Undergraduate Research in Physics at UMBC is not only possible, but strongly encouraged
Undergraduate Research in Physics at UMBC is not only possible, but strongly encouragedTypes 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.
Many of the undergraduate research projects in the department have been supported by the university’s Undergraduate Research Award (URA). Students in the department also participate actively in the Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD).
Examples of Recent Undergraduate Research Projects
| Year | Student | Details |
| 2025 | Katherine Carver | “Analyzing Supermassive Black Holes in Minor Mergers to Characterize Merging Effects” Advisor: Dr. Adi Foord 2025-2026 URA Scholar |
| 2025 | Aria Tauraso | “Optically Strain-Tuning Coherent Magnons in van der Waals Magnetic Semiconductors” Advisor: Dr. Geoffrey Diederich 2025-2026 URA Scholar |
| 2024 | Olivia Chiarini | “Top-of-Atmosphere Data Reduction Pipeline for the UMBC Observatory Using Landolt Standard Fields” Advisor: Mr. Roy Prouty, CSST, Observatory 2024-2025 URA Scholar |
| 2024 | Robert Coggins | “Optimal driving in two-qubit annealing: The Landau-Zener model” Advisor: Dr. Sebastian Deffner 2024-2025 URA Scholar |
| 2024 | Andrew Dvorak | “Searching for Black Holes Ejected by Gravitational-Wave Recoil with the Hubble Space Telescope” Advisor: Dr. Eileen Meyer 2024-2025 URA Scholar |
| 2024 | Yohannes Girma | “Flux ropes and their properties during storm-time and typical solar wind conditions” Advisor: Dr. Brandon Burkholder, GPHI 2024-2025 URA Scholar |
| 2024 | John Melles | “Direct Radiative Effects of Dust Over Desert Regions from Observations of EMIT Mission” Advisor: Dr. Zhibo Zhang 2024-2025 URA Scholar |
| 2024 | Jonathan Miller | “Signatures of True Quantum Chaos in Energy Level Statistics” Advisor: Dr. Sebastian Deffner 2024-2025 URA Scholar |
| 2024 | Michael Moody | “Vertical Distribution of Urban Pollution over the Amazon Rainforest” Advisor: Dr. Henrique Barbosa 2024-2025 URA Scholar |
| 2024 | Jackson Moore | “Diurnal cycle of cloud cover in the Amazon rainforest from an all-sky imager” Advisor: Dr. Henrique Barbosa 2024-2025 URA Scholar |
| 2024 | Azzan Porter | “Comparison of Foreshock Magnetic Fluctuations Observed by MMS, Juno, MAVEN, and Cassini” Advisor: Dr. Brandon Burkholder, GPHI 2024-2025 URA Scholar |
| 2024 | Kevin Carbajal Rodriguez | “Shortcuts to Adiabaticity with an Adiabatic Gauge Potential” Advisor: Dr. Sebastian Deffner 2024-2025 URA Scholar |
| 2024 | Aria Tauraso | “Thermodynamics of an Entangled Photon Gas in an Engine Cycle” Advisor: Dr. Sebastian Deffner 2024-2025 URA Scholar |
| 2024 | Paul Wampler | “Relative Velocity Distribution of Spectroscopic Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Major Mergers” Advisor: Dr. Adi Foord 2024-2025 URA Scholar |
| 2023 | Max Hartley | “Stochastic Thermodynamics of Music” Advisor: Dr. Sebastian Deffner 2023-2024 URA Scholar |
| 2023 | Dahne-More Pluck | “Retrieval of Planetary Boundary Layer Heights Using Radar Wind Profiles” Advisor: Dr. Belay Demoz 2023-2024 URA Scholar |
| 2023 | Katie Slotten | “Circular Polarization: Extraterrestrial Life Within Our Solar System” Advisor: Dr. Eileen Meyer 2023-2024 URA Scholar |
| 2023 | Maggie Williams | “Stochastic Thermodynamics of Aging” Advisor: Dr. Sebastian Deffner 2023-2024 URA Scholar |