Department of Physics
Research, teaching and outreach in Physics at UW–Madison

Student Resources

Need a tutor? Looking for research experiences in physics? Want to join a physics student group? There are many opportunities and resources available to help physics majors as well as students interested in physics or taking courses through our department. For general resources available to students, such as health & well-being or professional development, please visit our UW student resources page.

Conducting research with a faculty advisor is one of the greatest ways to experience physics. Getting some experience with an experimental research group is particularly important if you are thinking of going into industry and is a helpful part of a grad school application. But most important, it is the best way to find out what you really like about doing physics, something you don’t necessarily get from classes. So start early!  Some groups only hire first & second year students. Few have any course requirements. Below is a list of faculty and staff that hire undergraduate students to work in laboratories and/or do theoretical calculations.  You can also find more about other research in and around the department. Talk with an advisor and students in the physics club to learn how to go about finding a research position. Taking Physics 301 Spring of your 2nd year is a good way to meet more faculty and find out what they’re doing.

Atomic Physics
Mark Saffman msaffman@wisc.edu.edu
Thad Walker tgwalker@wisc.edu
Deniz Yavuz yavuz@wisc.edu

Condensed Matter Physics
Victor Brar vbrar@wisc.edu
Mark Eriksson maeriksson@wisc.edu
Pupa Gilbert pupa@physics.wisc.edu
Robert McDermott rfmcdermott@wisc.edu
Mark Rzchowski rzchowski@physics.wisc.edu

Garage Physics
Duncan Carlsmith duncan@hep.wisc.edu

Space/Astro/Neutrino Physics
Keith Bechtol kbechtol@wisc.edu
Francis Halzen francis.halzen@icecube.wisc.edu
Albrecht Karle albrecht.karle@icecube.wisc.edu
Lu Lu lu.lu@icecube.wisc.edu
Dan McCammon mccammon@physics.wisc.edu
Peter Timbie pttimbie@wisc.edu
Justin Vandenbroucke justin.vandenbroucke@wisc.edu

Particle Physics
Kevin Black kblack@hep.wisc.edu
Tulika Bose tulika@hep.wisc.edu
Duncan Carlsmith duncan@hep.wisc.edu
Sridhara Dasu dasu@hep.wisc.edu
Matthew Herndon herndon@hep.wisc.edu
Brian Rebel brebel@wisc.edu

Plasma Physics
Jan Egedal egedal@wisc.edu
Cary Forest cbforest@wisc.edu
John Sarff jssarff@wisc.edu

The department also hires students to work in lecture demonstration, lab course prep, outreach, or to serve as docents in the Ingersoll Physics Museum:

Instructional Laboratories
Assist with instructional laboratory setup
Brett Unks | unks@wisc.edu

Lecture Demonstration
Assist with lecture demonstration
Steve Narf | srnarf@wisc.edu

Physics Museum Docents
Tour guides in the museum
Cierra Atkinson | catkinson5@wisc.edu

Wonders of Physics Scholars
Develop and present physics demos in support of the Wonders of Physics outreach program
Haddie McLean | haddie@physics.wisc.edu

In addition to any items posted on this page, you may also wish to view the following resources for finding jobs or other funding opportunities such as scholarships:

  • PLC students learn in small groups, led by educators such as PLC director, Dr. Susan Nossal (center)

    The Physics Learning Center (PLC) is a student-support organization that provides a physics learning community for students in Physics 103, 104, 207, and 208.  We offer many types of resources including small group work, access to study materials, and extra exam review sessions. For Physics 201 and 202 please see the Undergraduate Learning Center located in the College of Engineering.

  • The Physics Department maintains a list of available tutors for the convenience of students who feel they require private instruction. We suggest that such students first contact their TA and professor for help, and then if they feel they need additional instruction, utilize this additional resource. The Department does not endorse such service.

Physics Club

The Physics Club is open to all undergraduate students interested in Physics; you need not be a Physics major. The Club organizes free tutoring hours where members help any university student; distributes information about graduate studies, research jobs, and other opportunities to our members; maintains computers, a study area, a small library of scientific books, and a refrigerator for our members and other physics students; and organizes social events, tours, and trips.

Gender Minorities and Women in Physics (GMaWiP)

GMaWiP is a group for the support and promotion of women and gender minorities in physics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It is open to graduate and undergraduate students.

Garage Physics

The Garage Physics lab, located in B613 Sterling Hall, is a makerspace for student-driven interdisciplinary innovation. Garage offers UW-Madison students an unstructured safe environment to explore technologies and to develop creative ideas through project-oriented just-in-time learning. Want to make something or make something happen? You have come to the right place. Garage Physics offers limited support for R&D materials for scientists, innovators, and entrepreneurs, and 3-D printing to members.

The Astronomy, Math and Physics (AMP) Library is located in 4220 Chamberlin Hall. For more information, please visit the AMP Library website.

Major / Certificate Declaration Form

Independent Study Course Approval Form