Below is a list of physics faculty who sometimes hire undergraduate students to work in their labs. This page is not for displaying open positions; but is instead a place where students can go to aid them in their search to find research work. It is up the student to contact a professor he or she wants to work with, but students are encouraged to contact a physics advisor if they would like assistance or advice.
Astrophysics
Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy concerned with the physical nature of stars and other celestial bodies, and the application of the laws and theories of physics to the interpretation of astronomical observations.
Dr. James Beatty focuses on experimental particle astrophysics and his research includes the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Antarctic Impulse Transient Antenna (ANITA).
Dr. Amy Connolly focuses on ultra-high-energy neutrino experiments. Additional information is on Dr. Connolly's website.
Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
Atomic, molecular, and optical physics is the study of matter-matter and light-matter interactions; at the scale of one or a few atoms and energy scales around several electron volts. The three areas are closely interrelated.
Dr. Lou DiMauro specializes in ultra-fast atomic physics. An overview of his research interests can be found on his website.
Dr. Douglass Schumacher is in the High Energy Density Physics Scarlet Laser Facility which focuses on the study of the interactions of ultra-high intensity, ultra-short pulse laser light with solid targets.
Dr. Gregory Lafyatis focuses on cold atom physics research. Additional information about his work can be found on his website.
Dr. Dan Gauthier specializes in quantum communication, quantum optics and computing, and network science (the dynamics of large classical networks for information processing and modeling complex systems). Additional information is on the QuantInfo Lab website.
Biophysics
Biophysics is the science of the application of the laws of physics to biological phenomena.
Dr. Ralf Bundschuh's research is the application of methods from Statistical Physics to solve problems of biological relevance. His website has additional information.
Dr. Comert Kural is part of the Intracellular Dynamics Laboratory which focuses on studying mechanisms through which live cells interact with their environment.
Dr. Michael Poirier is quantitatively investigating the mechanisms by which our genome is expressed and repaired. Additional information can be found on the Poirier Lab website.
Experimental Condensed Matter
Condensed matter physics deals with the physical properties of condensed phases of matter. Condensed matter physicists seek to understand the behavior of these phases by using physical laws including the laws of quantum mechanics, electromagnetism and statistical mechanics.
Dr. Leonard Brillson focuses on using a wide array of analysis, processing, and growth techniques to investigate the surface, interface, and ultrathin film properties of semiconductors. Dr. Brillson's website has additional information.
Dr. Jay Gupta's group is dedicated to exploring the often surprising behaviors that arise when small numbers of atoms and molecules are brought into close proximity. Dr Gupta's website has additional information.
Dr. P. Chris Hammel's group is seeking a deeper understanding of the behavior of the electronic spin in materials and the novel phenomena that emerge in microscopic magnetic structures and in complex materials in which disparate materials controllably interact. They are developing new approaches to these studies including nanoscale imaging tools and novel approaches to understanding dynamic interactions within and between magnetic structures. You can read more on Dr. Hammel's website.
Dr. Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin's research group focuses on the intersection of the fields of spintronics, taditional magnetism, and nanoscale sciences and materials. Additional information can be found on Dr. Johnston-Halperin's website.
Dr. Roland Kawakami's research group studies spin, magnetism, and devices at the atomic scale. This inludes investigating the optical and electrical spin properties of 2D materials, studying epitaxial growth of thin film heterostructures for spintronics applications, and studying the surface charge and spin in low dimensional materials. Additional information can be found on Dr. Kawakami's website.
Dr. Jeanie Lau runs the Quantum Research Lab where they study quantum materials, phenomena and devices.
Dr. Fengyuan Yang's research interests include complex oxide epitaxial films and multilayers, spin dynamics and spin transport in semiconductor nanowires, and Fabrication of Multilayers and Patterned Structures. Additional information can be found on Dr. Yang's website.
Dr. Rolando Valdes Aguilar works in experimental condensed matter and studies the emergent low energy degrees of freedom of quantum matter. Additional information can be found on Dr. Valdes Aguilar's website.
Theoretical Condensed Matter
Dr. Brian Skinner's research group explores new ideas or phenomena in the physics of quantum materials among other other topics. Additional information can be found on Dr. Skinner's website.
Dr. Nandini Trivedi's group focuses on the effects of strong interactions in condensed matter systems and ultracold atoms in optical lattices. You can read more about the group's research on Dr. Trivedi's website.
Experimental High Energy Physics
High energy physics is the branch of physics that studies subatomic particles and their interactions.
Dr. Christopher Hill focuses his research around the CMS experiment on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Additional information can be found on OSU CMS group website.
Dr. K.K. Gan and Dr. Antonio Boveia focus their research around the ATLAS experiment on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Additional information can be found on OSU ATLAS group website.
Dr. Richard Hughes and Dr. Brian Winer are involved with the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) and with the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN.
Dr. Klaus Honscheid currently work on the Dark Energy Survey, an international, collaborative effort to map hundreds of millions of galaxies, detect thousands of supernovae, and find patterns of cosmic structure that will reveal the nature of mysterious dark energy that is accelerating the expansion of our universe. Additional information about this project can be found on the OSU News website.
Experimental Nuclear Physics
Dr. Michael Lisa's research focus is the study of nuclear matter under the most extreme conditions of pressure, density, and temperature. Additional information can be found on the OSU Relativistic Heavy Ion group website.
Theoretical Nuclear Physics
Nuclear physics is the physics of atomic nuclei and their interactions, esp. in the generation of nuclear energy.
Dr. Richard Furnstahl's research applies effective field theory (EFT) and renormalization group methods to strong-interaction few- and many-body systems. This includes deriving low-momentum few-body interactions based on chiral EFT and using them to construct a microscopic energy density functional for nuclei. You can read more about Dr. Furnstahl's research on his website.
Physics Education Research
Physics education research refers both to the methods currently used to teach physics and to an area of pedagogical research that seeks to improve those methods
Dr. Geraldine Cochran's research mission is to uncover, eliminate, and mitigate the negative impacts of inequity and injustice in physics education through research. More information can be found on her website.
Dr. Andrew Heckler's research interests include identification and description of student difficulties with physics, learning and the transfer of learning, implicit vs. explicit processes involved in answering physics questions, and evolution and hierarchy of student understanding of physics. Additional information can be found on Dr. Heckler's website.