Nathaniel Ruhl ’18

“I learned to enjoy school, challenge myself, and develop in an environment where all of my teachers cared about my success and supported me.”  

A recent graduate of Haverford College with his degree in Physics, Nathaniel Ruhl ’18 certainly spent the last four years challenging himself both inside and outside of the classroom. After his Sophomore year of college, Nathaniel began to explore and started to conduct astrophysics research at Haverford. While working on this research, he invented a novel navigational method for satellites that are equipped with an X-ray telescope and are in orbit around any planet with a significant atmosphere! Earlier this year, Nathaniel was able to present his research at an American Astronautical Society conference and published a paper in the conference’s proceedings.

When he was not busy inventing a novel navigational method for satellites, you could find Nathaniel on the lacrosse field where he was named an Ambler Scholar Athlete for having one of the 15 highest GPAs amongst Haverford student-athletes. A French minor, he also participated in the Summer study abroad program in Avignon, France. 

As a member of Haverford's 4+1 accelerated Master’s program with the University of Pennsylvania, Nathaniel is currently pursuing his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Penn. His hope is to apply the fundamental physics concepts to real-life mechanical systems. Prior to his time at Haverford and Penn, Nathaniel attended WFS where he was a four-year captain of the swim team and was twice named All-State for his work on the lacrosse field. Additionally, he was a member of Jazz Band, Link Crew, and worked as a Summer Camp counselor for five years. 

His advice to current WFS students? “Start networking with (WFS and College) alumni, both to learn from others’ experiences and to become comfortable in talking about their skills, interests, and passions. I would also recommend that they explore interesting academic topics in their free time, which will help them to identify what they want to study in college and better define their career path.”