The Campus of Northeastern University

Founded in 1898, Northeastern University is a privately endowed, nonsectarian institution of higher learning. The University offers a variety of curricula through seven undergraduate colleges, nine graduate and professional schools, two part-time undergraduate divisions, a number of continuing education programs, an extensive research division, and several institutes. The department offers opportunities for students to work on a wide range of groundbreaking research programs with an internationally recognized faculty whose goal is to provide an effective education to students with varied backgrounds.

The Community
The University is located in the Back Bay section of Boston, close to the Museum of Fine Arts, the New England Conservatory of Music, Symphony Hall, and Copley Square. Greater Boston is home to more universities and research facilities than any other area in the world. It is a place where the past is appreciated, the present enjoyed, and the future anticipated.

In the fall, 23,415 students were enrolled at the University, representing a wide variety of academic, professional, geographic, and cultural backgrounds. The department enrolled 47 full-time students, of whom 98 percent received some form of financial support. A small number of students were enrolled in the part-time, evening M.S. program. The department awards roughly six Ph.D. degrees and eight M.S. degrees per year. Most graduates have continued to pursue research careers, either in academic institutions as postdoctoral fellows or in industrial, medical, or government laboratories.

Programs of study and degree requirements
The department offers a full-time program leading to the Ph.D. and full-time and part-time evening programs leading to the M.S. or M.A.T. Requirements for the Ph.D. include 62 quarter hours of course work, a written qualifying examination, a thesis describing the results of independent research, and a final oral examination. Students may pursue basic research in elementary particle physics, condensed-matter physics, and molecular biophysics or in interdisciplinary areas such as materials science, surface sciences, chemical physics, biophysics, and applied engineering physics. They also may carry out cooperative research at technologically advanced industrial, governmental, and national and international laboratories and at medical research institutions in the Boston area. Requirements for the M.S. and M.A.T. are 42 quarter hours of credit, up to 12 of which may be transfer credit, if approved. Subject to approval, graduate courses in other science and engineering fields may be taken for up to 12 quarter hours. The department offers alternative M.S. options with concentrations in optics and instrumentation. There is no language requirement for any of the three degrees.

Facilities & Resources
The department is housed in the Dana Research Center, with optics and condensed matter labs in the new Egan Research Center. There are ample modern research laboratories, department and student machine shops, an electronics shop, conference and seminar rooms, and faculty and graduate student offices. The Egan Center provides a direct interface with materials researchers in chemistry and engineering and includes extensive meeting space in the Technology Transfer Center. In 1999, the department received a $1.2-million NSF grant to establish the Advanced Scientific Computing Center (ASCC) in the Dana Research Center. The ASCC houses three clusters of computational/visualization workstations connected to an Alpha multiprocessor server. The High Energy Group has its own facilities with an Alpha cluster, an NT cluster, several Linux machines, and links to computer facilities at Fermilab and CERN. The Condensed Matter Theory Group carries out large-scale simulations with Cray and Connection Machine supercomputers as well as locally on Alphas. In addition to the research they do at campus facilities, faculty members and graduate students also work at research centers located in the United States and Europe. High-energy physics experiments are underway at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois, and at the Organisation Europeene pour la Recherche Nucleaire (CERN), Geneva, Switzerland. High-magnetic-field experiments are in progress at the National High-Field Magnet Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida, and Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico. Several groups use the synchrotron facilities at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Long Island, New York, and many faculty members have flourishing collaborations with scientists in Europe, Asia, and South America.

Expenses and Aid
Tuition for the academic year is $1,325 per quarter hour. Books and supplies cost about $950 per year. Tuition charges are made for Ph.D. thesis and continuation. Other charges include the Student Center fee and health and accident insurance fee, which are required of all full-time students.

Housing
On-campus room rates were approximately $2,695 per quarter for a single room and $2,220 per quarter for shared living accommodations. While there are several board options available, graduate students typically pay $1,865 per quarter for a plan offering ten meals per week. Off-campus living accommodations also exist in the vicinity of the University.

Financial Aid
Northeastern awards financial aid through the Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Work-Study, and Federal Stafford Student Loan programs; through Graduate Assistantships in Areas of National Need (GAANN) fellowships; and through minority fellowships, including G. E. Fellowships and Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarships. The Graduate School offers teaching and research assistantships that include tuition remission and a stipend (currently $21,133 for four quarters) and require 20 hours of work per week. Tuition assistantships provide tuition remission and require 10 hours of work per week. The department's newly established Lawrence Award Program honors students with Excellence in Teaching awards, Academic Excellence awards, and a Speaker's Prize.

