November 24, 2025
Dr. Tim Hamilton, Physics Professor and Planetarium Director at Shawnee State University, finds fulfillment in both teaching and research. He wants students to discover that same excitement by exploring science inside and outside the classroom.
“Get into research,” he said. “Many of the professors in the Natural Sciences supervise student projects.” He urges students of all majors to pursue research opportunities, noting their importance because of open-ended questions they raise.
“You can't cheat on an open research question by looking up the answer, because it's not yet known,” he said, adding that research pushes students to take a hands-on approach to science. Through this exploration, students can learn by doing, even in fields with high barriers to entry.
Faculty in Shawnee State’s Natural Sciences Department offer opportunities that can be valuable experiences, he said.
Hamilton doesn’t just encourage students to research — he does it himself. He is currently involved in multiple projects, including one focused on spotting rate Seyfert galaxies. The first step in studying these galaxies is capturing images. Hamilton said there are about 40,000 photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope to sort through, and he designed a program to help identify Seyfert galaxies.
Fortunately, Seyfert galaxies have a trademark appearance. “We can see it glow from clear across the universe, even though they are lower-powered than other objects,” he said.
Hamilton said that kind of discovery is what makes science so rewarding. Understanding where Seyfert galaxies are found helps scientists better grasp both the universe and the field of astrophysics and he wants all students at Shawnee to share in that sense of wonder.