In a conversation with CCAS Dean Paul Wahlbeck, Physics Professor Alexander van der Horst discusses gamma-ray bursts and more.
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 biophysics, 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
Our Researchers Making Headlines
Fantastic Voyage: Physics Student Peers into Protons
Junior Gabriel Grauvogel is bringing his CCAS Luther Rice Fellowship research to an international effort to unravel the puzzling proton.
Online Parenting Communities Pulled Closer to Extreme Groups
Previous research has shown that social media feeds the spread of misinformation. But exactly how that occurs has been unclear.
Supernovae Shine Light on Gamma-ray Bursts
New deep space observations by Professor of Astrophysics Chryssa Kouveliotou and an international team of scientists provided insights into Gamma-ray bursts and...