Peter Sheldon

Peter Sheldon is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Physics & Engineering, the Chair of the Department, 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 in the field of ultrafast laser spectroscopy, and more recently focuses on inertial navigation and science education research.

Dr. Sheldon’s passion is bringing science to the public. He currently holds 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. The two additional grant projects related to these initiatives are to create a community for physics teachers and students in the Central VA area, and to create and distribute a curriculum guide for the Science Festival. 

Dr. Sheldon is the past Chief Reader of the 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.