Student involvement in research (PhD)

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Student involvement in research (UG and Masters)

Our department has a long and successful history involving students in research. Students work jointly with faculty on research projects and are often coauthors on publication. To this end students are required to take 2 or 3 electives preparing them for the research experience.

I am continuing this tradition. A have a small group of students working in my computational lab on aspects of research problems, accessible to them. This often results in publications with students coauthors, many of them in the best journals of my field: polymer science and biophysics.

This is a new and interdisciplinary (chemistry, engineering, biology) research area in a field (thermo and statistical mechanics) in which students at SDSU receive as yet a low level of formal training. Hence interested students should consider themselves as pioneers, willing to put in additional time and efforts.

On the other hand, this is a very fast growing subfield of physics at the forefront of 21th century cutting edge research. Moreover, many industries like to hire employees with interdisciplinary training at the cross point between physical, computational, and the life sciences. After finishing their degree most students receive additional training at a doctoral level, which even for industrial positions is a must in this complex field. Hence a 3-3.5 grade point average is a must. (since this is required prereq for doctoral programs). Starting a research project without having the abilities to succeed in the extreme competitive environment of theoretical condensed matter physics, will be a waste of your time.

Students are advised to contact me early on. Most of my UG students start research during the summer after their sophomore year. Graduate students can start during their first year on campus.

Electives that prepare students for a research experience in my group are: Computational Physics (580), Polymer Science (538).

Students will be able to take these electives while working on their research projects. However, they will need to finish them before enrolling in a thesis class (498B or 799).

Not all electives are offered every year. If this causes a problem, students will be able to enroll in a special study section with me to learn the material. This may or may not result in course credit.