Welcome to the Department of Physics at the Rochester Institute of Technology

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Welcome to the Department of Physics at the
Rochester Institute of Technology
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What is Physics?

• A mathematical approach which combines theory and
  experiment to answer a wide range of questions
• How can I store lots of information in a very
  small space?
• What causes human vision to deteriorate? Can one
  prevent it from happening?
• How far is it to Seneca Falls. and which way
  should I go to get there?

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Physics of CDs and DVDs
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Physics of Cataracts

• (George should provide this info)

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Physics of GPS
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The Physics Major at RIT

• Foundations Years 1, 2
• Basic calculus, chemistry, physics
• Liberal arts electives
• Applications Years 3, 4, 5
• Mechanics, Thermal, Quantum
• Electricity and Magnetism, Electronics
• Advanced Laboratories
• Independent work and research

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The Co-op Program

• Students may do up to 6 blocks of co-op
• Physics program arranged to fit double blocks in
  the spring and summer quarters
• Recent co-op employers Kodak, Intel, NIST, Lab
  for Laser Energetics at UR
• Students may finish the physics program in 4
  years by skipping co-ops

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Research in the Physics Department at RIT
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Astronomy at RIT

• Observatory on campus (bright, but convenient)
• 16-inch and 10-inch telescopes
• Electronic CCD cameras
• TASS Mark IV dual wide-field camera system

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Campaign on variable star WZ Sge
During the summer of 2001, we monitored the
variable star WZ Sge during its first outburst in
over two decades. Matter from one component of
this binary star flows into a disk around its
companion. Instabilities in the flow caused the
star to fluctuate on timescales shorter than the
81-minute orbital period, as our measurements
over seven hours on July 27 show .
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The data we gathered was combined with that
collected at several other observatories to
create a round-the-clock record of the stars
brightness. Theorists were able to use this
nearly seamless record to improve our
understanding of mass transfer between stars.
Our work appeared in two technical journals the
article shown below, from volume 381 of Astronomy
and Astrophysics, includes three RIT
undergraduates (in red) and four RIT Physics
professors (in blue) among the authors.
We also discovered serendipitously that one of
the stars in the field (the one labelled U in
the chart) happened to be a previously unknown
eclipsing binary star.
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Granular materials

• (Franklin)

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Nanopower

• (Raffaelle)

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After graduation

• Graduate school
• University of Virginia
• Penn State
• University of Arkansas
• MIT
• West Virginia University
• Cornell
• Michigan State
• Columbia

• Industry
• IBM
• Kodak
• Xerox
• NASA
• Lockheed Martin
• Cyprus Semiconductors
• Armed forces