Alumina nanoparticles can be added to an epoxy matrix to improve material properties and also allow for the monitoring of stress within the composite. This stress monitoring ability is enabled by the photoluminescent characteristics of alumina. Known as the piezospectroscopic effect, the characteristic R-line peaks present in the emission spectrum of alumina shift with stress. The use of piezospectroscopy to study the effects of strain rates on nanocomposites is a novel approach. In this work, alumina-epoxy nanocomposites of 4.5, 13.6 and 29.7% were investigated under low compressive strain rates of 10 −4 s −1 , 10 −3 s −1 and 10 −2 s −1 . For each volume fraction and strain rate, the R1 peak shift with respect to applied uniaxial compressive stress was observed. Results illustrate the capability of alumina nanoparticles to act as diagnostic sensors to measure the stress-induced shifts of the spectral R-line peaks under dynamic loading conditions. The range of PS coefficients measured, correlates well in comparison with static experimental behavior for similar volume fractions. Results also show that as the strain rate increases, the failure of the sample was delayed to an increased stress value. Upon further analysis of the data, a general trend of increasing sensitivity of the PS coefficients with increasing strain rate was shown. Also, the dynamic PS coefficients measured here show an increased sensitivity to stress when compared to similar materials under static conditions. This information can be used to determine the time-dependent micro-scale stresses the nanoparticles sustain during composite loading.