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 their...
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 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
Simpler Parts Make for a More Efficient System
Professor Neil Johnson explored decentralized systems in a new paper. His research has the potential to inform everything from how to effectively structure a company to how...
Giovanni Angelini, MS ’18, is analyzing data obtained by the CLAS12 collaboration (Jlab) related to the strong nuclear force for his PhD. Soon he is going to present his...
Physics, Professionally Speaking
Assistant Professor of Astrophysics Alexander van der Horst reveals a hard truth to physics majors in his classes: Their physics futures, he tells them, may not go as...