Graduate Student Research Opportunities
Browse list of available research assistant opportunities by Physics faculty.
Contact faculty directly if interested.
Faculty: | Elisa Riedo |
Project Description: | We are looking for creative and brilliant experimental physicists
to join the picoforcelab.org group of Prof. Elisa Riedo. The research will be at the forefront of nanoscience and 2D materials
for applications in nanoelectronics, nano-biosensors and material science.
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Funding Source: | DoE, ARO and Private Sector |
Funding Term: | Entire phd |
Eligibility Requirements: | Brilliant Mind and Motivation |
Faculty: | Glennys Farrar |
Project Description: | Particle physics relevant for sexaquark discovery via lab
experiments and astrophysics. Dark Matter may be an as-yet-
undiscovered stable particle composed of 6 quarks: uuddss,
called sexaquark or S. A parameter-free estimation of its relic
density agrees with DM observation and all lab, cosmological and
astrophysical constraints to date are consistent with expected or
required behavior. This opens multiple lines of research and I
have support for 3 GRAs to work on different aspects as well as
other areas of astroparticle physics and astronomy/cosmology.
Depending on student interests: (1) Simulations of S production
and interactions at the LHC, and development of an optimal
trigger for its detection in Milliqan (LHC experiment lead by NYU’s
Andy Haas). (2) Theoretical investigations aiming to calculate
the amplitude for dissociation of S into 2 Lambda (uds) baryons.
(3) Predictions for the impact of S on the QCD equation of state at
ultrahigh density and the Neutron Star Mass-Radius relation;
constraints on S from gravitational wave and NICER
observations. (4) Constraining S interactions from ultrahigh
energy cosmic ray air showers.
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Funding Source: | NSF |
Funding Term: | 2 years + |
Eligibility Requirements: | Some of the funding is
for members of under-represented groups, most is unrestricted. |
Faculty: | Glennys Farrar |
Project Description: | Astrophysical constraints on light Dark Matter and DM having
significant non-gravitational interactions with ordinary matter. The
best constraints on cold DM (CDM) are from direct and indirect
detection and laboratory production experiments, which have excluded
most WIMP models. However these techniques leave the interesting
parameter space for light dark matter (sexaquarks, axions, fuzzy
axions, massive neutrinos,...) relatively unconstrained.
Generically, these models predict that very small scale density
fluctuations in the Early Universe are smeared out relative to CDM,
generating differences in dwarf galaxy abundances, etc, relative to
CDM expectations. However to obtain robust constraints on DM
requires accounting for the non-trivial impact of the non-standard DM
properties, on the evolution from early universe to structures
observed today; this has not been done in studies so far. In this
project, a variety of tools -- ranging from simulations of galaxy
formation to studies of Milky Way dwarf galaxies and stellar stream
observations — will be brought to bear to derive reliable limits.
Another facet of the project is to determine whether DM-baryon
interactions can explain the observed but unexpected early growth of
supermassive black holes.
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Funding Source: | NSF |
Funding Term: | 2 years + |
Eligibility Requirements: | Some of the funding is
for members of under-represented groups, most is unrestricted. |
Faculty: | Glennys Farrar |
Project Description: | Discovering the origin and structure of the magnetic field of
the Milky Way, and the origins of Ultrahigh Energy and
Galactic Cosmic Rays. This project has multiple aspects
which can be chosen to match student interests. Fundamental
astrophysics: improve our theoretical understanding and the
model description of the large scale magnetic field of the Milky
Way and external galaxies. Astroparticle Physics: Use Auger
and other observations of the UHECR spectrum, composition and
arrival-direction anisotropies, and IceCube and other neutrino
data, to discover or constrain the sources of the highest energy
cosmic rays in the Galaxy and in the Universe. Compare
properties of candidate acceleration sites to these constraints.
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Funding Source: | NSF |
Funding Term: | 2 years + |
Eligibility Requirements: | Some of the funding is
for members of under-represented groups, most is unrestricted. |
Faculty: | Javad Shabani |
Project Description: | Recent superconducting qubit experiments have
demonstrated single and two-qubit gate operations with fidelities
exceeding 99%, placing fault tolerant quantum computation schemes
within reach. Semiconductor based devices have their own merits: fast
manipulation, low-power consumption and a more direct path toward
scalability. We aim to study hybrid superconductor and semiconductor
devices that could have advantages of both systems. This project
investigates quantum devices and qubits to study the Andreev states,
measure and tune charging and Josephson energy in direct current and
microwave frequency regimes.
