Physics & Astronomy

Undergraduate Research

Carthage physics students are engaged in a variety of collaborative research efforts. Those efforts include interdisciplinary projects with other students and faculty in the computer science, chemistry and physics departments. Students also work with Carthage faculty on forefront research in international collaborations around the world.

In the past few years, physics students have:

  • Helped train regional K-12 teachers in discovery-based teaching methods for optical sciences.
  • Built equipment for the Keck telescopes in Mana Kei, Hawaii.
  • Participated in data analysis for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
  • Built museum demonstrations for the Center for Adaptive Optics.
  • Worked with astronomers at Yerkes Observatory.
  • Worked with astronomers at the University of Arizona Steward Observatory.

Ongoing research efforts in the department include:

  • Observational Astrophysics: High Resolution Spectrograph for Planetary Nebula Studies
  • Cosmology: The Sloan Digital Sky Survey
  • Computational Materials Physics
  • Neurophysics: Fiber Optic Neural Probes
  • Atomic and Optical Physics: Spin-polarized gases
  • Adaptive Optics
  • Biophysics

For more information, select faculty publications are available for download. Click here.

Carthage also offers specific funded undergraduate research experiences, including SURE and the Carthage Microgravity Program

Faculty Spotlight

Carthage physics professor Doug Arion has a starring role in the International Year of Astronomy 2009 with the Galileoscope. Read more.