How to Apply / Application
Although there is no absolute deadline for applying, completed applications should be received by February 15 to secure priority consideration for September acceptance, especially if financial assistance is sought. Scores on the GRE Subject Test in physics are highly desirable. The latter is given considerable weight in the admissions and assistantship awarding process when the number of applicants is high. For international students, a TOEFL score is required for admission.

Who to contact
Department of Physics
Northeastern University
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Telephone: 617-373-2902
E-mail: grad-admin@physics.neu.edu
http://www.physics.neu.edu

THE FACULTY AND THEIR RESEARCH

Professors

• Paul M. Champion, Chairperson; Ph.D., Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1975. Biological and medical physics.
  
• Ronald Aaron, Ph.D., Pennsylvania, 1961. Medical physics.
  
• Petros Argyres (Emeritus), Ph.D., Berkeley, 1954. Condensed-matter theory.
  
• Arun Bansil, Ph.D., Harvard, 1974. Condensed-matter theory.
  
• Alan H. Cromer, Ph.D., Cornell, 1960. Education.
  
• William L. Faissler (Emeritus), Ph.D., Harvard, 1967. High-energy experimental physics.
  
• David A. Garelick, Ph.D., MIT, 1963. Medical physics.
  
• Michael J. Glaubman (Emeritus), Ph.D., Illinois, 1953. High-energy experimental physics.
  
• Hyman Goldberg, Ph.D., MIT, 1963. Particle theory.
  
• Walter Hauser (Emeritus), Ph.D., MIT, 1950. Education.
  
• Donald Heiman, Ph.D., California, Irvine, 1975. Condensed-matter experimental physics.
  
• Jorge V. José, D.Sc., National of Mexico, 1976. Condensed-matter theory.
  
• Alain Karma, Ph.D., California, Santa Barbara, 1986. Condensed-matter theory.
  
• Robert P. Lowndes, Ph.D., London, 1966. Condensed-matter experimental physics.
  
• Bertram J. Malenka (Emeritus), Ph.D., Harvard, 1951. Particle theory.
  
• Robert S. Markiewicz, Graduate Coordinator; Ph.D., Berkeley, 1975. Condensed-matter experimental physics.
  
• Pran Nath, Ph.D., Stanford, 1964. Particle theory.
  
• Clive H. Perry, Ph.D., London, 1960. Condensed-matter experimental physics.
  
• Stephen Reucroft, Ph.D., Liverpool, 1969. High-energy experimental physics.
  
• Eugene J. Saletan (Emeritus), Ph.D., Princeton, 1962. High-energy experimental physics.
  
• Carl A. Shiffman, D.Phil., Oxford, 1956. Medical physics.
  
• Jeffrey B. Sokoloff, Ph.D., MIT, 1967. Condensed-matter theory.
  
• Srinivas Sridhar, Ph.D., Caltech, 1983. Condensed-matter experimental physics.
  
• Yogendra N. Srivastava, Ph.D., Indiana, 1964. Particle theory.
  
• Tomasz Taylor, Ph.D., Warsaw, 1981. Particle theory.
  
• Michael T. Vaughn, Ph.D., Purdue, 1960. Particle theory.
  
• Eberhard von Goeler, Ph.D., Illinois, 1961. High-energy experimental physics.
  
• Allan Widom, Ph.D., Cornell, 1967. Condensed-matter theory.
  
• Fa-Yueh Wu, Ph.D., Washington (St. Louis), 1963. Condensed-matter theory.
  

Associate Professors

• George Alverson, Ph.D., Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1979. High-energy experimental physics.
  
• Nathan Israeloff, Ph.D., Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1990. Condensed-matter experimental physics.
  
• Marie E. Machacek, Ph.D., Iowa, 1973. Particle theory.
  
• J. Timothy Sage, Ph.D., Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1986. Molecular biophysics.
  
• John D. Swain, Ph.D., Toronto, 1990. High-energy experimental physics.
  
• Darien Wood, Ph.D., Berkeley, 1987. High-energy experimental physics.
  

Research Associates

• Bernardo Barbiellini, Ph.D., Geneva, 1991. Condensed-matter theory. Christopher Beck, Ph.D. Tufts, 2000. Biophysics. Svitlana Berezhna, Ph.D., Liv State I. Frnako (Ukraine), 1996. Biophysics. Blas Echebarria, Ph.D., Navarra (Spain), 1998. Condensed-matter theory. Stanislaw Kaprzyk, Ph.D., Academy of Metallurgy (Krakow), 1981. Condensed-matter theory. Matti Lindroos, Ph.D., Tampere Tech (Finland), 1979. Condensed-matter theory. Neeti Parashar, Ph.D., Delhi, 1995. High-energy experimental physics. Thomas
• Paul, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, 1994. High-energy experimental physics. Elizabetta Sassaroli, Ph.D., Northeastern, 1994. Particle theory. Dennis Shpakov, Ph.D., SUNY at Stony Brook, 2000. High-energy experimental physics. Mari Watanabe, Ph.D., Cornell, 1995. Condensed-matter theory.
  

