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
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.
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.
Professor Downie is Interim Vice President for Research
GW has announced that Evangeline J. Downie, associate dean for research and strategic initiatives in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, leader of the arts and sciences research support team...
2026 InnovationFest: Physics research highlights
Seniors Logan Dempsey and Nick Rothwein gave participants an up-close-and-personal view of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), a microscopic roundworm.
Student Research Takes Center Stage at CCAS Showcase
More than 250 undergraduate and graduate students across disciplines displayed their scholarly work at the fourth-annual CCAS Research Showcase.
Physics Student is a 2026 Distinguished Scholar
Nippe-Jeakins is an astronomy and astrophysics major whose research, including at Jefferson Lab and Vanderbilt University, spans the universe’s most energetic phenomena and the fundamental forces...
