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UMBC Department of Physics
Undergraduate Programs
Undergraduate Research in the Physics Department

Undergraduate Research in Physics at UMBC is not only possible, but strongly encouraged

Types of Opportunities Available

Many students work on individual research projects, in collaboration with faculty members and other qualified mentors. Such research is usually performed via
  • a Special Topics course for credit (via PHYS450 or PHYS499)
  • as a paid research assistant or intern.
The department also offers one student a year a Donald N. Langenberg Undergraduate Research Award to support undergraduate research.

Current & Future Opportunities

Examples of Recent Undergraduate Research Projects

Below is a sample of research projects undertaken recently by Physics undergraduate students.

Year Student Details
2012 Aryana Arsham "Radiative Quenching of Large Scale Jets in the Early Universe "
Advisor: Dr. Georganopoulos
2012-2013 URA Scholar
2012 Soutry De "Design and Construction of a Liquid Helium Cryostat for use in Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy "
Advisor: Dr. Hayden
2012-2013 URA Scholar
2012 Brent McBride "Monte-Carlo Simulations of Photon Transport in 3-D Clouds"
Advisor: Dr. Zhang
2012-2013 URA Scholar
2012 Nathan Scavilla "Causes of Strong Vertical Wind Shear in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer "
Advisor: Dr. Sparling
2012-2013 URA Scholar
2012 David Sweigart "Designing and Simulating Terahertz Waveguide Devices using Finite Difference Techniques"
Advisor: Dr. Hayden
2012-2013 URA Scholar
2011 Soutry De "Wind Energy Viability Near the Mid-Atlantic "
Advisor: Dr. Sparling
2011-2012 URA Scholar; (with Eliana NessAiver & Ryan Valenza)
2011 David Sweigart "Field Assisted Charge Dynamics in P3HT and P3HT/PCBM "
Advisor: Dr. Hayden
2011-2012 URA Scholar; URCAD2012 Presenter
2011 Sharon Wall "Interferometric Autocorrelation of Femtosecond Pulses Emitted from a Widely Tunable Optical Parametric Amplifier"
Advisor: Dr. Hayden
2011-2012 URA Scholar; URCAD2012 Presenter
FAQs for Undergrads