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Funding Source: | Army Research Office / Air Force Office of Research / Start up |
Funding Term: | 3 years + |
Eligibility Requirements: | 1st or 2nd year graduate student with good
academic record and good communication and teamwork skills |
Faculty: | Aditi Mitra |
Project Description: | My research area is quantum condensed matter theory. There
is typically a lot of flexibility in choosing problems. A possible project could be to work on topological insulators.
These are systems that are insulating in the bulk, and have edge states that are protected by discrete symmetries.
Topological insulators are well understood only for non-interacting fermions. The project would involve understanding
what happens when the fermions are interacting, and also driven out of equilibrium. A second project concerns studying
objects known as "Topological Defects" and how these manifest in driven (Floquet) systems. This project will involve
collaborations with Yifan Wang (CCPP). I am also interested in developing analytic methods to study out of time ordered
correlators and entanglement measures. In addition, interested students can work on Moire materials and the exciting
new field of "twistronics".
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Funding Source: | NSF or DOE |
Funding Term: | 3+ years starting immediately |
Eligibility Requirements: | Core courses or QFT-1. First-year and
Second-year students preferred. |
Faculty: | Jasna Brujic |
Project Description: | The project will involve studying liquid-liquid
phase separation of lipids on the surface of oil-in-water emulsion
droplets. The student will observe the phase separation in 3D using
confocal microscopy, analyze the lipid domain trajectories and thus
deduce the interaction potential between the domains. From this data,
the student will derive the physical origin for the stability of the
domains in terms of electrostatics, curvature and line tension. The
patterns on the droplet surfaces will then be used for controlling the
self-assembly of droplets into well-defined geometries. |
Funding Source: | NSF start-up |
Funding Term: | |
Eligibility Requirements: | 1st or 2nd year graduate student with good
academic record, strong work ethic & communication skills and a strong
interest in experimental physics - either in soft matter or
biophysics. Strong coding skills are a plus for image and data
analysis and interpretation. |
Faculty: | David Pine |
Project Description: | Self-assembly of colloidal crystals with a photonic bandgap and exploring their optical properties. We recently self-assembled a diamond crystal, a longstanding goal in photonics. This opens up a wide spectrum of new research opportunities. This project is primarily experimental and will involve preparing samples and studying their optical properties through experiments and simulations.
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Funding Source: | Army Research Office |
Funding Term: | 3 years |
Eligibility Requirements: | 1st or 2nd year graduate student with good
academic record and a strong work ethic. |
Faculty: | David W. Hogg |
Project Description: | Reverse-engineering an imaging spacecraft for
time-domain astrophysics: We have all the photon detections (times of
arrival and focal-plane positions) for every photon detected by the
NASA GALEX satellite. The information in these photon data about
spacecraft orientation is much greater than the sum of all the
spacecraft pointing calibration data. If we can reverse engineer the
three-axis orientation of the spacecraft from the photon data and
recalibrate the detector plane, we can deliver the first ever
large-scale ultraviolet time-domain data set in astrophysics. We
expect to be able to discover planets around white dwarfs, tidal
disruption events at supermassive black holes, and other valuable
time-domain phenomena. |
Funding Source: | NASA |
Funding Term: | 2 years + |
Eligibility Requirements: | solid coding abilities; ability to
communicate with engineering teams; probability and inference |
Faculty: | Alexandra Zidovska |
Project Description: | Our lab is a cell biophysics lab with the focus on physics of the genome. We use experimental, analytical and computational approaches from biophysics, polymer physics and soft condensed matter physics to reveal physical principles governing behavior of the genome in live cells. Examples of our experimental tools include high-resolution optical microscopy, small angle X-ray scattering and random-positioning machine. Currently available projects range from investigations of physical principles underlying the genome's non-equilibrium organization, dynamics, rheology, emergent phenomena, phase separations, hydrodynamics, functional liquid condensates to astrobiophysics studying the effect of microgravity on the human genome. More details can be found here: https://physics.nyu.edu/zidovskalab/research_general.html or reach out directly to Prof. Zidovska at az45@nyu.edu. |
Funding Source: | NSF / NIH / Start-up |
Funding Term: | 3 years + |
Eligibility Requirements: | 1st and 2nd year graduate students with good academic record and strong work ethic. Strong coding skills a plus, no prior biology knowledge necessary. |