The Department of Physics at the University of Houston is a department of the
performing research traditional fields such as
High Energy Physics and
Condensed Matter Physics
Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid phases which arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms. More generally, the s ...
,
Material Science, and
Biological Physics, but also topics like
Seismic
Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...
and
Medical Imaging. With its physics program, the University of Houston physics department placed 60 (out of 160) in the 2010
United States National Research Council rankings.
The Department works together closely with the
Texas Center for Superconductivity.
Research
The research at the University of Houston's Department of Physics can be structured as
* Biological and Medical Physics: A Bensoula, S. Curran, M. Das, A. Ignatiev, J. Miller, D. Starikov. K. Bassler, M. Cheung, M. Das, G. Gunaratne, W. P. Su, G. C. Morrison
* High Energy, Medium Energy and Heavy Ion Physics: R. Bellwied, E. Hungerford, K. Lau, L. Pinsky, A. Timmins, L. Whitehead. C. Ordonez
* Nanophysics: A. Bensoula, S. Curran, A. Freundlich, A. Ignatiev, H. Peng, D. Starikov, O. Varghese. M. Cheung
* Seismic Physics:
A. Weglein
* Renewable Energy: A. Bensoula, S. Curran, R. Forrest, A. Freundlich, V. Selvamanickam, D. Starikov, D. Stokes, O. Varghese. M. Cheung, S. Curran, A. Freundlich.
* Planetary Science, Space Physics and Radiation Physics
* Econophysics, Statistical and Non-Linear Physics, Complexity & Network Science: S. Curran. M. Cheung, K. Bassler, E. Brittner, G. Gunaratne, B. Hu, V. Lubchenko, J. McCauley, G.C. Morrison
* Superconductivity:
Paul Chu (朱經武), C. W. Chu, W. K. Chu, P. Hor, J. Miller, S. H. Pan. K. Bassler, G. F. Reiter, W. P. Su, C. S. Ting
Teaching
The department offers a bachelor of science degree in physics, possibly with a geophysics specialization, and a bachelor of arts degree in physics. In the near future
there will also be a bachelor of science degree in computational physics. At the graduate level, the department offers a master of science and doctorate of philosophy in physics.
In the press
Prof
Oomman Vargheseand Maggie Paulose are listed on Thomson Reuters 2014 list of highly cited researchers in materials science, and also included on the list of the ''World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds'' as the University of Houston's president
Renu Khator pointed out in her fall address in 2014.
Prof
Kevin E Basslerwas awarded the ''John and Rebecca
Moores
Moores the Suit People, Corp., operating as Moores Clothing for Men, is a Canadian company specializing in business clothing and Formal wear, formalwear for men. It is an affiliate of Men's Wearhouse in the United States.
The company's ad sloga ...
Professorship'' in 2014. Being hired in 1998 he became
tenure-track
assistant professor
Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada.
Overview
This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and gene ...
in 2000. His PhD thesis (1985-1990) was on statistical mechanics of commensurate-incommensurate phase transitions under the supervision of
Robert Griffiths.
Prof
Simon Charles Mossjoined the physics department in 1972 performing research on the full gamut of materials from hetero- structures and multilayers to quasi-crystals and decagonal crystals using x-ray and neutron scattering as probes of order in matter. He died of a heart attack on 14 March 2011.
References
{{University of Houston, show=no
Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Physics departments in the United States