Physics Department

Damon T. Spayde, Ph.D.

Damon Spayde 2024-FINAL667x1000

Damon T. Spayde, Ph.D.

Julia Mobley Odyssey Professor of Physics

spayde@hendrix.edu Office: Charles D. Morgan Center - Acxiom Hall 105 Nuclear Physics Lab: Acxiom Hall 121 (501) 450-1251 (501) 450-3829

Dr. Dionne Jackson ’96 receives inaugural Women's Leadership Community Award

March 8 , 2026 – Hendrix College will honor alumna Dr. Dionne B. Jackson ’96 with the inaugural Hendrix Women’s Leadership Community Award during Hendrix Alumni Weekend April 17-19. Although Dr. Jackson will be unable to attend the event in person, the College will recognize ...

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Dr. Garbiñe Vidal-Torreira awarded ACS Mellon Academic Leadership Fellowship

The Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) named its second cohort of ACS Mellon Academic Leadership Fellows following a competitive selection process among its member institutions. Hendrix College is proud to announce that among the nine professors selected this year was Hendrix Associate Professor of Spanish Dr. Garbiñe ...

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Hendrix Names New Faculty Director for Women’s Leadership Community

Dr. Garbiñe Vidal-Torreira to lead professional networking community for women

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Hendrix College Department of Physics Granted Membership in APS-IDEA Network

Professional organization for physicists recognizes efforts for equity, diversity, inclusion

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Academic Background

  • B.A., Grinnell College, 1995
  • M.A., University of Maryland, 2000
  • Ph.D., University of Maryland, 2001

Courses Taught

  • PHYS 160 Astronomy

  • PHYS 235 Physics I (Workshop)

  • PHYS 245 Physics II (Workshop)

  • PHYS 340 Electronics

  • PHYS 450 Directed Research

  • PHYS 470 Thermal Physics

Office Hours

Biography

  • Damon Spayde grew up in rural small-town Missouri, graduated from Grinnell College in Iowa (a small liberal arts college similar to Hendrix), and earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Maryland, College Park.  In addition to teaching a variety of courses across the physics curriculum, Dr. Spayde actively involves undergraduates in research projects focusing on topics such as why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe.

Recent Publications

  • T. Allison, et al., "The Qweak Experimental Apparatus", Nuclear Instrumentation and Methods A 781, 105 (2015), dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2015.01.023 .
  • D. Androic, et al., "First Determination of the Weak Charge of the Proton", Physical Review Letters 111, 141803 (2013), dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.141803 .
  • D. Androic, et al., "Measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry in inclusive electroproduction of pi-minus near the delta resonance", Physical Review Letters 108, 122002 (2012), doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.122002 .
  • D. Androic, et al., "Transverse beam spin asymmetries at backward angles in elastic electron-proton and quasielastic electron-deuteron scattering", Physical Review Letters 107, 022501 (2011),  doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.022501 .
  • D. Androic, et al., "The G0 experiment:  Apparatus for parity-violating electron scattering measurements at forward and backward angles", Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors, and Associated Equipment 646, 59 (2011),  doi:10.1016/j.nima.2011.04.031 .
  • D. Androic, et al., "Strange quark contributions to parity-violating asymmetries in the backward angle G0 electron scattering experiment", Physical Review Letters 104, 012001 (2010), doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.012001 .

Research Interests

  • Dr. Spayde uses parity-violating electron scattering as a tool to test the Standard Model and to probe the strange quark structure of nucleons. The experiments in which he is involved are performed at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility ( www.jlab.org ). His work is supported by the National Science Foundation (Award No.  1068032 ).