Department of Physics

Welcome to the Physics Department at American University! Our research labs and facilities include the Institute for Integrated Space Science and Technology (ISSTI), Design and Build Lab (DaBL), and DC Space Grant Consortium.

  • Will Barnes received supplemental funding of $87,461 (new total: $147,461) from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the project “How Are Active Region Properties and Heating Connected?”

  • Frederick Bruhweiler received supplemental funding of $25,000 (new total: $317,869.17) from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the project “Continued Development of IR & Visible Spectrometer and Imaging Arrays for Ground-based & Space-borne Planetary Observations.” He also received supplemental funding of $40,000 (new total: $100,000) from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the project “Development of the MeDDEA Instrument for the PADRE CubeSat Mission to Observe the Sun In High-Energy X-rays.” 

  • Nathan Harshman received supplemental funding of $50,000 from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the project “District of Columbia Space Grant Consortium Budget Proposal for National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program: Opportunities in NASA STEM FY 2020-2024.” Ealier this year he received supplemental funding of $860,000 from NASA" for the project.

  • Philip Johnson (Physics) received supplemental funding of $58,288.28 (new total: $405,044) from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the project “Interpreting Cassini CIRS Data with a Photochemical Model using Improved ab initio Reaction Rate Coefficients.” He also received supplemental funding of $46,340.17 (new total: $158,837.17) from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the project “Revealing Primitive Material Preserved in Solar System Small Bodies.”

  • Nathaniel Roth received a $14,043 grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) for the project “Quantitative Study on the Search for Sulfur-bearing Molecular Ice Signatures.”

  • Nathaniel Roth received an $18,854 grant from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) for the project "Subsurface Thermal Photometry of NEAs: Characterizing the Regolith.” He received a $76,576 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the project "Comet Chemistry Beyond the H2O Sublimation Zone: Interferometric Imaging and Spectroscopy of Distant Comets.”

  • Vladimir Airapetian received supplemental funding of $35,642 from the Space Telescope Science Institute for the project "An X-ray through Radio Exo-Space Weather Campaign to Study the Infant Sun DS Tuc.”

  • Frederick Bruhweiler received supplemental funding of $100,000 (new total: $292,869.17) from NASA for the project "Continued Development of IR & Visible Spectrometer and Imaging Arrays for Ground-based & Space-borne Planetary Observations.” He received a $40,756 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the project “Searching for Superflares and Eruption Events from an Infant Sun, EK Dra.” He also received a $60,000 grant from NASA for the project “Development of the MeDDEA Instrument for the PADRE CubeSat Mission to Observe the Sun In High-Energy X-rays.”

  • Gregory Harry received a $139,844 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the project "Collaborative Research: Development and Characterization of AlGaAs Coatings for Gravitational-wave Detectors.”

    Philip Johnson received supplemental funding of $88,416 (new total: $165,594.75) from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the project "Spectroscopic Investigations of Processed Planetary and Astrophysical Ices with the Sublimation Laboratory Ice Millimeter/submillimeter Experiment.” He also received supplemental funding of $119,759.60 (new total: $1,158,864.60) from NASA for the project "Remote Sensing of Planetary Atmospheres in the Solar System and Beyond."

  • Boncho Bonevreceived a $57,824 grant from Johns Hopkins University for the project “Disentangling natal and post-formation processing in comets through high-resolution infrared observations.”

  • Silvina Guidoni received supplemental funding of $21,699 (new total: $30,699) from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the project “Comprehensive Solar Eruption Models: Understanding Flare Arcades from the Global to Kinetic Scales.”

  • Pankaj Kumarreceived supplemental funding of $107,285 (new total: $167,285) from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the project “Understanding How Solar Filament Channels Form.”

60 Seconds on Preparing for the Future Space Industry

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Prof Nate Harshman connects students and faculty of diverse backgrounds and skill sets with NASA's space missions through the DC Space Grant Consortium.

Read more about cosmology, AU physics—and whimsy in From the Subatomic to the Cosmological: AU’s Professor Nathan Harshman.

 

Voyage into the Sun

Voyage into the Sun

Check out Prof. Silvina Guidoni talking about solar physics in the Voyage to the Sun documentary!

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Nate Harshman

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Appointments available online noon-5:00 weekdays.

 

Staff Directory

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Stars. Photo by: Benjamin Voros

Science ·

Shedding Light on Distant Stars

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