Building a laser lab and exploring the unanswered questions of the cosmos are among the plans of the two newest members of Hillsdale’s physics department. 

Assistant Professors of Physics Nathan Michael Herring and Michael Tripepi ’17 were hired this summer following Professor of Physics Ken Hayes’ retirement after 32 years in the department. 

Tripepi first came to Hillsdale as a high school student attending the college’s one-week summer science camps. Tripepi stayed on campus three summers in a row, taking classes in math, biology, and chemistry.

“I started going to those and just really fell in love with the campus and the types of students that are drawn to Hillsdale,” Tripepi said. “It was really those summer science camps that got me into Hillsdale. Otherwise, I really wouldn’t have considered it.”

Tripepi majored in physics and mathematics at Hillsdale. He then attended the Ohio State University and received a doctorate in physics. Tripepi said he was planning to go into research and industry, but his love for teaching and the liberal arts eventually brought him back to Hillsdale.

“I realized that I really enjoyed mentoring the younger graduate students and helping them in the lab,” Tripepi said. “So, I thought, ‘why don’t I try going into teaching?’”

Tripepi started working as a teacher’s aide at Ohio State and then applied to an opening at the Hillsdale physics department.

“I thought ‘well, let’s give it a shot, why not?’” Tripepi said. “And after one thing and then another, here I am.”

Herring attended Central College, a small liberal arts college in rural Iowa, where he double-majored in physics and philosophy. He received his doctorate in physics at University of Pittsburgh in 2020. Herring said he originally planned to double major in music and physics, but ended up double-majoring in physics and philosophy, with a music minor.

“I thought physics and philosophy complemented each other so well,” Herring said. “Because philosophy is ultimately about the pursuit of truth, and physics is looking at a particular kind of truth, like ‘How does the physical world work?’ ‘What are the basic principles by which it operates?’ So the philosophy training allows one to then step back and try to put that into a larger context.”

Associate Professor of Physics Timothy Dolch said the two new hires specialize in different areas.

“Together they cover physics broadly,” Dolch said. “Dr. Tripepi from the experimental side of things, and Dr. Herring from the theoretical side.”

While much of the department specializes in the experimental side of physics, Herring said he brings a particular specialization in particle physics and cosmology. He will be offering a course next semester on cosmology, which studies the origins and evolution of the universe. The course will be open to students of any major with no pre-requisite courses.

“We’re going to talk about the open questions,” Herring said. “We’re going to talk about the evidence for the Big Bang theory. What are the assumptions of the theory? What are some places where we don’t know what’s going on? These are open questions that could be solved.”

On the experimental side, Tripepi said he plans to build a laser lab that will allow students to etch materials for various purposes.

“The purpose of the lab will be to offer students the opportunity to work with lasers in a variety of applications, from materials damage and generating different frequencies of light to possibly spectroscopic techniques on chemical and biological samples,” Tripepi said.

In returning to his alma mater, Tripepi will be working with one of his former instructors – Dolch. Not only was Tripepi in several of Dolch’s classes while a student at Hillsdale, but he was among the students who interviewed Dolch when Dolch was being considered for a faculty position.

“When we hire new faculty, we always make students an integral part of that process,” Dolch said. “Dr. Tripepi was already a physics major when I interviewed here at Hillsdale, so strangely, he interviewed me seven years before I interviewed him.”

Tripepi said he’s excited to come back to old friendships he formed with professors who are now colleagues.

“Apotheosis,” Tripepi said, describing the new position. “Like being raised up with the gods.”