New ‘Shockwave’ Science Tracks Online Hate Speech
Led by physics professor Neil Johnson, a research team created a formula that demonstrates how, why and when hate speech spreads throughout social media.
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
Physics Making Headlines
What Makes a Gamma-Ray Burst the ‘Brightest of All Time?’
Doctoral physics student Brendan O’Connor is the lead author of a new study on the massive cosmic explosion detected last October.
Astrophysics Student Impacts Earth and Sky
Graduate student Sarah Chastain searches space for cosmic transients—a project that is also opening the field to a diverse new generation of students and schola
Andrei Alexandru was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society
Andrei Alexandru was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society