Physics

Research Opportunities

Though Lewis University is not a big research institution with a graduate program in Physics, we can still provide you with ample research opportunities. In fact, you will start thinking about design and experimentation during your first year. All physics students are required to do a Student Designed Experiment during the second semester of their General or College Physics sequence. At the end of the semester, you will present your work in a written lab report and in an oral presentation. For the last couple of years, students in the General Physics sequence have presented their work at the Associated Colleges of the Chicago Area (ACCA) Student Symposium. Toward the end of your college career you will design and carry out and present another major project in the Advanced Experimental Physics course. While these are not formal research experiences, they are intended to prepare you for research.

Lewis has several research opportunities for student on or near campus. Over $100,000 in laser and optics equipment has recently been donated to the Physics Department, and we are in the process of setting up a laser lab in which our undergraduates will be able to do research. Already, two of our students, Jose Guerrero and Chance Eiker, have presented a poster (LINK TO POSTER) on their work with the laser at the Joint AAAS / AAPT Winter Meeting in February 2009.

Lewis is also located less than 10 miles from Argonne National Laboratory. Lewis frequently has students employed in the Argonne Co-op Program and in summer programs at Argonne. We have had three of our majors doing research at Argonne during the last two years. One of them got a full-time position there immediately after graduating from Lewis with his B.S. in Physics.

We are also located less than 20 miles from Fermilab. Dr. Kozminski did his Ph.D. research on the D-Zero experiment at Fermilab and is still a collaborator on the experiment. While at Lewis, he has collaborated with the High Energy Group at Northern Illinois University on the D-Zero experiment and supervised a Lewis undergraduate’s research experience through NIU at D-Zero.

Lewis Physics students have also had success getting into other summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) across the country. We have had students do REUs at Brigham Young University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Michigan State University, the Rice Quantum Institute at Rice University, and Vanderbilt University in addition to Northern Illinois. Students looking for summer research opportunities can find them in The Nucleus. REU announcements usually start appearing in late November for the following summer.

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