Click on the professor's name to view a short blurb on their profession.
| Dr. Cornelius Beausang | Low-energy nuclear structure physics |
| Dr. Ted Bunn | Big Bang cosmology (theory and data analysis) |
| Dr. Mirela Fetea | Theoretical Physics - nuclear, particle, solid-state physics |
| Dr. Gerard Gilfoyle | Electro-nuclear physics and computational methods |
| Dr. Matthew Trawick | Microsystems |
| Dr. Ovidiu Lipan | Signal propagation in genetic networks |
The atomic nucleus lies at the heart of matter and at the core of stars. Making up 99.9% of the known mass of the universe the nucleus is a unique strongly-interacting quantum-mechanical mesoscopic system. Consisting of between a few and a few hundred strongly-interacting fermions (the protons and neutrons) the atomic nucleus exhibits a wealth of excited states.Some of these are based on collective excitations, involving the coherent motion of many / all of the constituent particles & rotations and vibrations are good examples of these types of excitations. Other excitations involve the promotion of one or a few nucleons to higher lying states. These single-particle excitations are analogous to the promotion of electrons to higher lying atomic states. One of the goals of my research is to strive to understand the interplay between these two related but different type of phenomena.
In addition to off-site experiments I have recently opened a new environmental radiation laboratory at the University of Richmond. Here using (at the moment) two sensitive germanium detectors very low levels of naturally (or otherwise) occurring radioactive materials can be detected in a variety of samples. Possible projects involve measuring background activity levels in car air filters (as part of a national project funded by the Department of Homeland Security) or in various soil or rock samples.
My work is in the field of cosmology, the study of the structure, origin, and evolution of the universe on the very largest scales. My students and I analyze and interpret measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation, which is a relic of a time when the universe was only half a million years old (20,000 times younger than today). Maps of this radiation allow us to test models that attempt to explain how galaxies formed, as well as theories about what the universe was like a fraction of a second after the big bang.
Our ability to test these theories depends on continuing to develop new telescopes. I am currently working on the design of several new instruments including the Planck Surveyor satellite, scheduled for launch in 2007
My research focuses on calculations performed under different model frameworks: particle rotor, total routhian surface, cranking shell, tilted axis cranking, and interacting boson models.
The amount of available experimental data has increased dramatically since the completion of GAMMASPHERE, the high sensitivity detector system based at Argonne National Laboratory. In my research I try to understand specific features seen experimentally, not understood so far, by employing different theoretical models and at the same time, I test proposed theoretical models against systematic trends of the available experimental data.
My research is conducted at the UR and, for limited periods of time, with experienced theoretical and experimental groups, at the University of Tennessee, the Tennessee Technical University, Yale University, SUNY at Stony Brook, Argonne National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It is complementary to and supportive of studies with the proposed Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA) and the Gamma-Ray Energy Tracking Array (GRETA), which are the highest priority projects of the DoE and NSF in the present decade.
I am a strong supporter of undergraduate research, which I consider to be the epitome of teaching and active learning, and therefore I involve students in my research activities.
My research is focused on the experimental program at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Laboratory to explore the quark nature of matter with a recent excursion into nuclear arms policy. I have also developed inquiry-based laboratories for introductory physics and undergraduate quantum mechanics.
We now know that particles called quarks are the basis for the atoms, molecules, and atomic nuclei that form us and our world. Nevertheless, how these quarks actually combine to form that matter is still a mystery. I used the unique capabilities of the CLAS detector at Jefferson Lab to make some of the first measurements of little-known electric and magnetic properties of the deuteron. In the past, scattering experiments were confined to reactions where the debris from the collision was in the same plane (usually horizontal) as the incoming and outgoing projectile. With CLAS we can measure particles that are scattered out of that plane and are sensitive to effects that have been often ignored up to now. These measurements will open a new window into the atomic nucleus.
Since 1999 I have been actively involved in science policy. I have worked on methods to secure fissile material in Russia for the US Department of Defense and on identifying new technologies for homeland security with the American Physical Society's Task Force on Countering Terrorism. I am now developing a course on science and security with the Political Science Department.
My research focus is on the self-assembly in block copolymer systems, particularly in thin films. These systems can form two-dimensional periodic structures of cylindrical or spherical micro-domains, with typical periodicities of tens of nanometers. The length scalse of these structures makes such systems important both as laboratories for nano-scale physics, and for their potential applications in nanotechnology. I am currently instrested in understanding the mechanisms by which periodic lattices coarsen from a fine-grained to larger-grained patterns. I am also interested in using the patterns generated by block copolymer self-assembly as templates for nano-scale lithography processes to produce a variety of devices for memory storage and computation. My primary tool for studying these polymers is atomic force microscopy. I am developing a new microscopy laboratory at the University of Richmond around a new state of the art Asylum Research MPF-3D atomic force microscope. It is capable of subnanometer resolution and can measure forces in the picoNewton range.
Biology is still an uncharted territory from a quantitative point of view and thus opens to new fundamental discoveries. Before Newton, the phenomena of mechanical motion were not understood in their simple fundamental form. Likewise in Molecular Biology we are in a pre-Newtonian time. There are many phenomena for which we do not have a quantitative principle. Moreover, until very recently (~ the year 2000) the experimental approach was focused on a single gene at a time. However, a living organism function only through the interaction of thousands of genes; and these interactions are precisely regulated in time. The need to study more than one gene at a time gave birth to the field of Systems Biology.
My research is focused on connecting the experimental facts with quantitative laws in Systems Biology. In the wet lab, we design the experiments to respond to a quantitative hypothesis about gene interactions. The theoretical approach is based on the use of stochastic processes to understand the signal propagation in genetic networks.
For undergraduate students Systems Biology with its quantitative laws is a new and exciting field of study. Students are welcome to participate in these experimental and/or theoretical projects.
