Two options are available to satisfy the writing intensive curriculum (WIC) requirement for physics majors.

1. You can take an experimental physics course, PH 317, where writing takes place through experimental lab reports (details here).
2. You can write a research thesis with guidance from a research mentor (for example, a physics faculty member). For this option, you must enroll in PH 401 (research) and PH 492/493 (thesis) (details here).

The research mentors listed below are potentially available to supervise research, but this list should be treated as a general guide for exploring options rather than a guarantee of research project availability. The best way to find out whether a specific project or advisor is available is to reach out to them directly.

This list was updated in February 2026.

PH 317: Advanced Physics Lab

12 available projects

Project information

• The advanced physics lab gives students experience with designing and performing physics experiments and writing advanced lab reports.
• This course can fulfill the writing intensive major requirement in place of doing research and writing a research thesis.
• As of 2026, this course is being offered in the spring term.

Research at OSU in physics

You'll find many undergraduate research opportunities in the OSU physics department. Below is the most recent list of faculty taking on undergraduate students; see also our page on undergraduate research.

David Craig

Available projects: 1-2

Current students: Emmit Allen ('26), Adrian Fielding ('26), Jake Bullard ('27)

Project information

• Quantum measurements
• Canonical structure of loop quantum cosmology/Hamiltonian cosmology
• Effective dynamics in loop quantum cosmology
• Other topics in quantum theory, gravitation, or mathematical physics

Sanjana Curtis

Available projects: 1

Current students: Maria Bretthauer ('26), Joshua Litchfield ('26)

Project information

• Computational modeling of supernovae

Paul Emigh

Available projects: 0

Current students: Benjamin Johnson ('26), Diego Menendez ('26)

Elizabeth Gire

Project information not up to date.

Current students: Gavin Hawk ('26)
Former students: Scott Shapton ('25), Miranda Seghers ('23)

Project information

• Students use of various sensemaking strategies in PH315 and PH335
• Development of course materials and assessments for Paradigms courses.

Matt Graham

Available projects: 1

Current students: Patrick Moret ('26), Henry Radda ('27), Cole Clayton ('28)
Former students: Logan Winder ('25), Elijah Zacharia ('28)

If interested, the primary intake method to our lab is the URSA-ENGAGE program (apply Fall of every year).

Occasionally, at end of the Spring term, we may have projects available to those who missed URSA-ENGAGE. On-boarding to the lab (new projects) occurs at the end or beginning of the AY only.

Project information

• Optoelectronics: electronic confinement and current generation in emerging semiconductor material.
• Optical laser spectroscopy.
• See our lab web-site and inquire about what interests you.

Kathryn Hadley

Available projects: 2

Former students: David Hannahs-Jackson ('24), Austin Erickson ('24)

Project information

• Computational astrophysics: modeling protostellar systems; Rossby wave instabilities, plasma shocks

Patti Hamerski

Available projects: 2

Former students: Mateo Hall ('25)

Project information

• Connections between usage of generative AI tools and students' creativity/agency in a computational physics course.
• Development of key collaborative skills in a computational physics course, such as sharing code, explaining code, and using collaborative computing workflows.

Jeff Hazboun

Available projects: 2

Current students: Grace Craig ('26), Stephanie Poole ('27)
Former students: Kyle Gourlie ('25), Trevor Le Rarick ('25), Peter Orndoff ('24), Maddie Thompson ('24)

Project information

• Gravitational wave astronomy with pulsar timing arrays
• Using signal analysis, Bayesian data analysis methods and astrostatistics to understand gravity
• Computational astrophysics focused on supermassive binary blackholes.

Davide Lazzati

Available projects: 1

Current students: Jacob Terrell ('26)
Former students: Ian Busby ('25)

Project information

• Available projects span from visualization of numerical results to post-processing of current results (i.e., reading a big file of data and compute some physically meaningful quantity out of it). I am happy to match the project to the student wishes and expectations, as long as it is something I have sufficient expertise to advise.

Yun-Shik Lee

Available projects: 1

Current students: Jacob Rose ('26)
Former students: Cody Worrell ('25), Keegan Bailey-Darland ('25)

Project information

• Quantum control of 2-level system with short optical pulses

Yangqiuting (Doris) Li

Available projects: 1

Current students: Jordan Gates ('26)
Former students: Diego Menendez ('26)

Project information

• Investigating how students make sense of quantum concepts, such as the relationships between the S_x, S_y, and S_z bases in quantum mechanics, and the relationship between quantum measurement and operators.

Ethan Minot

Project information not up to date.

