Physics shares rather diffuse boundaries with Chemistry, Materials
Science, Electrical Engineering, and several other disciplines. As a
result,
many research projects of interest to physicists are multidisciplinary in
nature. Members of the UK Department of Physics and Astronomy are
involved in many such efforts, and graduate students have research
opportunities in these areas. Listed below are some examples of such
opportunities:
UK is a member of Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU). Thus, students
and faculty have the opportunity for active research
collaborations with scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Specifically, collaborations are in progress in the areas of neutron
scattering,
material preparation, and theory.
UK is a member of the Southeastern Universities
Research Association which maintains the Jefferson
Laboratory for the United States Department of Energy.
A number of students and faculty at UK have
ongoing research collaborations at JLab.
Observational astrophysics programs utilize data from the complete
electromagnetic spectrum obtained at several national facilities. UK
researchers frequently work with the National Radio Astronomy
Observatory's Very Large Array, with the National Astronomy
and Ionisphere Center's Arecibo Observatory,
and with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory
satellite.
Theoretical research involving large-scale numerical computation can be
undertaken through the auspices of the Center for
Computational Sciences. [See the Computing
Resources page of this brochure.]
The Center encourages the development, and sharing
of algorithms for common numerical problems arising from
different disciplines. The Center supports research assistantships for
students involved in computational problems.
UK is the lead University in the USDOE sponsored
Consortium for Fossil Fuel
Liquefaction Science in which research related to the
liquefaction of fossil fuels is carried out in a multidisciplinary
environment. In this context, X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (XAFS)
studies are
carried out at the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven
National Laboratory. In addition, several advanced characterization tools
are
available through the Consortium such as computer-controlled scanning
electron microscopy and Mossbauer spectroscopy.
