|
Dear members of the Villanova Physics Family,
I always enjoy talking to our senior Physics majors this time of year, as they are full of excitement about their next adventures but are also quite reflective of their Villanova journey, as they transition from being our students to our colleagues. It was a cold, snowy winter here on campus, but the warmer weather brings with it new beginnings that seem to parallel this process.
The biggest piece of news to share with you all this spring is the retirement of four of our long-time faculty, whom many of you have known over the years: including Mike Hones, PhD, Phil Maurone, PhD; Farid Zamani, PhD; and Joe Schick, PhD. While it is bittersweet to wish them well as they start the next phase of their lives, such an occasion is an opportunity to celebrate their careers and this community that they have helped to shape over the past few decades.
In this spirit, I invite you to campus on Monday, May 4, 2026, to honor our new retirees, to share stories and memories, and to perhaps reconnect with colleagues and friends. I hope to see as many of you there as possible.
Best Wishes,
David Chuss, PhD, ’95 CLAS
Chair, Physics Department
| |
|
Retirement Party
Date: Monday, May 4, 2026
Time: 3-6 p.m.
Location: President’s Lounge, Connelly Center, 800 E. Lancaster Ave., Villanova, PA 19085
Please join us as we commemorate the retirements of Mike Hones, PhD, Phil Maurone, PhD, Joe Schick, PhD, and Farid Zamani, PhD, and celebrate the lasting impact they have had on the Villanova Physics community. The gathering will also be an opportunity for faculty, students and alumni to reconnect and share stories. All are welcome! Please email physics@villanova.edu to register.
| | | | Artur Solodovnyk, PhD, is an applied physicist with expertise in semiconductor materials characterization, defect metrology and magnetic resonance spectroscopy. He obtained his PhD in Advanced Nanotechnologies and Microtechnologies from the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC) at Brno University of Technology in the Czech Republic. Prior to joining Villanova University, he held a postdoctoral appointment at Penn State University, where he conducted research on the characterization of emerging high-power and high-frequency electronics devices. In his personal time, Dr. Solodovnyk enjoys traveling and cooking. | | | Faculty and Research Highlights | | | | |
Joey Neilsen, PhD
A global team of researchers using the new X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) telescope discovered something unexpected while observing a well-studied neutron star system called GX13+1. Associate Professor of Physics Joey Neilsen, PhD, played a prominent role as a co-investigator and one of the corresponding authors of the project. The study was one of the first from XRISM looking at wind from an X-ray binary system and its results were published in Nature—the world's leading multidisciplinary science journal—in September 2025.
| | | | | |
Becka Phillipson, PhD
Every night for the next decade, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile will capture hundreds of images of the Southern Hemisphere sky, creating a high definition time-lapse movie of our changing universe. To help make sense of this extraordinary stream of data, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Assistant Professor of Physics Becka Phillipson, PhD, a $289,158 Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Faculty Catalyst Award for the project, “Preparing for Early Science with Rubin Observatory: Intrinsic Variability of Accreting Compact Objects.” Dr. Phillipson will use simulated LSST data and archival observations from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite to generate synthetic light curves of active galactic nuclei and X-ray binaries. She will then be able to develop a classifier for the light curves in preparation for the abundance of data from the Rubin Observatory.
| | | APS MidAtlantic Section Meeting | | In November 2025, the American Physical Society (APS) Mid-Atlantic Section held their meeting at Penn State Harrisburg. The Mid-Atlantic Section is a unit of the APS and serves members in the District of Columbia, Delaware and Maryland. The meeting includes plenary and parallel sessions covering a broad range of current topics in physics research, a student poster session and a graduate program fair. Two Villanova Physics majors, Taylor Dillon ’26 CLAS and Justin Williams ’27 CLAS, accompanied by Jeremy Carlo, PhD, presented posters of their summer research. Taylor’s research was "Further Investigations of Crystal Structure in Nb- and Mo-based Double Perovskites," and Justin’s project was "The Effects of Diet on Near-Infrared Autofluorescence in Preclinical Imaging." | | Career Management Services |
The Villanova University Alumni Association and the Villanova University Career Center have partnered to offer sophisticated, flexible career management for alumni of all ages and at all stages of their careers.
Services and resources include support for resume writing and interviewing, job opportunities targeted to alumni, individual career coaching, virtual events on a variety of topics, cohort-based programs, and our Villanova-exclusive social and professional network.
| We Want to Hear From You! | | |
Alumni News
Alumni of the Physics Department are encouraged to share their news and accomplishments for inclusion in a future edition of the newsletter.
| |  | |
Mentor Memory
We invite you to submit a memory or note of gratitude about a faculty member who had an influence on your life.
| | |
Make an Impact
Please consider supporting the Physics Department by donating to our gift fund, or to a specific area of your choice. Gifts may be used toward new state-of-the-art equipment, supplies for student research, as well as improving labs, classrooms and community spaces.
| Thank you so much for your support! | | | | |
STAY CONNECTED
Villanova University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
| | | | |
