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. James L. Garner, 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, 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 often 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, physics history and sensor physics.
The department has an extraordinary array of major research instruments for a
comprehensive university of UNF’s size: two atomic force microscopes, femto sec
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 system used for the fabrication of
complex oxide multilayer films. The department also has a multi-node
computer cluster facility. UNF does not have a graduate program in physics
which means faculty pay full attention to mentoring our undergraduate physics
majors who routinely participate in research utilizing this wide array of
equipment.
Many physics students receive financial support from
faculty research grants (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
students 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 and Chairman (Ph. D.
Ohio State University, Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics)
Thomas M. Pekarek, Terry Presidential Professor (Ph. D.
Purdue University, Experimental Condensed Matter Physics)
Lev V. Gasparov, Terry Presidential Professor (Ph. D.
Institute for Solid State Physics, Experimental Condensed Matter Physics)
Jane H. MacGibbon, Associate Professor (Ph. D. University
of Cambridge, Theoretical Astrophysics)
Gregory Wurtz, Associate Professor (Ph. D. University of
Technology of Troyes-France, 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)
Chris Kelso, Assistant Professor (Ph. D. University of
Chicago, Theoretical Astrophysics)
Jason Haraldsen, Assistant Professor (Ph. D. University
of Tennessee, Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics)
John William Hewitt, Assistant Professor (Ph. D.
Northwestern University, Experimental Astrophysics)
Lecturers
John E. Anderson, Associate Lecturer (Ph. D. Harvard
University, Experimental Biophysics)
Nirmalkumar G. Patel, Associate Lecturer (Ph. D. Patel
University, India, Experimental Condensed Matter Physics)
Lynn B. Albright, Associate Lecturer (Ph. D. University of
California-Riverside, Geology)
James L. Montgomery, Lecturer (M.S. University
of Central Florida, Experimental Optics)
Warren Huelsnitz, Lecturer (Ph. D. University of Maryland, Experimental High Energy Physics)
Emeritus Faculty
Jay Huebner, Professor (Ph. D. University of
California-Riverside, Experimental Condensed Matter Physics)
Dennis Gay, Associate Professor (Ph. D. Florida State
University, Experimental Nuclear Physics)
Staff
Grace Bosse, Lab Manager and Instructor (Ph. D. Johns
Hopkins University, Experimental Condensed Matter Physics)
Trevor Cheatham, Office Manager
