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During Tatiana Erukhimova’s 21 years at Texas A&M University, she has shared her passion for physics with millions around the world to promote learning for all ages. We sat down with her to discuss her career and how she got her footing at Texas A&M.
IN: Do you have a distinct memory of when you realized you had a passion for teaching physics?
TE: I got my Ph.D from the Russian Academy of Sciences. I started working at Texas A&M as a postdoctoral. It just happened that I was offered to teach a junior level class and I realized how much I enjoyed it. Then, I was offered to teach freshmen and for many students, I was the first foreigner that they saw in their life. It didn’t go well. I struggled at the beginning, but then I found my voice and that experience actually taught me the importance of getting student’s attention and excitement from the very beginning. That’s when I started bringing exciting demonstrations to class.
IN: Tell me about your social media presence.
TE: It was our TikTok channel that exploded first, but then we moved to YouTube and we mostly post YouTube Shorts. We try to post on Thursdays once per week. Did you know that Texas A&M Physics has more views and more subscribers than Texas A&M football on some social media channels? We have this joke that Texas A&M Physics is now more popular than Texas A&M Football.
We reached one million subscribers on YouTube. That milestone happened at the end of June and when you reach one million subscribers, YouTube gives you an award. We decided to record a thank you note for our subscribers today. We did an explosion with liquid nitrogen, showing depth charge with hundreds of gold colored balls. It will be posted soon!
IN: Who is involved in filming and posting videos?
TE: We are a very small team. Me and my colleague Dawson Nodurft, we present. Ryan Carmichael does everything else — films, edits, posts. He has talented student workers helping him.
IN: Tell me about the Physics Shows you do, when did it start?
TE: I started the Physics Show in 2007 for K-12 schools. Groups come to the Physics buildings on Texas A&M campus. First, I impress them with some demonstrations — with liquid nitrogen, superconductors, high-tech stuff and then I show them demonstrations that they can do at home with their parents. Then the visitors play with some of our demonstrations and we conclude with the grand finale — the depth charge explosion outside. Children love it!
IN: What other events does the Texas A&M Physics department run?
TE: Our flagship outreach event is the Texas A&M Physics Engineering Festival. The whole department works really hard to put this festival together: faculty, students, and staff. Over 400 volunteers are involved. We have more than 200 hands-on demonstrations that we display during the festival. We invite top-notch speakers. Before the pandemic, we had 7,000 people coming to the festival. Then the pandemic hit, but we didn’t give up. We put together a virtual festival, and people around the country joined us. Now we are back to in person festivals.
IN: How long has the Physics Engineering Festival been going on at A&M?
TE: Distinguished professor Ed Fry founded the festival in 2003. The first festival featured just a handful of demonstrations and a lecture by Steven Hawking. Ed Fry knew that a great department cannot exist without something as exciting as this outreach event celebration. The festival is just as important for our students as it is for the visitors. Our students get this unique experience to talk to the general public, to explain the concepts behind physics demonstrations and to develop their identity and sense of belonging. Our students also build hands-on demonstrations as part of the Discover, Explore and Enjoy Physics and Engineering program, or DEEP. So the students build these demonstrations, they present them, and we keep showing them at our outreach events long after they graduate. This gives our students a unique chance to leave a legacy.
IN: You were born thousands of miles away from College Station. Did you ever imagine becoming a professor at Texas A&M?
TE: It’s home now here, for sure. I never imagined I would become a professor here and I never ever expected that my videos would become popular on social media. It’s surreal, but if you think about it, millions of people are watching physics videos. This is wonderful! You get amazing feedback from people. There are so many students who stop me and say, ‘Thank you so much for representing Maroon and White so well.’ It recharges your battery and brings so much warmth. You understand why you’re doing this. It’s wonderful that people enjoy it and they appreciate our outreach program.
IN: What are some of your favorite demonstrations you’ve done?
TE: I love my big cloud demonstration. I started doing it as part of the physics show. The temperature of liquid nitrogen is 400°F colder than the temperature of your skin. There is always this cold cloud formed around liquid nitrogen, because moisture in the air gets condensed. To make the cloud much bigger, you put boiling water in the pot and then you pour liquid nitrogen there. It creates this enormous, towering cloud.
IN: You’ve been on the Jennifer Hudson Show, Good Morning America, ABC and CBS. What was it like realizing people wanted to interview you for TV?
TE: It’s a lot of responsibility because you feel like you represent the physics outreach program, you represent the department, you represent the school. But you do it and if it goes well, wonderful! It is a very nice feeling that our program gets recognition, so I am very grateful.
IN: During your time here at A&M, you’ve won at least 12 awards. What does it feel like to have that sort of attention and interest from people about physics?
TE: I am proud of them. They are a recognition of our teaching and outreach programs and our team effort. It is important that people don’t see physics as a scary subject, and learn to enjoy it, learn that physics can be fun.
IN: What is your favorite part about being a professor at A&M?
TE: I really, really like my job. But if there is one thing, then by far it’s interacting with students, both inside and outside the classroom. It never gets old. I love it!
