Rate My Professor Seth Hopper

Seth Hopper, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Physics, Engineering, and Astronomy at Earlham College in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, where he joined the faculty in 2017. An alumnus of the institution, he graduated in 2004 with a B.A., double majoring in physics and computer science. Hopper earned his Ph.D. in 2011 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with his dissertation research centered on black holes. After completing his doctorate, he held postdoctoral research fellowships in Germany, Ireland, and Portugal, advancing his work in numerical relativity.

Hopper's research forms part of the international collaboration to detect gravitational waves, employing numerical simulations to model the gravitational radiation emitted by black hole systems. This work integrates physics, mathematics, and computer science, and involves partnerships with scientists around the world. His selected publications encompass: “Unbound motion on a Schwarzschild background: Practical approaches to frequency domain computations” (Physical Review D, 97, 064007, 2018); “Echoes of ECOs: gravitational-wave signatures of exotic compact objects and of quantum corrections at the horizon scale” (Physical Review D, 94, 084031, 2016, with Vitor Cardoso, Caio F. B. Macedo, Carlos Palenzuela, and Paolo Pani); “Analytic self-force calculations in the post-Newtonian regime: eccentric orbits on a Schwarzschild background” (Physical Review D, 93, 044010, 2016, with Chris Kavanagh and Adrian Ottewill); “Strong-Field Scattering of Two Black Holes: Numerics Versus Analytics” (Physical Review D, 89, 081503, 2014, with Thibault Damour, Federico Guercilena, Ian Hinder, Alessandro Nagar, and Luciano Rezzolla); and “Gravitational perturbations and metric reconstruction: Method of extended homogeneous solutions applied to eccentric orbits on a Schwarzschild black hole” (Physical Review D, 82, 084010, 2010, with Charles Evans). In 2024, he was awarded the PALNI Open Educator Award for adopting open educational resources, including OpenStax Astronomy, to alleviate financial burdens on students. Hopper serves as liaison for the 3+2 Pre-Professional Program in Engineering, sits on the Curricular Policy Committee, and organizes public events such as solar eclipse viewing sessions with telescopes.