Undergraduate Research

Physics majors with proper qualifications are strongly encouraged to participate in the research work done in the department. The excellent ratio of physics majors to physics faculty provides for a multitude of exciting research opportunities. Many of the research groups can use skills that undergraduates already possess. You learn what physics research is about by doing it. Often students report their work at meetings like the annual Midwest Solid-State Conference, various meetings of the American Physical Society, or as co-authors on papers published in refereed journals. Students can work for nothing more than the experience, for credit in one of our special topics courses, or for money. Research work cannot earn both credit and money.

The ways to enter a research group are watching for ads posted seeking undergraduate research participants, visiting professors whose work interests you, asking your instructor in a physics course or your physics major advisor about possibilities, and circulating a resume - one page describing your experience and interests. The department office will do the copying and delivery to our mailboxes. It is often wise for all involved to begin working as a volunteer and, once established, ask about pay or academic credits. Usually we suggest that freshmen not start with research groups, but use the first year to acclimate to Wash U. At the start of the sophomore year, we will try to match students with research groups, depending on individual interests.

Areas of active departmental research include theoretical and observational astrophysics and space science; mathematical physics; theoretical studies in solid state, elementary particles, and many-body systems; experimental research in materials, solid state, high pressure, and ultrasonic physics, and in applications of physical concepts and techniques to biological and medical problems.

Quantitative ultrasonic images of a physics graduate student's heart depicting the normal cyclic variation of integrated backscatter (IB)

Research groups that have welcomed undergraduate participants recently include Professor Miller's Laboratory for Ultrasonics, in which ultrasound is used to characterize and image composite materials ranging from graphite-epoxy airplane parts to heart muscle (see cover). Professor Wessel studies the biophysics of computation in brains, applying methods from electrophysiology, pharmacology, and imaging to functional brain slices. Professor Carlsson uses a combination of Brownian-dynamics simulation and analytic theory to elucidate the nanoscale proceses underlying the motility of biological cells. Professor Wang welcomes undergraduate students to participate in single molecule biophysics research that uses quantitative experimental methods to address fundamental biological questions at the molecular level. One major project is to study gene regulations by directly imaging the interactions of single gene regulator proteins with DNA.

The General Relativity Group of Professors Will and Suen involves undergraduates in their work. Professor Suen's general relativity theory group studies exotic phenomena like the collision of two black holes.

Professor Kelton and Professor Gibbons's materials physics group makes, characterizes, and studies the unique properties of quasicrystals and related metal alloys. Professor Solin's research is focused on the fundamental physics of novel materials, such as semiconductor-metal composites, with a particular interest in the effect of external perturbations (electric fields, magnetic fields, temperature, stress/strain, etc.) on the structural and transport properties of mesoscopic systems (typical size < 100 nm). Professor Conradi's experimental nuclear magnetic resonance group poses and answers a variety of physical and chemical questions about molecular solids, hydrogen-storage alloys, and other materials. They are also developing new methods and applications of magnetic resonance imaging of human lungs.

Spacetime diagram showing the merging event horizons of two black holes during a head-on collision. The lines show photons trapped on the horizons.

The McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, which partly resides on Compton's fourth floor, involves undergraduates in the study of extraterrestrial materials using state-of-the-art microscopic probes and isotope-resolving mass spectrometers. The faculty involved are Professors Bernatowicz, Hohenberg, and Zinner. The cosmic ray, X-ray and gamma-ray group of professors Binns, Buckley, Israel, and Krawczynski designs, makes and uses sophisticated detectors for balloon, satellite, and shuttle flights. Professor Krawczynski welcomes undergraduate students to work on the analysis of X-ray observations of the collimated plasma outflows from supermassive black holes. Professor Cowsik's research is in high-energy astrophysics, cosmic rays and dark matter-cosmology; he is also setting up a laboratory for studying the behavior of gravitation at short distances and for searching for new forces of nature.

Professor Alford calculates properties of ultra-dense quark matter, and investigates how it may affect the observable features of neutron stars. Professor Schilling's experimental group uses a diamond-anvil cell to study high-temperature superconductors under pressures approaching one million atmospheres. Professor Bender applies sophisticated mathematical techniques to a range of interesting problems in physics, field theory in particular, and mathematics. Professor Clark involves undergraduates in studying the properties and applications of neural nets after you have taken his Physics of the Brain course. Professors Ogilvie and Bernard study the theory of the strong interaction, in some cases involving heavy number crunching. Professor Dickhoff studies the quantum effects of particles embedded in a medium of strongly interacting particles like electrons, nucleons, or strange particles.

The work in Professor Ramki Kalyanaraman's group deals with using thin film science to develop nanoscale structures on surfaces. This includes creating a vacuum based thin film growth system and characterization techniques based on optical and scanning probe techniques. Besides issues of fundamental science, applications for these nanoscale structures in photonics, surface chemistry, etc. will be studied.

New projects begin every year, so this list maybe obsolete by the time you read it. Visit our labs and offices and ask what we are doing.