Adjunct Professors

Nathaniel Alpert, Ph.D., Northeastern, 1970. Biomedical physics. George Tze Yung Chen, Ph.D., Brown, 1972. Biomedical physics. John Dobbs, Ph.D., Pennsylvania. Biomedical physics. Graham Farmelo, Ph.D., Liverpool, 1977. High-energy experimental physics. Howard Fenker, Ph.D., Vanderbilt, 1978. High-energy experimental physics. Wolfhard Kern, Ph.D., Bonn (Germany), 1958. High-energy experimental physics and education. Peter Mijnarends, Ph.D., Delft (the Netherlands), 1969. Condensed-matter theory. C. Robert Morgan, Ph.D., MIT, 1969. Condensed-matter theory. Jorge H. Moromisato, Ph.D., Northeastern, 1971. High-energy experimental physics. Fabio Sauli, Ph.D., Trieste (Italy), 1963. High-energy experimental physics. Alfred Smith, Ph.D., Texas Tech, 1970. Biomedical physics. Goran Svensson, Ph.D., Lund (Sweden), 1967. Biomedical physics.

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

Experimental Condensed-Matter Physics. Research activities focus on high-temperature superconductors (HTSC), semiconductors, and magnetic materials. HTSC research includes fundamental studies of order parameter symmetry and vortex dynamics; flux-lattice melting; Josephson-junction arrays; low-field HTSC magnets; linear and nonlinear electrodynamics of HTSCs; electromagnetic response of HTSCs at far infrared, microwave, and radio frequencies; growth and characterization of new HTSC ceramics and single crystals; and factors limiting critical currents. Research on semiconductors includes correlated electron and quantum Hall effects, 2-D metal-insulator transition and electron solid; magnetooptical spectroscopy of nanostructures and quantum layers and molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) crystal growth. Other areas under investigation are electromagnetic and quantum chaos; Raman, FT-IR, mesoscopic systems, noise, scanning probe microscopy, and nanoscale properties of materials.

Experimental High-Energy Physics. The group is working on three major collider experiments: the L3 detector at LEP at CERN (the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva, Switzerland), the DZero experiment at Fermi National Laboratory outside Chicago, and the CMS experiment now under construction at CERN. These are all frontier experiments probing the electroweak and strong interactions at the highest energy scales, and represent a phased program of research keeping the group at the cutting edge of the experimental investigation of the structure of matter and the forces by which it interacts. The group has also begun an active program in particle astrophysics and is involved in the construction of the Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory in Argentina, which aims to elucidate the origin and nature of the highest energy cosmic rays, and a related outreach program called SCROD, which will put cosmic ray detectors in schools throughout the world. The group has a strong history of doing not just straight experimental particle physics but also the related phenomenology, and keeping an eye out for creative spin-offs of its research with applications in other fields.

Biological and Medical Physics. The group probes the structure and function of macromolecules, metalloproteins, and protein complexes. Specific research areas include electron transport, macromolecular structure, enzyme catalysis, and ligand binding and protein dynamics, using quasi-elastic scattering; transient absorption spectroscopy; Raman, FTIR and fluorescence spectroscopy; femtosecond coherence spectroscopy; measurements of human balance; and novel imaging technologies.

Theoretical Condensed-Matter Physics. Research topics include transport theory, quantum chaos, Fermi liquid theory, charge density waves, and dense dipolar suspensions; and theory of Josephson junctions, catalytic properties of alloys, transport in nanostructures, structural phase transitions in DNA, nanotribology (atomic-level friction), electronic structure of disordered materials, magnetism, ferrites, Fermiology of HTSCs, Van Hove scenario and stripes in HTSCs, exact and rigorous results in statistical mechanics, localization and percolation in order-disorder phase transitions, positron annihilation and photoemission spectroscopy, and nonlinear dynamics and pattern formation.

Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics. Fundamental research includes the study of unified models based on supersymmetry and superstrings; unified gauge theories in the TeV range, and precision calculations within and beyond the Standard Model; particle physics in the early universe; proton stability and neutrino masses; electroweak anomaly in the observed asymmetry of the baryon number, gravitational theory and quantum gravity, Kaluza-Klein theories and large-radius compactification, and computer simulations of topological structures in field theory; and finite temperature effects in quantum chromodynamics.

Go To Profile Index Page

Go To Top Of Page