From the 2025 Physics Alumni Newsletter
Significant Changes Over the Past Year
The Physics Department was ranked first in the Southeast for physics degree value for middle-income students in the most recent College Factual ranking, and tenth in the nation in that category.
Academic Coordinator Carrie Munson left in July 2025 to return to K–12 teaching in Greensboro. In August, the department welcomed Sydney Chandler, a Winston-Salem native and recent Appalachian State University graduate in communication and digital marketing, as its new Academic Coordinator.
New Faculty 2025–2026
Alejandro Cardenas-Avendano
Alejandro Cardenas-Avendano studies the fundamental properties of gravity through gravitational and electromagnetic signals from compact objects such as black holes and neutron stars. Combining numerical simulation, theoretical modeling, and data analysis, his group studies phenomena ranging from gravitational-wave signatures to black-hole photon rings.
Caitlin Witt
Caitlin Witt’s research spans observational and computational astrophysics. She studies supermassive black-hole binaries using multimessenger astrophysics, combining electromagnetic and gravitational-wave data. Her collaborators use pulsars, time-domain optical surveys, and supercomputers to build a more complete picture of the aftermath of galaxy mergers.
Emilie Huffman
Emilie Huffman’s group simulates systems of many strongly interacting particles that can only be understood non-perturbatively. These systems are relevant to quantum materials, particle field theories, and nuclear theories. Her group studies them using quantum Monte Carlo methods on classical hardware as well as recently developed quantum hardware platforms.