Letter from the Outgoing Editor

When I became editor of the Journal for Undergraduate Reports in Physics in 2018, I inherited a publication with a clear purpose: to give undergraduate researchers a venue worthy of their work. Nine years and 97 published articles later, I am stepping down as editor of what is now the Journal for Undergraduate Research in Physics& Astronomy, and I am leaving with no reservations about the health of this journal or the future of undergraduate research in our field.

The most visible change during this period came in June 2023, when the SPS and Sigma Pi Sigma Executive Committee voted unanimously to expand the journal’s scope to include astronomy, formalizing something the submission record was already showing us. Scan the past three volumes and you will find studies of fast radio bursts and brown dwarf variability, machine-learning approaches to galaxy merger classification, exoplanet detection through Kepler data, and coronal mass ejection analysis. Astronomy belongs here, and its presence will only grow.

The breadth of work across all nine volumes has been genuinely remarkable. Three papers capture the range well: “Analyzing Kepler Data Through Machine Learning: A Study of Neural Networks for Exoplanet Detection” (2026) bridges computational methods and observational astronomy; “Analysis of Mechanical Analog for Understanding ACL Injuries” (2025) shows how physics illuminates everyday biomechanics; and “The Rotation Curve of the Milky Way Galaxy as Evidence for Dark Matter” (2022) takes on one of the field’s most compelling open questions. What connects these papers is not subject matter but standard—original research, conducted with a faculty mentor, communicated with the rigor the scientific community expects.

I have long believed that undergraduate research is among the most valuable educational experiences we offer. A student who has worked through an original problem, encountered difficulties along the way, revised their methods, and written up their findings for peer review has learned something no course can fully teach. They have practiced science rather than studied it. These experiences strengthen graduate and professional school applications, build genuine confidence, and develop the computational, theoretical, and experimental fluency that careers in physics and astronomy demand.

The students who published in JURP and JURPA went on to doctoral programs, professional schools, and careers built on the habits of mind that research instills. That trajectory is not coincidental. Research experience changes what students believe they are capable of, and publishing raises the ceiling further. Watching that happen, repeatedly, over nine years has been the most satisfying part of this role. I want to close with acknowledgments that are long overdue. Kendra Redmond, managing editor of the SPS Observer and Radiations, provided tireless editing of JURPA manuscripts, making us all look better than we perhaps deserved. None of this would have happened without Brad Conrad, former director of SPS and Sigma Pi Sigma, who took me up on the idea of resurrecting JURP in 2018 and secured its articles for publication with the American Institute of Physics. My thanks go as well to the faculty mentors who made each project possible and to the reviewers who gave careful attention to student work.

In a pleasing bookend, the incoming editor, Brittney Hauke, published an article in the first issue of JURP that I helped edit. I am grateful she is taking the reins, and I leave knowing JURPA is in good hands.

Meet the New Editor
Brittney Hauke is a longtime SPS member and volunteer. She is an alum of the Coe College SPS chapter and has served on the Physics and Astronomy Planning Committee since 2016. As journals managing editor for the American Ceramic Society and a former student researcher who published in JURPA, Hauke comes to this position with highly relevant experience. She holds BAs in physics and art and an MS and PhD in materials science and engineering.