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.

Biophysics major Nathalya Ramirez stands with her research poster.

Raju Timsina, a graduate RA in physics, uses the SEH biophysics lab.

“[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

TA Raju Timsina talks with Mark Reeves in the SEH biophysics lab, surrounded by laboratory equipment and computers — The biophysics lab in Science and Engineering Hall

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.

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

Professor Guanyu Wang is Starting a New Laboratory

December 15, 2011

Professor Guanyu Wang is starting a new laboratory in September 2013 with both biological experiments and high performance computation as integral components (3/2013).