The Physics Home Page

The Physics Department at Wright State University is a medium size department, with around 40+ majors, 20+ MS students, 15 faculty and 4 research professors.

For undergraduate students, we provide a wide variety of programs from straight physics to concentrations in computation and education. Graduate students can choose either a Master's of Science (Physics) or a Master's in Teaching (Physics), or an interdisciplinary PhD (Biomedical Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Engineering).

The major research areas of the faculty include atmospheric science, biophysics, geophysics, materials science, nanotechnology, and physics education. They study topics as fundamental as chemical reactions in the atmosphere of Mars to topics with societal impact such as the use of T-rays for full-body scanners at airports.

The Physics Department leads the college, the university, and the country in a variety of measures. For instance,

• in 2010, two graduate students received national SMART fellowships to pursue a PhD degree,
• our four national fellows (an American Geophysical Union fellow, two American Physical Society fellows, an IEEE fellow) is unmatched at WSU and, per faculty, is above some of the largest doctoral programs such as Kansas State University,
• our five female faculty, per faculty, is above the national average of women faculty in physics departments,
• the external research funding received by physics faculty over the last five years is tops in the college, averaging over $2.5M a year,
• the first ever International Conference on Zinc Oxide was organized at WSU. Zinc oxide is the next generation optical material, with applications ranging from suncreams to DVD lasers.

Our research programs are associated with the Institute for the Development and Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology (IDCAST), the Semiconductor Research Center at WSU and the department houses the WeEXCEL center in science education.

Click the links on the left for additional information on any of the above or contact us.