The K-State high energy physics group studies physics at the billionth of a nanometer scale of the quantum universe. We collaborate with many groups throughout the world on the on the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC collider in Switzerland, on the Double Chooz experiment in France, and on liquid argon TPC neutrino experiments in the USA. Our technical expertise encompasses silicon charged particle detectors, liquid scintillator calorimeters, and Monte Carlo simulation. The K-State group maintains an broad outreach effort that includes leadership of a QuarkNet center targeted at rural Kansas, extensive participation in the KSU physics REU program, and co-leadership of an NSG GK-12 program that partners with the school district that primarily serves families in the large US Army community at Ft. Riley.

Kansas State physics comprises a research intensive department where faculty, post-doctoral research associates, graduate students and undergraduate physics majors are all involved in research. Specific areas of research include Atomic, Molecular, Optical (AMO) physics, High Energy Physics, Soft Matter and Biological Physics, Physics Education, and Cosmology. The department maintains a strong commitment to teaching at all levels. Innovative active learning methods taken form physics education research are incorporated in a wide range of our courses, several of which are taught in a studio format.

Kansas State University serves as the Sunflower State's land grand university. It is located in Manhattan, the Little Apple, a college town with a population of 52,000 located in Kansas's Flint Hills.