Contact Information
Name: William DeGraffenreid
Title: Professor of Physics
Office Location: Sequoia Hall 406
Email: degraff@csus.edu
LinkedIn : Profile
About Dr. D
Hello, my name is William (Bill) DeGraffenreid. I have been a Hornet since 2002 when I joined Sacramento State as an Assistant Professor of Physics. Since that time, I have had the great pleasure to serve campus in a wide variety of roles, including Physics Department Chair, Associate Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Economic Development (interim), Special Assistant to the President, and Vice Provost for Faculty Success (interim). From August of 2022 to July of 2024, I was on a leave of absence from Sacramento State serving as the Associate Vice President for Faculty Affairs, Success & Equity (interim) at CSU Channel Islands. I returned to the faculty in August of 2024, spending the 2024-25 year as Interim Department Chair, and have returned to the classroom full-time since Fall of 2025.
In addition to being a faculty member in the California State University system, I am a proud alumnus of the CSU, I graduated from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) in 1995 with my BS in Physics, minoring in chemistry. I subsequently earned my Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from the University of Maryland in 2000. My Ph.D. research, as well as my post-doctoral work at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, was in experimental atomic physics. This background served me well in my early days when I taught a wide range of upper-division laboratory courses here at Sac State and modernized our electronics and advanced lab facilities with my colleagues.
Hobbies that keep me out of trouble include raising our three kids, cycling, cooking, camping, gardening, home winemaking, and soccer. I have been a youth soccer coach since 2008 and am a big fan of our local Sacramento Republic FC. My wife and I have both actively raised funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society by participating in numerous endurance events through their Team In Training program. Collectively, with the generosity of our family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances, we raised over $30,000 for LLS.