Explore a Wide Variety of Topics
Academic interests of WSU physics faculty span an unusually broad range of topics. As an undergraduate, you have the chance to participate in any of a wide range of research areas at the forefront of physics—and discover what interests you most.
You could be part of faculty research projects in areas like these:
Astrophysics
Research in the astronomy and astrophysics program usually falls into topics related to gravitational physics, sources for gravitational waves, stars, galaxies, galaxy formation and chemical enrichment, and cosmology. As a student in the astrophysics program, you participate in at least one research project that tackles a problem at the current edge of human understanding.
Materials and Optical Physics
Femtosecond laser pulses probe ultrafast phenomena. Interactions between photons and matter are studied in nanostructures and biological materials. The limits of nonlinear optics are pushed to make the Internet faster. And synchrotron X-rays studies suggest how to adapt organic molecules for solar cells and other new uses.
Matter Under Extreme Conditions
Physics in extreme conditions includes state-of-the-art simulations and experiments in shock-wave phenomena, radiation pressure from high-amplitude sound, dynamics of bubbles and droplets in low or zero gravity, and studies of semiconductors under ultra-high pressures using diamond-anvil cells.
Novel States of Matter
View weird quantum effects in the Bose-Einstein Condensate laboratory. Investigate the theory of cold quantum gases, many-body physics, chaos, and complexity. Here, the “normal” rules do not apply.