Research

An overview of the Penn State Physics research program.

Research opportunities for students can be found in numerous areas of experimental and theoretical physics. Major research areas at Penn State include atomic-molecular-optical physics, biological physics, condensed matter physics, cosmology, elementary particle physics and gravity. Cross-disciplinary areas, such as astrophysics, and chemical, materials, and mathematical physics are also available.

Should you be interested in more detail, we encourage you to explore the rest of our website, or to contact faculty directly by letter, electronic mail, fax, or telephone. Contact information is contained in the online faculty listings.

Beginning graduate students at Penn State have ample opportunity to learn about faculty research in much greater detail through a faculty research seminar given during the fall and spring semesters of their first year. In addition, informal discussions with more senior graduate students are useful in determining both an area and an adviser for research.

Essential to the vitality of the Penn State physics department research effort is an extensive seminar and colloquium program in which visitors from other universities and laboratories foreign and domestic discuss their research. Over the past decade, Nobel Laureate physicists Philip Anderson, Wolfgang Ketterle, Klaus von Klitzing, John Mather, and David Wineland have presented lectures and visited with the department by meeting with faculty and holding informal discussions with graduate students.