Ask a GW Expert: Alexander van der Horst on Friction and Tennis Courts
Alexander van der Horst, chair of the Physics Department, explains differences among tennis court surfaces as the U.S. Open tournament gets underway.
Research
In the Physics Department, students gain hands-on research experience with department faculty, innovative equipment and scientists from some of the world's top institutions. For more than a century, the department has spearheaded important discoveries in our labs and fostered generations of researchers, systems engineers, environmental scientists and biomedical engineers. Outside the department, our faculty hold leadership roles with partner institutes around the world, offering students unparalleled research and employment opportunities.
With lab groups across many interest areas, undergraduate and graduate students can build their research experience and present, publish and win awards for their work. Research is ongoing in experimental and theoretical nuclear physics, experimental and theoretical physics of living systems, and high-energy astrophysics.
“[The university] combines the academic environment and also the research environment because GW is located in a hub of educational institutions and research centers. … The people that exist at and near the university are such fantastic scientists and personalities.”
Chryssa Kouveliotou
Professor of Astrophysics
Faculty by Research Area
Research Facilities
The Physics Department operates out of historic Corcoran Hall and the state-of-the-art Science and Engineering Hall (SEH). Labs are outfitted with cutting-edge equipment. The department also partners with researchers from other sciences at SEH, and faculty collaborate with many of the country's top research institutions located in the Washington, D.C., area.
GW Centers and Institutes
Affiliated Institutions
Physics Computing Cluster (Gamow)
Completed in the basement of Corcoran Hall in September 2024, the cluster is envisioned as infrastructure to support the teaching and research mission of the Physics Department.
Physics Making Headlines
Big science at the smallest scale
GW experimental physicists are pioneering big science at the smallest scale. With cutting-edge tech and state-of-the-art systems, faculty and students are on the frontlines of a subatomic revolution.
GW Recognizes Top Scholars at 2025 Academic Honors Ceremony
President Granberg and Provost Bracey congratulated the students who earned Outstanding Academic Achievement Awards, as well as nine Distinguished Scholars. Quinn Stefan, Physics major, was one of...
CCAS Showcase Spotlights Student Research: 20 physics projects were presented
More than 200 undergraduate and graduate students across disciplines displayed their scholarly work at the third annual CCAS Research Showcase.