Name: Nykesha Fyffe
Birthday: April 26, 1995
Year: Junior
Major: Applied Physics
Hometown: Holly Springs, NC
Nykesha Fyffe is one of the very few girls in a major that is predominately run by men. She chose to be a physics major because she has always been pretty good at math and she loves to solve problems.
At first, Nykesha wanted to go to an accredited school for engineering, but after a visit at Appalachian State, she fell in love. When she found out that she could still do engineering with an undergraduate degree in physics paired with a graduate degree in engineering, she made the decision to make Boone her home for the next four years.
One of the main questions I had for Nykesha was about being a woman in the physics field. As we were talking, she mentioned that it’s a lot of hard work, but it’s also such a rewarding experience.
“It’s hard sometimes because they don’t think you know what you’re doing, or they don’t give you the credit you deserve.” The rewarding part comes when she proves everyone wrong and shows all the guys that she can do the task just as well, and probably even better than they can.
In the future, Nykesha hopes to go into a hands-on career in engineering that also allows her to interact with clients. Nykesha is one of the most social people I know, so she does not want to sit in a lab for the rest of her life.
“My favorite part of being a physics major is all of the things I have been able to experience and making connections that I probably wouldn’t have being in another major.” Nykesha is currently working in a research laboratory under two of the best professors in the department. She said they have helped her find so many opportunities to grow in the field that she would have never gotten at any other school.
Knowing that women in physics make up a smaller proportion of bachelor degrees, I asked Nykesha if she felt like she was treated any differently than the males. “I don’t think I am treated differently at all, but I have met people who don’t believe me when I say I am a physics major, just because it is such a male dominated major.”
Nykesha doesn’t just excel in the physics world. She is also a sister of Sigma Kappa here at Appalachian State, where she holds the position of webmaster, controlling all of the organization’s social media. She is able to balance the immense workload that comes with being an applied physics major while also being a leader in her sorority. Not many people could handle that much pressure, but Nykesha does with ease.
“I know a lot of people hate physics, and I won’t lie, it still terrifies me to this day, but I get so much out of it. Why do something if you don’t feel rewarded when you succeed? That’s how I feel about physics. I may struggle a lot, but when I finally understand something, or do well on a test, it is the most rewarding feeling ever.”
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