Cross-Disciplinary Physics
What is the Cross-Disciplinary Physics Program?
The Cross-Disciplinary Physics (CDP) Program at the University of Rochester is centered in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and is operated in collaboration with faculty holding primary appointments in other departments in the College including:
- the School of Engineering and Applied Science,
- the Laboratory for Laser Energetics,
- the Medical School, and
- a selection of distinguished Industrial Partner laboratories.
Under this program, participating faculty and scientists with primary appointments in the Institute of Optics, the Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemistry, and Radiology and in Industrial Partner laboratories advise and supervise the research and training of Ph.D. students matriculated in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Graduate students in the CDP program are admitted as regular graduate students into the Department of Physics and Astronomy (PAS). Like most PAS graduate students, they typically join a PAS related research group in the second or third year of their graduate work. Students receive their Ph.D. degree in Physics and satisfy all standard requirements of the Physics Ph.D.
How is Physics Ph.D. research carried out in the Rochester "CDP" Program?
At the University of Rochester, research in the various fields of Physics is done within the Department of Physics and Astronomy, in many Science and Engineering Departments, and in our Industrial Cohort laboratories. Student may freely join a research group led by a researcher with a faculty appointment (either primary or secondary) within the Department of Physics and Astronomy and continue on to a Ph.D. thesis. Students who are interested in working with a research group outside the Department are assigned both an Internal Advisor (who holds a faculty position in the department and who normally works in a closely related field) and an External Advisor. In most of these cases, it is the External Advisor who provides support and facilities for the studentís research and it is the External Advisor who provides the day to day supervision of the studentís Ph.D. research. About one third of the hundred or so graduate students in Department carry out their Ph.D. research in this mode. The CDP Program is directed by the Graduate Support and Awards Coordinator for the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Professor Nicholas Bigelow.
What kinds of Physics opportunities are currently available outside of the Department through the CDP Program?
At present the research in the CDP program spans the following sub-fields:
- Accelerator Physics, e.g. with Fermilab
- Atomic and Molecular Physics, e.g. with Optics, LLE, ECE, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Material Science)
- Biological and Medical Physics e.g. Biophysics and Structural Biology cluster, see http://dbb.urmc.rochester.edu/bsb/ ; Radiology, see http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/radiology/ . ; Chemistry, Biology, Optics, BCS, Medical Center.
- Chemical Physics, e.g. with Chemistry, Chemical Engineering. Kodak, Xerox
- Communication, Computational and Information, e.g. with Optics, ECE, Lucent
- Physics Plasma Physics and Fusion, e.g. with LLE, Mech. E.
- Condensed Matter Physics, e.g. with LLE, Chemistry, Optics, Material Science, Chemical Engineering, Mech. Engineering
- Low Temperature Physics, e.g. with ECE
- Materials Science
- Micro-Electronics, e.g. with ECE, Optics
- Optical and Laser Physics, e.g. with Optics, LLE, Chemistry
- Quantum Optics, e.g. with Optics, ECE
Are undergraduates involved in the CDP Program?
In addition to active participation of over 30 graduate students in the CDP program, many undergraduates participate in the departmentís Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program and can also carry out their research within the CDP Program and gain experience working with the CDP research scientists. During summer months, CDP graduate students frequently interact with NSF REU students. The graduate - undergraduate interactions are invaluable and provide REU participants with a unique understanding of the Graduate experience.
Which University of Rochester Faculty supervise CDP students?
Naturally, all faculty with primary appointments in the Department of Physics and Astronomy are involved in CDP. In addition there are a selection of faculty with secondary appointments in Physics and/or Astronomy who supervise CDP students. In addition to this group, an excellent array of faculty and scientists at the University have supervised PAS students within the CDP structure.
For information about faculty with primary appointments in the department of Physics and Astronomy, see http://www.pas.rochester.edu. Faculty with secondary appointments in PAS, and faculty and staff scientists who have supervised PAS research students are listed in Tables I and II below.
Who are the CDP Internal Advisors?
