Dr. Ivan Novikov is currently the newest assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and is also devoting his time to the Applied Physics Institute. He is a former Post-Doctoral Research Associate from Purdue University and received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from St. Petersburg State University located in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Dr. Novikov gained his inspiration to pursue the science of physics career from his father who is a practicing physicist in St. Petersburg, Russia. Dr. Novikov served as a WKU Research Associate from 2001 to 2002, in which he conducted neutron-based elemental analysis. He performed applied nuclear physics research at Purdue University for over 4 years and returns to WKU with greater experience and knowledge.

Dr. Ivan Novikov plans to join the group from the University of California, Santa Cruz and contribute work to a long-term project that is developing a new facility for high energy physics. This project is one of many for Dr. Novikov who also plans to engage WKU students in other projects studying medical nuclear physics and electronics development. Novikov’s passion remains in educating future physicists and engineers, while contributing to API projects that involve WKU physics students.

Dr. Novikov said, “I am looking forward to teaching and working with students while also helping them apply their classroom knowledge to future API projects.”

• Dr. Ivan Novikov.

For further information, contact Kelly Johnson at 270-781-3859 or Kelly.Johnson1@wku.edu.