Announcing Dean of Wyant College of Optical Sciences

Dear colleagues,

I am pleased to announce that Dr. Brian P. Anderson has been appointed dean of the Wyant College of Optical Sciences, effective Jan. 5, 2026.

Dr. Anderson has served as interim dean since July 1, 2025, providing steady and effective leadership during a period of transition. A member of the optical sciences faculty since 2001, he has been deeply engaged in graduate teaching and research throughout his career. Since 2019, he has served as associate dean for Graduate Academic Affairs, where he led significant growth and development of the college’s graduate programs and guided, advised and mentored hundreds of master’s and doctoral students.

Dr. Anderson’s research centers on the physics of Bose-Einstein condensates, the coldest substances in the known universe, which can only be created and studied in state-of-the-art optics laboratories. For more than 25 years, his internationally recognized experimental and theoretical work has explored how these systems behave as both fluids and quantum-mechanical entities at extremely low temperatures.

His widely cited research has appeared in leading journals, including "Science," "Nature" and "Physical Review Letters," and has been supported by multiple government grants. His work has contributed important insights into complex physical phenomena such as superfluidity and turbulence. As an educator, Dr. Anderson has taught graduate-level quantum mechanics for more than two decades and is the author of "Field Guide to Quantum Mechanics."

I would like to thank Dean Iman Hakim for chairing the search committee, as well as the students, faculty, staff and community members who served on the committee, for their thoughtful and diligent work throughout this important process.

Dr. Anderson is deeply committed to advancing the mission of the Wyant College of Optical Sciences by educating students with practical and highly competitive technical skills, maintaining academic excellence and supporting cutting-edge optics research.

I look forward to continuing to work closely with Dr. Anderson in his new role as dean as we further strengthen the academic and research reputation of the Wyant College of Optical Sciences.

Sincerely,

Patricia A. Prelock
Provost and Chief Academic Officer

This email was sent to sent to all students, faculty, staff, and DCCs in the Wyant College of Optical Sciences; senior leadership; and deans.