Current students: Oliver Tamburro ('27), Ethan Hogan ('28)
Former students: Miller Nelson ('25), Ryuu Joy ('25), Donovan Burke ('25), Bryce Wall ('24)

Project information

• Automation of a semiconductor probe station robotic stage to measure many novel transistors on a chip. Develop a data analysis program (in Python) to summarize results.
• Analysis of microscope images (utilizing machine learning) to automate the identification of two-dimensional semiconductors that are one- or few-atomic-layers in thickness.

Oksana Ostroverkhova

Available projects: 2

Current students: Alex Tubby ('25), Corey Cleveland ('26), Kieran King ('26), Hunter Eveland ('26), Damian Maxwell ('27), Thorn O'Neill ('27), Xander Frankel ('29)
Former students: Aidan Harlow ('26), Madalyn Gragg ('25), James Nelson ('25), Aidan Bagshaw ('25), Nathan Duggan ('25), Josiah Chan ('25), Jason Culley ('24), Claire Swartz ('24)

Project information

• Fabrication and characterization of 2D magnetic materials; organic photonic devices

Vanessa Polito

Project information not up to date.

Current students: Nicolas Jacobson ('26)
Former students: Natalie Rodgers ('25), Jackson Gessner ('24)

Project information

• Solar physics research projects will involve analysis of data from NASA satellites to study solar flares or other energetic events on the Sun and/or comparison with computational models.

Weihong Qiu

Project information not up to date.

Former students: Owen Williamson ('24)

Project information

• Computational biophysics: modeling the interaction between molecular motors with microtubules;
• Experimental biophysics: determine how molecular motors determine the directionality of movement

Heidi Schellman

Project information not up to date.

Available projects: 0

Former students: Phoebe Andromeda ('25)

Project information

• Neutrino physics and large scale data analysis.

Xavier Siemens

Project information not up to date.

Current students: Charles Axford ('26), Kien Peter ('26),
Former students: Morgan Sylvia, Titus Black, Natalie Rodgers ('25), Mateo Hall ('25), Samuel Dressel, Kyle Gourlie ('25), Ethan Shingleton

Project information

• Pulsar searching in radio telescope data
• Gravitational wave searches in pulsar timing data

Bo Sun

Available projects: 2

Former students: Nate Hastings ('25), Hanna O'Meara ('24), Ty Zuber ('24), Hailey Richter ('24)

Project information

• Hyperuniformity in multicellular systems
• Characterizing cell motility in latent space

Evan Thatcher

Available projects: 2

Current students: Ian Wakeling ('26)
Former students: Miranda Seghers ('25)

Project information

Physics Education Research:

• Student math preparation and success in PH201
• Student use of sensemaking in PH201

Rebecka Tumblin

Available projects: 1

Former students: Vincent Vaughn-Uding ('25), Sparrow Holtby

Project information

• Computational astrophysics - modeling the star formation using computational fluid dynamics. Investigating the evolution of rapidly rotating protostars as an evolutionary avenue towards binary star formation.

KC Walsh

Available projects: 0

Former students: Toll, M ('23)

Research at OSU outside physics

Learning physics means building skills that are applicable in a wide variety of areas beyond the research we do in our physics department. Many physics majors have found success doing research with advisors from other academic disciplines. Here are several research advisors who have advised physics students recently.

Note: Project information not up to date in this section.

Paul Ha-Yeon Cheong

• Department of Chemistry
• Computational chemistry

Chong Fang

• Department of Chemistry
• Femtosecond transient absorption (electronic) spectroscopy and stimulated Raman (vibrational) spectroscopy on functional molecular systems ranging from fluorescent protein biosensors, metal-organic frameworks, battery electrolytes, to optoelectronics
• Students: Sullivan Bailey-Darland ('23), Hope Smith ('26), Joshua Lee ('27)
• 2 available projects for 2025-26
• Contact Dr. Fang at [email protected] or visit the group website.
• Also see publications here: https://fanglab.oregonstate.edu/publication-list

Pavel Kornilovich

• Hewlett Packard
• Computational stable knots in nematic liquid crystals

Erin Pettit

• College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences
• Glacier and ice sheet dynamics, ice/ocean interactions, ice rheology and deformation, ice-core climate history

Vince Remcho

• Department of Chemistry
• Students: Chirica ('23)
• No available projects for 2025-26

Nick Siler

• College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences
• Mountain precipitation and hydrology, global hydrologic cycle, regional climate change and variability
• Students: Marty Weigel ('25)
• No available projects for 2025-26

Brian Woods

• College of Engineering
• Experimental and computational fluid dynamics, nuclear reactor thermal-hydraulics, and reactor safety
• Students: Holler ('23), Miles, H ('24)

If you believe any information on this page is inaccurate or should be updated, please contact department webmaster Bo Sun.