The following primary appointment Faculty from the Department of Physics and Astronomy typically serve as internal advisors in the various fields of encompassed by the CDP program:
- Accelerator Physics : Adrian Melissinos
- Biological and Medical Physics : Yongli Gao and Robert Knox
- Low Temperature Physics, Condensed Matter Physics, Chemical Physics and Materials Science : Nicholas Bigelow, David Douglass, Yongli Gao, Yonathan Shapir, Steve Teitel, and Dan Watson
- Plasma Physics and Fusion : Eric Blackman and Adam Frank
- Quantum Optics and Optical and Laser Physics : Nicholas Bigelow, Joe Eberly, John Howell, Adrian Melissinos and Emil Wolf
Who are the CDP Industrial Partners?
Currently, or in recent years, CDP Ph.D. students have carried out research with CDP cohorts at:
- Kodak Research Laboratories (summer internships possible in Chemical Physics and Medical Physics. For Medical Physics contact Rochester Alumnus Xiaohui Wang, xiaohui.wang@kodak.com, for Chemical/Optical Physics contact Prof. Spoonhower, jps@pas.rochester.edu )
- The Xerox Corporation (summer internships possible, contact Prof. Yongli Gao ygao@pas.rochester.edu )
- Lucent Laboratories (summer internships possible. For Optical Science contact Rochester Alumnus George Fischer gfischer1@lucent.com)
- KLA-Tencor (summer internships possible in Optical Science and Semiconductors. Contact Rochester Alumnus Qun (Joe) Fan Joe.Fan@kla-tencor.com, also http://ktrecruits.com/engineering)
- MIT Lincoln Labs (summer internships possible. Contact Rochester Alumnus Mark Dickson, mrd@ll.mit.edu )
- National Laboratories such as Fermilab and Brookhaven (contact Arie Bodek, bodek@pas.rochester.edu for Accelerator Physics options)
Who else at the U of R is concerned with CDP Students?
Many Faculty and Staff outside of PAS carry out research, which is often also recognized as "Physics" by the professional community. A list of recent participants and interested faculty from the CDP program. These include faculty who hold joint appointments in PAS, as in Table I, and allied Faculty and Staff, as in Table II.
Table I - U of R Faculty with Joint Appointments in PAS
| Faculty Member | Status | Area of Research |
| Agrawal, Govind P | Professor of Optics (and Physics) | Optical Physics and Lasers |
| Betti, Ricardo | Associate Prof. of Mech. Engineering (and Physics), and Scientist Laboratory for Laser Energetics | Plasma Physics and Fusion |
| Bocko, Mark F | Professor of Electrical Engineering (and Physics) | Quantum Information/Signal Processing |
| Boyd, Robert W | Professor of Optics (and Physics) | Optical Physics and Lasers |
| Conwell, Esther | Professor of Chemistry (and Physics) ) | Chemical and Biological Physics |
| Foster, Thomas H. | Professor of Imaging Sciences (and Physics) | Experimental Biological/Medical Physics |
| Meyerhofer, David D. | Professor of Mechanical Engineering (and Physics), and Senior Scientist Laboratory for Laser Energetics, Assistant to the Director of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics | Plasma Physics and Fusion, and Optical and Atomic Physics and Lasers |
| McCrory, Robert I | Professor of Mechanical Engineering (and Physics), Senior Scientist Laboratory for Laser Energetics, Director of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics | Plasma Physics and Fusion |
| Rothberg, Lewis | Professor of Chemistry (and Physics) | Chemical and Condensed Matter Physics |
| Simon, Albert | Professor of Mechanical Engineering (and Physics), and Senior Scientist Laboratory for Laser Energetics | Theoretical Plasma Physics |
| Spoohower, John | Senior Scientist, Eastman Kodak (and Adjunct Associate Professor of Physics). | Experimental Condensed Matter Physics |
| Stroud, Carlos R., Jr. | Professor of Optics (and Physics) | Experimental Quantum Optics |
| Thomas, John H. | Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Science (and of Astronomy) | Theoretical Astrophysics and Plasma Physics |
| Van Horn, Hugh | Director, NSF Astronomy Division (and Adjunct Professor of Physics and Astronomy) | Theoretical Astrophysics |
