Research Opportunities

Astronomy and Astrophysics Research

  • Joe Carson carries out observational studies of extrasolar planets and circumstellar disks, and develops imaging instrumentation for medical applications.
  • George Chartas studies black hole accretion and outflow. A collaborator in the international LSST project. 
  • Chris Fragile does computational investigations of the gas flow near black holes. 
  • Ashley Pagnotta studies variable stars, such as novae and supernovae, using observations across all wavelengths to understand their past and future behavior, and what it tells us about our universe.
  • Laura Penny studies binary stars and how the rotation rates of massive stars depend upon the amount of metals that make up the star.  

Outside Research Opportunities

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has a very broad summer program of Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) in many fields. The research is at major research institutions all over the country and in many disciplines. Our students have had much success in these programs -
  • Atmospheric Sciences
  • Chemistry
  • Earth Sciences
  • Engineering
  • Mathematical Sciences
  • Ocean Sciences
  • Physics
  • Materials Research
  • Astronomical Sciences
  • Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers
  • Science and Technology Centers in Materials and Physics
For a complete list of NSF REU sites, please visit the National Science Foundation site.

Physics Research

  • Yu Gong is in interested in exploring the ultrafast electron, phonon, and spin dynamics with femtosecond laser microscopy or spectroscopy.
  • Narayanan Kuthirummal (NK) is interested in the spectroscopic, acoustic, and microscopic characterization of photonic materials, nanomaterials, and aerogels. 
  • Ana Oprisan is interested in the theory and experiment of fluids near the critical point, large scale fluid flow, and diffusion limited aggregation. 
  • Sorinel Adrian Oprisan's research fields are computational physics/neuroscience, biophysics, nonlinear dynamics and chaos.
  • Alem Teklu uses acoustic and microscopic techniques to characterize metals, alloys, composites, thermoelectrics, and nanocrystals. 

Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics

  • Mike Larsen is interested in atmospheric microphysics with an emphasis on radiative transfer, aerosol activation, ice nucleation, cloud particle growth, and raindrop interactions.
  • Lee Lindner is interested in coastal meteorology with an emphasis on sea breeze, hurricane surge, sea fog, coastal flooding, synoptic climatology, and hurricane climatology.
  • Gabriel Williams is interested in the physics of rotating convective storms with an emphasis on hurricane dynamics and squall line dynamics.