Doctoral Program in Physics

The Physics program at Brooklyn College continues to track important changes in the field of physics and related fields. Significant new resources (over $1m in research equipment recently) along with five new hires in the last four years support new initiatives in science and education. Faculty members are working in a wide range of fields, many crossing the boundaries of traditional academic disciplines. Interdisciplinary research collaborations with faculty in other departments at Brooklyn College, at CUNY, internationally and with industry provide an excellent research experience for students working with Physics Department professors. Current research includes a rapidly group doing work in expanding contemporary experimental condensed matter physics. There is also strength in theoretical condensed matter physics and atomic physics; theoretical nuclear physics; numerical simulations/statistical physics; and environmental science.

Research
In the area of experimental condensed matter physics/materials science, research focuses on the following: the study of semiconductor interfaces, epitaxial growth of electronic materials, and electrical and structural characterizations of materials and interfaces; the study of ultrafast dynamic processes involving photo-generated carriers, including quasi-ballistic carrier transport, inter-valley scattering, and energy/ momentum relaxation in semiconductor nanostructures and nanodevices, for the next generation of nanoelectronics and nanophotonics; the synthesis of semiconductor materials such as quantum dots and nanowires, anddevices based on those materials; the study of semiconductor materials suitablefor the next generation of electronic and photonic devices such as deep UV emitters and detectors.

In the area of theoretical condensed matter physics and atomic physics, research focuses on understanding electronic structure using quantal density functional theory, with applications to atoms, molecules, and solids. Other work employs computer simulations to address questions in complex fluids and soft condensed matter. In the area of theoretical nuclear physics, research focuses on nucleon-nucleon and pion-nucleon interactions, nuclear bremsstrahlung, and relativistic quantum theory of nuclei.

In the area of environmental science, research focuses on studies of energy use and its impact on climate change, as well as on the physics and chemistry of global ecology. Experimental work uses NMR with ionic and non-ionic materials to contribute to new electrochemical devises.

Research Resources and Equipment
Brooklyn College is regarded as one of the most technologically advanced campuses in the CUNY system. Students do experimental research work in our well-equipped laboratories, which feature state-of-the-art equipment for the characterization of materials and devices, as well as some facilities for materials growth and device fabrication. Students working in theoretical physics have access to high-power computing facilities in the department, on the Brooklyn College Campus, and at CUNY, which has shared high-performance computing resources available to both faculty and graduate students. The recently refurbished and expanded Brooklyn College Library houses more than 1.3 million print volumes and provides access to over 40,000 electronic books and over 28,000 electronic journals.

Physics faculty members currently have grants from the National Science Foundation, the New York State Center for Advanced Technology, Stony Brook University, and private industry. Research laboratory space exceeds 36,000 square feet in a five-story science building, and planning is under way for a completely new science facility for education and research. A broad range of state-of-the-art research instrumentation is available in the department. These resources, along with shared-use facilities in other departments and research centers; our already established facilities in optical spectroscopy, surface spectroscopy, electron microscopy, scanning probe microscopy, and molecular beam epitaxy; and an accomplished, research-active faculty present an exciting environment for incoming doctoral students in which to conduct their doctoral research.

Several of the BC faculty are active participants in the CUNY Photonics initiative, including the New York State Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) in Ultrafast Photonic Materials and Applications at the City University of New York.

Some of the facilities and equipment available to students doing research in the department can be found by clicking here.

The Brooklyn College Doctoral Program in Physics
The Department of Physics at Brooklyn College provides students with opportunities to pursue original research along with a sound background in the fundamentals of physics. Students may choose a research specialization from the principal areas of modern theoretical and experimental physics.

The program provides a welcoming, supportive environment for graduate students enrolled in the CUNY Ph.D. Program in Physics. Students take courses, some of which are taught by Brooklyn College faculty, at the CUNY Graduate Center in midtown Manhattan. They do all of their research on campus at Brooklyn College, under the close supervision and careful mentoring of our faculty. Thesis research in a variety of specialties is mentored in a student-friendly environment housing state-of-the-art equipment for measurement, analysis, and computation. A low student/faculty ratio means that professors are highly available and supportive.

The research faculty in Physics understands that students are concerned about their careers after the doctoral degree. To ensure our doctoral students are competitive after they obtain their degrees, Brooklyn College offers students free professional development workshops in such areas as science teaching, grant writing, laboratory management, effective scientific communication, writing in the sciences, building a competitive curriculum vita, and preparing for and finding academic, industrial, and research jobs. Faculty commitment to chemistry doctoral students is not complete when they file their dissertations; the faculty continues to provide a supportive professional mentoring network to chemistry doctoral students as they advance in their careers.

• Giovambattista, Nicolas, thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, computational physics/chemistry
  Research focuses on the employment of state-of-the-art computer simulation tools to address fundamental questions in complex fluids and soft condensed matter. Specific areas under study include self-assembly processes, water in confined geometries, nanoparticle systems, disordered and glassy systems.
• Kobrak, Mark
  Research focuses on theoretical physical chemistry, specializing in quantum and classical dynamics in the condensed phase. Current research is on room-temperature ionic liquids, a class of molten salts relevant to green chemistry and of great technological interest.
• Liou, Ming-Kung
  Theoretical research is carried out on a number of topics in nuclear physics, including intermediate energy physics, nuclear forces, nucleon-nucleon and pion-nucleon interactions, nuclear Bremsstrahlung, and neutrino production from nucleon-nucleon scattering. Bremsstrahlung research focuses on nucleon-nucleon, nucleon-nucleus, and pion-nucleon bremsstrahlung processes, using both relativistic and nonrelativistic approaches.
• Liu, Zhiheng
  Research focuses on interdisciplinary studies on optical properties of nanostructures, light-induced processes on solid state surfaces, high resolution optical microscopy, and ultrafast spectroscopy.
• Nakarmi, Mim Lal
  Research focuses on the growth of wide bandgap semiconductors such as GaN, AlN, ZnO using Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) techniques; characterizing the materials for the fundamental understanding of electrical, structural, and optical properties of semiconductor epitaxy and nano-structures; design and fabrication of optoelectronic devices.
• Sahni, Viraht
  Research interests lie in the area of theoretical electronic structure of matter: atoms, molecules, solids, and solid surfaces. The research involves the development of mathematical methods to study such structure within the context of Schroedinger theory, the further understanding of the fundamental aspects of Density Functional theory, and the creation of a new theory of electronic structure named Quantal Density Functional theory.
• Shum, Kai
  Research focuses on design, fabrication, and the characterization of semiconductor nanostructures and optoelectronic devices based on the fundamental understanding of photon-electron interactions in semiconductors.
• Suarez, Sophia N.
  Research focuses on the application of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) techniques in the study of ion and molecular transport in ionic and non-ionic materials, including various proton- and lithium-ion conducting electrolytes for applications in electrochemical devices such as proton conducting electrolyte fuel cells and lithium ion batteries. In the study of non-ionic materials, 2H high-pressure NMR techniques have been developed and applied to study polymers. Ion transport in electrolyte materials is also a topic of current interest.
• Tomkiewicz, Micha
  Research focuses on environmental issues, science and society, photoelectrochemistry, electrochemistry, physics and chemistry of solid-liquid interfaces, morphology and transport properties of composite media, solar-energy conversion and storage, photovoltaic devices, and batteries.
• Tung, Raymond
  Research focuses on (1) interface control: the experimental control of electronic properties at materials interfaces through the use of interlayers and unconventional techniques; and (2) application of simple model calculations based on the partitioning of charge density, on the electronic property at material interfaces.