| Zhong, Jianhui | Professor of Imaging Sciences (and Physics) | Biological and Medical Physics and Imaging |
Table II - U of R Faculty with Past or Future Interest and/or Experience in Supervising CDP Students
| Name | Position | Principal Area of Research |
| Berger, Andrew J. | Associate Professor of Optics (and Biomedical Engineering) | Medical Physics |
| Brown, Thomas G. | Associate Professor of Optics | Optoelectronics |
| Chen, Shaw-Horn | Professor of Chemical Engineering | Chemical Physics |
| Chimowitz, Eldred H | Professor of Chemical Engineering | Chemical Physics |
| Craxton, Stephen R | Senior Scientist Laboratory for Laser Energetics | Plasma Physics, Lasers and Fusion |
| Donaldson, William R | Scientist, Laboratory for Laser Energetics | Optical Physics and Lasers |
| Farrar, James M | Professor of Chemistry | Chemical Physics |
| Fauchet, Phillippe | Professor of Electrical Engineering and Optics, Senior Scientist Laboratory for Laser Energetics | Material Science, Biological and Optical Physics |
| Feldman, Marc J | Professor of Electrical Engineering and Senior Scientist, Laboratory for Laser Energetics | Quantum Information, Material Science, Condensed Matter Physics |
| Fienup, James R. | Professor of Optics | Imaging Processing, Wave Front Sensing |
| George, Nicholas | Professor of Optics and EE | Optical Physics and Lasers |
| Goldfarb, David H. | Professor of Biology | Biological aging Physics |
| Guo,Chunlei | Professor of Optics | Femtosecond laser-matter interactions |
| Hsiang, Thomas Y. | Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering | Optoelectronics, Superconductivity, Ultrafast Phenomena |
| Jacobs, Stephen D. | Professor of Chem E and Scientist, Laboratory for Laser Energetics | Liquid Crystal Optics |
| Jones, Thomas B. | Professor of Electrical Engineering | High-speed microactuation of liquid for the laboratory on a chip |
| Jorne, Jacob | Professor of Chemical Engineering | Chemical Physics |
| Knauer, Jim | Scientist, Laboratory for Laser Energetics | Plasma Physics and Fusion |
| Knox, Wayne H. | Professor of Optics | Ultrafast Optics and Telecommunications |
| Kraus, Todd | Assistant Professor of Chemistry | Spectroscopy of nanometer-scale materials |
| Mathews, David | Assist. Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics | Calculational RNA |
| Moore, Duncan T. | Professor of Optics | Optical Engineering |
| Ning, Ruola | Professor of Imaging Sciences | Medical Physics |
| Novotny, Lukas | Professor of Optics (and Physics) | Optical Physics and Lasers |
| Ovchinnikov, Misha | Assist. Prof of Chemistry | Quantum Molecular Dynamics |
| Parker, Kevin | Electrical Engineering | Condensed Matter, Biological Physics |
| Pouget, Alexandre | Professor of Brain and Cognitive Science and Center for Visual Science | Biological Physics,cortical mechanisms of motion and form perception; visual memory |
| Seka, Wolf | Associate Professor of Optics and Senior Scientist Laboratory for Laser Energetics | Optical Physics and Lasers |
| Schroder, Wolf-Udo | Professor of Chemistry | Nuclear Chemistry/heavy ions |
| Sobolewski, Roman | Professor of Electrical Engineering and Senior Scientist, LLE | Ultrafast Optoelectronics, Superconductivity, Quantum communication |
| Syphers, Mike | Senior Scientist, Fermilab | Accelerator Physics |
| Teegarden, Kenneth J. | Professor of Optics | Optical Materials |
| Waag, Robert | Professor of Electrical Engineering | bio-ultrasound; tissue characterization; nondestructive testing |
| Wicks, Gary | Professor of Optics | Material Science, Condensed Matter Physics, Nano-materials |
| Williams, David R. | Professor of Psychology and Professor of Optics | Psychological Optics |
| Wu, David J H | Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and of Microbiology and Immunology | Biological and Medical Physics |
| Yang, Hong Magnetic | Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering | Nanoparticles |
| Yates, Matthew Z. | Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering | Colloids and Interfaces |
| Zavislan, Jes | Associate Professor of Optics Optical Engineering, | Biomedical Optics |