education a low temperature physicist, but has worked in the field of ultrafast laser spectroscopy, and more recently focuses on inertial navigation (the physics of rollercoasters) and science education research. He has more than thirty publications spanning across these fields.

Dr. Sheldon’s passion is bringing science to the public. He has recently held grants from the American Institute for Physics, the Virginia Foundation of Independent Colleges, and the Greater Lynchburg Community Foundation for two major outreach projects. He directs and works with the College’s Society of Physics Students to run the Randolph College Science Festival and the College's Science Saturdays Program for high school students.

Dr. Sheldon is the past Chief Reader of the Advanced Placement (AP) Physics exam, and is also a board member for the United States Young Physicists Tournaments, Vector Space (Lynchburg’s Makerspace), and the Lynchburg Region’s Technology Council.