Reflections from the Outgoing Chair
Dear Physics faculty, students, alumni, benefactors, and friends,
After 18 years of leading and serving the Department of Physics, I have decided to step down from my role as chairperson at the beginning of the Fall 2025 semester. This moment offers me an opportunity to reflect on our shared accomplishments and the challenges that lie ahead.
First and foremost, I want to express my deepest gratitude to the previous generation of faculty, John Meriwether, John Matese, Dwynn Lafleur, and Dan Whitmire, whose support and mentorship were instrumental in shaping my professional and leadership journey. Their encouragement to apply for the chair position, and their patient and generous guidance in the years that followed, offered me a unique opportunity for professional growth. I hope this upcoming transition will likewise provide opportunities for our current and newly hired faculty to grow, lead, and advocate for the future of physics at UL Lafayette.
When early in my academic career I was selected as chairperson of our department, I made a conscientious decision to lead by example that resulted in maintaining a vigorous research program and a broad innovative teaching portfolio providing students with relevant education for diverse job opportunities and upward social mobility. Leading one of the departments in the college, which at that time did not have a PhD program and had limited research infrastructure, I recognized that my personal and our departmental research successes required building interdisciplinary teams which would cross departmental boundaries and would involve cross institutional and private industry partnerships. A landmark achievement for our department was the establishment of the Earth and Energy Sciences Ph.D. program in 2018, the first-ever Ph.D. offering in the history of the department. It is also the first interdisciplinary program in the college built together with Chemistry and Geosciences.
Despite two decades of significant state budget reductions, we have stayed true to our priorities and forward-looking departmental vision. By aligning our initiatives with the long-term strategic goals of the college, adapting to the evolving professional job market, maintaining active and relevant research agenda, we have advanced, grown, and strengthened both our teaching and research infrastructure. Today, the department enjoys a dynamic blend of early-career and senior faculty with research expertise unmatched by any other physics department in the state.
As we look ahead, the world around us is rapidly changing. As globalization of our economy grows, Artificial Intelligence enters our academic endeavors, climate change and anthropogenic stressors greatly impact our environments and affect communities, and the quest for domination of sustainable clean energy continues, our society is facing problems and seeking solutions that can no longer be addressed by individual researchers in the framework of traditional disciplines. Having earned my doctorate from the first cross-college interdisciplinary program at the University of New Orleans, I have long appreciated the transformative potential of convergence research and education. Future successful research and teaching paradigms in universities should be built on transdisciplinary framework, which will not only drive new discoveries but will also contribute to solving complex and urgent societal challenges on both regional and global scales. I am confident that our department is ready to embrace these approaches and rise to the challenges ahead.
I would like to thank all our benefactors and supporters who have been with us along the way. Your generosity has supported student scholarships, enhanced research infrastructure, enabled faculty and student travel, and met numerous urgent needs. We appreciate every one of you, our deepest thanks go to Reginald Bollich, Sammie and Shirley Cosper’s family, Paul Delaup, Grant Gibson, John Matese’s family, John Meriwether’s family, Edward Miller, Charles Parker, John and Jeanne Pere, Anthony Simon, and others who helped us tremendously along the way. Your belief in our mission and our values has made a lasting impact.
The department is ready for new energy, fresh ideas, and aspirational goals to reach. While challenges remain, I believe that as long as we continue prioritizing our students’ success and uphold the quality and integrity of our research and education regardless of external pressures, we will continue to thrive and make a difference. The next generation of scientists we prepare must be ready to navigate and succeed in a world transformed by artificial intelligence and shifting societal dynamics.
It has been an honor and a privilege to serve what I believe is the finest department and most inspiring professional family at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. I look forward to working alongside you as we pursue our shared mission in teaching, research, and service to society.
Sincerely,
Natalia Sidorovskaia