PIPELINE Network Institutions

The following six institutions are part of The PIPELINE Network three-year project.


University of Colorado Denver

Project PI: Randall Tagg

CU Denver is a public, graduate serving research university. CU Denver physics is a Bachelors only program.

Key PIPELINE Projects:

  • A two-semester applied physics lab for physics majors at the introductory level, showing how physics is incorporated into the design and construction of technical devices and scientific instrumentation. This will be organized as a series of technical competencies useful in research and industry internships.
  • One or more upper division cross-listed graduate and undergraduate courses providing a higher level of engagement with technical competencies, connection of these competencies to professional practice, and development of individual projects in technical innovation.
  • A multi-campus student organization PSI* – Physics Student Innovators (*and Alumni) – to promote physics student innovation, connect with regional industry, mentor students at all levels (including K12) in development of technical competencies, and facilitate learning about best practices in business for those students who want to embark on real ventures.

Gray Arrow Applied Physics and Engineering Technical Competencies
Gray Arrow Physics Student Innovators (*and Alumni)


The George Washington University

Project PI: William Briscoe

The George Washington University is a private, graduate serving research university.

Key PIPELINE Projects:

  • An intermediate laboratory course wherein students work on technical projects, which will tie into a captone course focusing on communication. Students will pitch their own projects in a final public presentation attended by faculty, students, and industry representatives.
  • A new capstone course consisting of weekly session geared towards teaching written and verbal communication skills, with an emphasis on accessibility of writing to an educated lay person with or without a STEM background. Emphasis is on bridging relationships with entrepreneurial activities of alumni or members of the board of trustees of the university.


Loyola University Maryland

Project PI: Bahram Roughani
Project Co-PIs: Randall Jones

Loyola University Maryland (LUM) is private, Liberal Arts and urban university in Baltimore. LUM physics is a Bachelors only program.   

Key PIPELINE Projects:

  • Developing a new elective course focusing on technical innovation and entrepreneurship with an emphasis on physics based technology startups and key items related to tech ventures. Students will participate in semester long group projects with a faculty and/or industrial mentor.
  • Incorporate existing technical entrepreneur case studies into standard physics courses by developing the relevant physics models for technical solutions that have created products to address a particular social need (e.g., Kickstart water irrigations systems).


Rochester Institute of Technology

Project PI: Linda Barton
Project Co-PIs: Michael Kotlarchyk, Anne Leak, Benjamin Zwickl

The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private, graduate serving institution with a strong emphasis on STEM fields, experiential learning, and career education. RIT physics is a Bachelors only program with approximately 160 majors, that graduates 15-25 students per year.

Key PIPELINE Projects:

  • Co-ops
  • Physics Entrepreneurship Tracks
  • Speaker series
  • Career preparation workshops
  • Education research across PIPELINE sites using interviews and shared survey instruments to explore 1) faculty and student values of entrepreneurship, innovation, and industrial careers within physics, 2) what aspects of these students take part in and why, 3) influences on students’ interest and intended persistence in their major, and 4) supports and barriers toward implementing departmental change.


College of William and Mary

Project PI: Wouter Deconinck
Project Co-PIs: Graham Henshaw, Rosa Lukaszew

The College of William and Mary (W&M) is a public liberal arts university with graduate programs in select disciplines, such as physics and applied science. W&M graduates approximately 35 majors and 15 graduate students each year.

Key PIPELINE Projects:

  • A curricular track in physics entrepreneurship and innovation, in a collaboration between the physics and applied science departments and the business school.
  • Entrepreneurial activities between the Small Hall Makerspace (housed in the physics department) and the Entrepreneurship Center of the business school.
  • A collection of capstone/senior courses on “ideation and entrepreneurship” in the STEM majors to complement traditional senior research projects.


Wright State University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Project PIs: Jason A. Deibel (WSU) and Douglas T. Petkie (WPI)

Wright State University (WSU) is a public research university located in Dayton, Ohio serving both undergraduate and graduate students. WSU Physics hosts BA, BS, and MS programs and supports multiple Interdisciplinary PhD programs.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) is a private research university located in Worcester, Massachusetts. WPI offers more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, engineering, technology, business, the social sciences and the humanities and arts.

Key PIPELINE Projects:

  • The Wright State PDT members will modify an existing set of highly successful First Year Seminar (FYS) Course sequence targeting incoming (first year and transfer) physics students to include more of an entrepreneurial emphasis.
  • The existing course activities will be expanded to engage students with professionals with physics degrees working outside of the academic and national lab sectors.
  • Python-based modeling problems will be explicitly drawn from industry and government research organizations and assigned to student teams.