Peter Sheldon

Peter Sheldon is the Chair of the Department of Physics & Engineering and the Director of the Center for Student Research 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 over $2.5M in grants for research and programming, currently holding a $1M S-STEM grant from the National Science Foundation to run a program 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 up the field of ultrafast laser spectroscopy, and more recently focuses on inertial navigation and science education research.

Dr. Sheldon started the Randolph College chapter of SPS and Sigma Pi Sigma in 1999, and has been the chapter advisor since. Since 2005, the Randolph College chapter has won the Outstanding Chapter award each year except for two. In 2018, the Randolph College chapter was recognized locally for two awards, winning the Hallowheels competition (a competition between area colleges to make a costume for a child in a wheelchair), and winning an award from the area Technology Council for Program of the Year. Dr. Sheldon’s passion is bringing science to the public. He directs and works with the College’s SPS 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 AP Physics exam, and is also board member for the United States Young Physicists Tournaments, Vector Space (Lynchburg’s Makerspace), and the Lynchburg Region’s Technology Council.