College of Science and Health > Academics > Physics and Astrophysics > Research

Department Research

​​​​​Our faculty members are actively engaged in research in various fields of physics. They structure their research so that undergraduates can participate, even beginning early in a student's academic career.

Research topics range from experimental to theoretical physics, cosmology to condensed matter, in-house research to studies conducted at laboratories like Argonne National Lab and Fermilab. We encourage students to take the leap and get involved with research in the physics & astrophysics department.

Below lists research focusing on specific areas with faculty. Students at all levels are encouraged to discuss opportunities for conducting research  with one of the faculty members.

  • ​Bernhard Beck-Winchatz, Astrophysics, Atmospheric Science
  • Susan M. Fischer: Nuclear Physics, Physics Education Research
  • Gabriela Gonzalez-Aviles: Materials Science
  • Christopher Goedde: Molecular Dynamics, Dynamical Systems, and Computational Physics
  • Mary Bridget Kustusch: Physics Education Research
  • Eric Landahl: Ultra-fast Physics
  • Jesus Pando: Cosmology
  • Anuj P. Sarma: Star Formation, Radio Astronomy

Faculty Research Descriptions​​

Recent Publications

S. Fischer. "Performance tests of a large area position-sensitive planar germanium detectors with conventional and amorphous contacts" (with S. Gros et al). Nuclear Instruments and Meth. 602A. 466. (2009).

​C. Goedde. Slip due to Kink Propagation at the Liquid-Solid Interface.pdf, (with Metehan Cam and Seth Lichter). 2024

C. Goedde. "Ring Homopolymers Prefer Crumpling into Odd-Length Segments", (with Alex Abou‐Jaoude and Seth Lichter). 2022 

C. Goedde. "Kink Propagation and Solute Partitioning in an Atomic Monolayer on a Substrate", (with Metehan  Cam and Seth Lichter). 2021

C. Goedde. "The Interplay of Thermal and Pump Fluctuations in Stimulated Brillouin Scattering" (with E. Huynh et al). Optics Communications 281, 836-845. (2008).

G. Gonzalez Aviles. "The Structure of Strontium-doped Hydroxyapatite: An Experimental and Theoretical Study". Phys Chem DOI: 10.1039/b802841a. (2008).

G. Gonzalez Aviles. "In Situ Studies on the Kinetics of Formation and Crystal Structure of the Phase In4Sn3O12 Using High-energy, X-ray Diffraction" (with JS. Okasinski et al). J Appl Phys 104: (4) 043520. (2008).

M.B. Kustusch. "Assessing the impact of representational and contextual problem features on student use of right-hand rules", Physical Review Physics Education Research, 12, 010102, (2016).

M.B. Kustusch. “Student Conceptions of Expertise” (with C. Bertram et al). In C.K. Looi, J. Polman, U.Cress, & P. Reimann (Eds.),  Transforming Learning, Empowering Learners:  The International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS), Vol 2. Singapore:  International Society of the Learning Sciences. (2016).

M.B. Kustusch. “Exploring student difficulties with observation location” (with J. Bryant, R. Dawod, et al). In A. Churukian, D.L. Jones, & L. Ding (Eds.), Physics Education Research Conference , College Park, MD. (2015).

M.B. Kustusch. “Name the experiment! Interpreting thermodynamic derivatives as thought experiments” (with et al). American Journal of Physics, 82, 39-46. (2014).

M.B. Kustusch. “Partial derivative games in thermodynamics: A cognitive task analysis" (with et al). Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research, 10, 010101. (2014).

M.B. Kustusch. “The real prize inside: Learning about science and spectra from cereal boxes” (with R. Beichner et al). The Physics Teacher 47, 450-453. (2009).

M.B. Kustusch. “Scaling up education reform” (with R. Beichner et al). Journal of College Science Teaching, 37, 48-53. (2008).

E. Landahl. "Time-Resolved Structural Measurement of Thermal Resistance across a Buried Semiconductor Heterostructure Interface.  Materials. 2023; 16(23):7450. Article​

E. Landahl.  "Measuring femtometer lattice displacements driven by free carrier diffusion in a polycrystalline semiconductor using time-resolved x-ray scattering" (with S. Lee et al).  Applied Physics Letters 113, 032107. (2018).

E. Landahl. "Direct Measurements of Multi-photon Induced Nonlinear Lattice Dynamics in Semiconductors via Time-resolved X-ray Scattering" (with G. J. Wilson, M. Watson et al).  Scientific Reports 6.  Article 39506. (2016).

E. Landahl. "Picosecond x-ray strain rosette reveals direct laser excitation of coherent transverse acoustic phonons" (with S. Lee et al). Scientific Reports 6, 19140. (2016).

E. Landahl. "X-ray characterization of a multichannel smart-pixel array detector" (with M. Tarpley et al). Journal of Synchrotron Radiation 23, 196-205. (2016).

E. Landahl. "Pushing x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy beyond the continuous frame rate limit" (with E. Dufresne et al). Optics Express 24, 355-364. (2016).

E. Landahl. "Demonstration of a time-resolved x-ray scattering instrument utilizing the full-repetition rate of x-ray pulses at the Pohang Light Source" (with S. Lee et al). Review of Scientific Instruments 87, 035107. (2016).

E. Landahl . "A simple cross-correlation technique between infared and hard x-ray pulses" (with B. Kraessig et al). Applied Physics Letters. 94: 171113. (2009).

J. Pando. "Detection of protein Secondary Structures a the Discreet Wavelet Transform" (with S. Shaheen & L. Sands). Physical Review E. 80, 051909. (2009).

A. P. Sarma, E. Momjian. "The Discovery of the Zeeman Effect in 38 GHz Class II Methanol Masers", Astrophysical Journa., Vol. 958. Pages 75-81. (2023).

A. P. Sarm,. E. Momjian, N. Wenner (graduate student). "Long-term Variability of Class I Methanol Masers in the High-mass Star-forming Region DR21 (OH)". Astrophysical Journal. Volume 930. Pages 114-125. (2022).

A. P. Sarma, A. Datta, A. Koley, E. Momjian, N. Roy. "Magnetic Field Measurement in TMC-1C using 22.3 GHz CCS Zeeman Splitting". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS). Volume 516. Pages L48-L52. (2022).

A. P. Sarma, E. Momjian. "A Curious Case of Circular Polarization in the 25 GHz Methanol Maser Line Towad OMC-1". Astrophysical Journal. Volume 890. Pages 6-13. (2020).

A. P. Sarma, E. Momjian. "The Zeeman Effect in the 44 GHz Class I Methanol (CH3OH) Maser Line Toward DR21W". Astrophysical Journal. Volume 872. Pages 12-18. (2019).