Faculty – Physics & Astronomy
Professor, Physics and Astronomy
Dr. Brothers chaired the Department of Physics & Astronomy from 1971 to 2015. He received his B.S. in physics from Northern Illinois University in 1962, and his Master’s degree in Physics (1965) and PhD in Physics and Higher Education (1968), both from Iowa State University. He served as Interim Dean of the College in 2000 and 2001, also as the Head of the Division of Heath, Science and Mathematics from 1994-2009, Dean of International Programs from 2002-4, Chair of the International Oversight Committee 2005-8. He continues to teach in the physics laboratories.
Associate Professor and Chair, Physics and Astronomy
Dr. Ryan Maderak is director of Benedictine College’s astronomy major. He earned a B.S. in Physics & Astronomy from Benedictine College in 2003, and went on to graduate study at Indiana University, where he earned an M.A. in Astronomy in 2006 and a Ph.D. in Astronomy in 2011. After spending an additional year at Indiana University as a postdoctoral research fellow, he spent three years as Assistant Professor of Physics & Mathematics at Mount Marty College (a Benedictine school in South Dakota), before returning to his alma mater in 2015. He has a strong interest and extensive experience in public education and outreach.
Associate Professor and Co-Chair, Physics and Astronomy
Ph.D., Physics
University of California, Merced
Associate Professor, Physics and Astronomy
Dr. Paul Strycker earned his B.S. in physics from the University of Notre Dame and his M.S. and Ph.D. in astronomy from New Mexico State University. His doctoral work with hyperspectral imaging of Jupiter led him to develop PCA filtering—a novel image analysis method—while teaching astronomy and physics at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. He moved to Concordia University Wisconsin, where he reached the rank of professor as he improved the applicability of PCA filtering. He also expanded his teaching to include an integration of the philosophy of science, a Catholic understanding of the human person, and great books in a Socratic seminar.
Dr. Strycker joined Benedictine College as an associate professor in 2024. His research interests include observational astronomy, detecting extremely faint impacts on solar system objects, and finding ways to remove noise and background signals from any kind of data. He enjoys teaching the wide variety of topics that come with astronomy and physics—from the broad knowledge base in Earth Science to the fine details of Galileo’s life and writings.
Assistant Professor, Physics and Astronomy
Dr. A. Max Sayler earned a B.S. in Physics & Philosophy from Kansas State University in 2002 and 2004, respectively, and went on to the graduate program, there where he earned an Ph.D. in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical (AMO) Physics in 2008. He then spent 10 years as a postdoctoral research fellow and then nonlinear optics group leader at the Institut für Optik und Quantenelektronik at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena, Germany. He became an Associate Professor of Benedictine College’s Physics and Astronomy department in 2020 and has a strong interest in philosophy as well as scientific education and outreach and is looking forward to helping current and future Ravens become principled leaders in all aspects of their lives whatever their future pursuits may be.
Instructor, Physics and Astronomy
Mr. Joey Strandquist is the lab manager for the Department of Physics and Astronomy, as well as an instructor. He earned his BS in Physics from Benedictine College in 2019 and was subsequently admitted to the PhD program in Physics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He obtained his MS in Physics from there in 2021, then left to pursue his dream of teaching at his alma mater in 2022. He lives in Atchison with his wife, Dr. Katharine Strandquist of the Benedictine Department of Engineering.