Resources

Faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and students in the Physics Department undertake researching a broad range of topics. Individual descriptions of these investigations can be accessed by following links to each professor’s home page. Here we provide an overview of the entire research effort. General descriptions of our research programs may be found under research area descriptions.

Graduate student appointments include 33 Teaching Assistantships, 55 Research Assistantships, and 3 Fellowships. Research is supported by the federal government (40%); state government (13%) and industrial and other sources (47%). In the past year, a total of one hundred twenty-two external grants have been awarded to Physics Department faculty in the following disciplines: Astrophysics (13 grants); Atomic & Optical Physics, and Synchrotron Radiation (12); Biophysics (8); Nano-Science/Materials (38); Computational Materials (21); Nuclear & Particle Physics (21); and Physics Education (9).

The Physics Department has made a concerted effort to respond to the nationwide shift towards increased industrial funding and decreased federal funding of academic research programs. Recently the department ranked third in the country among physics departments in the level of industrial supported research. This is reflected in the funding breakdown shown in the following table.

Separately Budgeted Research Expenditures by Source of Support
2005-2006 Fiscal Year

The following table breaking down departmental faculty, enrollment, and degrees granted provides a statistical overview of Physics Department research.

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