About Physics programs
Physics Faculty
Department of Physics
Location: Building, 50, Room 2600
Phone: (904) 620-2729
Fax: (904) 620-1989
Web Address: www.unf.edu/coas/physics
Dr. Greg Wurtz, Chair
Mission
The mission of the
Department of Physics is to serve the people of the State of Florida and the
nation by providing excellent educational experiences in physics, astronomy,
earth and geological science, and advancing knowledge in physics through
research, and service to the university, public and our profession. As a
primary constituent of a liberal arts education, we seek to foster an
appreciation of the physical world and an understanding of the scientific method
of inquiry. We aspire to install in our students the principles, motivations,
comprehension, and vision to prepare them for careers in physics and related
fields, for physics teaching careers, and for intellectual growth throughout
their lives.
The Program
The Department of Physics offers the Bachelor
of Science degree in physics with the following concentrations: traditional
physics, astrophysics, engineering physics with electrical or mechanical engineering emphases, and computing
emphasis, physics: materials science and premedical physics for those students who desire to matriculate to a
medical school or a graduate program in medical physics. A minor is also
offered in physics. Interested students may decide to major in physics while
choosing the physics teaching option which combines the physics baccalaureate
degree with an education minor. Some students may choose the traditional
physics major along with a minor in business. The department offers
honors-in-the physics major. The department encourages the more
applied-oriented physics majors to take part in industrial internships. Other
opportunities for our majors include a teaching apprenticeship program, and an
exchange program at the University of Technology of Troyes, France.
The importance of
physics in the intellectual and economic life of the 21st century is clear to thoughtful
individuals. The increased use of complex technologies in nanoelectronics,
environmental physics, optics, space and renewable energies, defense, health
care, advanced manufacturing and other industries provides ample evidence that
the value of understanding physics will continue to be important for
individuals and society. Physics provides a strong foundation of skills which
allows for our students to also enter professional and graduate studies both
within and outside the physics discipline. The faculty members are committed to
excellence in undergraduate instruction and have the two-fold objectives of
teaching physics, astronomy, earth and geological sciences to students from all
programs of the university while also educating competent baccalaureate
physicists who engage in active and productive funded research on topics of
current interest to society at large.
Students in the
physics program always participate in the research of our faculty. Currently,
physics students can participate in research on the experimental and
theoretical properties of magnetic semiconductors, superconductors,
magnetic materials, optical studies of correlated electron systems, graphene,
carbon nanotubes, nanophotonic devices, non-linear optical and electrical
transport properties of metamaterials, Dirac materials, nanomagnets, metallic,
complex oxide, and semiconducting nanostructures, theoretical astrophysics of
black holes and dark matter, experimental astrophysical studies of cosmic
rays, and physics history. The department has an extraordinary array of
major research instruments for a comprehensive university of UNF’s size: two
atomic force microscopes, femtosecond pulsed laser, scanning electron
microscope-EDAX and Ebeam lithography, photolithography instrument, Raman
spectrometer, SQUID magnetometer, physical properties measurement system, and
thermal and electron vacuum deposition systems for thin films. In addition, the
department is one of only a handful of primarily undergraduate universities in
the nation that has a Helium liquefier facility and a dual chamber molecular
beam epitaxy (MBE) system used for the fabrication of complex oxide multilayer
films. The department also has a multi-node computer cluster facility for
intensive numerical simulations.
Many physics students
receive financial support from faculty research grants (e.g. National Science
Foundation, Research Corporation, and NASA), and university grants and
scholarships to support their research activities under the mentorship of the
faculty. Students are often times employed by the university and department as
tutors and graders. The department supports students via scholarships (e.g.,
Hercules and Shacter). Two active student clubs are on campus that our majors
often join: the Society of Physics Students and the Astronomy Club.
Many of the physics
graduates at UNF over the past decade have continued their studies in graduate
or professional schools around the nation and the world.
Department of Physics Faculty
Tenure-Track
James L. Garner, Professor (Ph. D. Ohio State University, Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics)
Lev V. Gasparov, Terry Presidential Professor & Associate Dean (Ph. D. Institute for Solid State Physics, Experimental Condensed Matter Physics)
Jason Haraldsen, Associate Professor (Ph. D. University of Tennessee, Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics)
John William Hewitt, Assistant Professor (Ph. D. Northwestern University, Experimental Astrophysics)
Chris Kelso, Associate Professor (Ph. D. University of Chicago, Theoretical Astrophysics)
Jane H. MacGibbon, Associate Professor (Ph. D. University of Cambridge, Theoretical Astrophysics)
Thomas M. Pekarek, Terry Presidential Professor (Ph. D. Purdue University, Experimental Condensed Matter Physics)
Daniel F. Santavicca, Associate Professor (Ph. D. Yale University, Experimental Condensed Matter Physics)
Maitri Warusawithana, Assistant Professor (Ph. D. University of Illinois, Experimental Condensed Matter Physics)
Gregory Wurtz, Associate Professor and Chairman (Ph. D. University of Technology of Compiegne-France, Experimental Condensed Matter Physics)
Lecturers
Lynn B. Albright, Associate Lecturer (Ph. D.
University of California-Riverside, Geology)
John E. Anderson, Associate Lecturer (Ph. D.
Harvard University, Experimental Biophysics)
Warren Huelsnitz, Lecturer (Ph. D. University of Maryland,
Experimental High Energy Physics)
Michael Johnson, Lecturer (Ph. D. University of Wisconsin-Madison,
Geoscience)
James L. Montgomery, Lecturer (M.S.
University of Central Florida, Experimental Optics)
Nirmalkumar G. Patel, Associate Lecturer (Ph.
D. Patel University, India, Experimental Condensed Matter Physics)
Emeritus Faculty
Dennis Gay, Associate Professor (Ph. D.
Florida State University, Experimental Nuclear Physics)
Jay Huebner, Professor (Ph. D. University of
California-Riverside, Experimental Condensed Matter Physics)
Staff
Grace Bosse, Lab Manager and Instructor (Ph.
D. Johns Hopkins University, Experimental Condensed Matter Physics)
Loraine Morgan, Office Manager