Students at the Center: Physics Faculty Wins Elite KITP Fellowship to Build Global Research Bridges for Students

Peter Morse, Ph.D., assistant professor of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences

Peter Morse, Ph.D., assistant professor of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences, was recently awarded a fellowship from the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics
(KITP) at the University of California, Santa Barbara.   

For Morse, this honor is also a way to carry forward the support he has received at
Seton Hall and turn it into something meaningful — a desire grows naturally out of
the place that has become his academic home. “One of the things that made this possible
is the kind of institution Seton Hall is, and the kind of institution we are becoming,”
he said.

We’re a place that has always been deeply committed to teaching and to our students’
success, and over the last several years, we’ve also achieved a rapid expansion in
our research activities, watching those efforts translate into tangible results. That
combination is exactly what the KITP Scholar Program is looking for.

The KITP fellowship is designed specifically for faculty at primarily undergraduate
institutions: universities like Seton Hall that are building robust research cultures
while keeping students at the center. “The KITP program is meant to help faculty integrate
more fully into the broader research community,” he explained. “In some sense, it’s
designed to build bridges between outstanding institutions like Seton Hall and large
research centers around the world. And that’s very much in line with what we’ve been
doing here in the College of Arts and Sciences.”

Those bridges begin close to home. Morse is quick to trace the fellowship back to
the “richly nurtured soil,” as he puts it, that he has found in his college and department.
“For this fellowship, I had a lot of guidance from Jose Lopez, Ph.D., professor of Physics and director of the Office of Grants and Research Services, my faculty mentor, who helps me think through which grants and opportunities to
pursue,” he said. “He helped him refine the application and consider how it fits into
a longer‑term research strategy. And Mehmet Alper Sahiner, Ph.D., department chair and professor of Physics, gave me crucial advice on how to approach
the application.”

Jonathan Farina, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of English, has also been
a steadfast supporter of this effort, championing the broader vision for research,
student success and faculty development that this fellowship represents.

This institutional backing, Morse noted, is building the Physics program’s future
as much as his own career. “One of the things we’re always encouraged to emphasize
is collaboration, how to connect our students and our work with the wider world,”
Morse explained. “The college and department have been incredibly supportive of this,
and this fellowship is a tangible proof of how those connections are made real.”

That philosophy is already translating into opportunities for students. Building on
the momentum from Morse’s attendance at the APS (American Physical Society) Global
Summit last year, two Seton Hall undergraduates, Maxwell Flores and Collin Doyle,
are set to present at the 2026 APS Global Summit, with full support from the Physics
department for both their research and the outreach that leading up to it. “I would
like them to see these conferences not just as places to give a talk,” Morse said,
“but as networks that can open doors to graduate school, to jobs, to collaborations,
to fellowships and to all kinds of new possibilities.”

Returning to his KITP fellowship, Morse is clear about who he hopes will benefit first:
students. “The projects and collaborations I build at KITP don’t only stay there;
I bring them back and put students at the center. In best scenarios, I send my students
out to work with my collaborators at their home institutions,” he said. His first
presentation in Santa Barbara will highlight his undergraduate student Maxwell Flore’s
work on the jamming transition, part of an ongoing collaboration with researchers
at Duke University and Sapienza University of Rome. “So, this isn’t just speculative;
it’s a concrete example of how these networks can help a student’s project grow. And
I’m hopeful it will lead to new projects for other students as well.”

Morse has a clear vision for this growth, anchored by his collaboration with Francesco
Zamponi, Ph.D., a leading theoretical physicist at Sapienza University of Rome. Now,
they are expanding that partnership into a pipeline for student success. “We’re continuing
to build research projects that students can join,” Morse said, noting that he is
actively seeking funding to send Seton Hall students to Zamponi’s group in Europe.
“That’s the kind of pathway I’m trying to build.”

He also explains why the institute that awarded the fellowship is so significant.
KITP is widely regarded as one of the top two institutions in the world for theoretical
physics, distinguished by programs that gather leading scientists from across the
globe. “It’s also where long-horizon collaborations begin,” Morse said. “For a department
that prizes teaching and is accelerating its research like us, this fellowship turns
access into impact and helps our students see just how far their work can go.”

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