Performing research with professors on campus is a significant component of the physics major. As a physics student, you can perform research for independent study credit during the academic year.
We encourage you to visit laboratories and speak with professors early on about applying for research opportunities.
Alexi Arango's lab focuses on three projects: cascade energy photovoltaics, quantum dot photovoltaics, and electro-modulation imaging. These projects have the eventual goal of constructing efficient tandem cells, ultimately leading to large-area, lightweight, flexible solar cells.
Kathy Aidala and her team are exploring the areas of magnetic nanorings, semiconductors and the adhesion and elasticity of "squishy things".
Kerstin Nordstrom's CRAM Lab (Complex Rheology And Many-many body systems) studies how materials flow and deform. When a fluid (or fluid-like) material is complex and made of multiple components, their interactions and physical structure give rise to interesting flow behaviors. The CRAM lab experimentally studies these complex systems using high-speed video analysis and microscopy techniques, and supplements experimentation with simulations and mathematical modeling.
Spencer Smith’s lab uses the mathematical ideas of nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory, as well as topology, to provide insight into the behavior of fluid systems. This involves constructing and playing around with computational models.
Working closely with LC Technology Solutions Inc., Alexi Arango's lab gloveboxes were designed and outfitted with a number of innovative features, including LED lighting, vented three-way minature antechambers and centralized vacuum.
The scanning probe microscope in Kathy Aidala's lab is an Asylum Research MFP-3D, which provides full access to the code controlling the SPM and thereby provides customizability.
The Science Center Microscopy Facility combines the electron microscopes and several research-quality light microscopes from several science departments as part of an interdisciplinary facility.
The Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing's mission is to be a leading research and education center for the development of efficient process platforms and versatile tools for the two and three-dimensional integration of components and systems across multiple length scales.
Happening at Mount Holyoke
Abigail Tadlock ’23
she/her
Ye Zhang ’20
Happening at Mount Holyoke
After a three-year setback, Mount Holyoke College professor M. Darby Dyar can breathe a sigh of relief as NASA has resurrected its VERITAS mission to Venus.
Darby Dyar, Mount Holyoke College Kennedy-Schelkunoff Professor of Astronomy, was part of a team that solved a nearly century-old mystery of “Blood Falls” in Antarctica.
Mount Holyoke astronomer Darby Dyar is among the planetary scientists who will lead NASA’s new mission to explore the surface of Earth’s fiery twin.
The Department of Physics and Astronomy oversees the programs in Physics and Astronomy. We offer opportunities to help students explore the fundamental principles of the physical world and foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of the universe.
